I thought I would share a couple of pictures which I had requested from Mr Lee (owner of the Kyarazen 1985 oud), to allow people to have a “preview” of what agarwood was like in the 80s. It was not uncommon to have gigantic well resinated woods pass through the hands of Mr Lee as you can see in this picture from 1985 🙂 Some parts of the block had resin more than 1 inch thick and almost solid in nature! How I wish i was there to buy this piece in the 80s, that would definitely serve my “kodo” needs for this lifetimes and many generations to come. This piece was eventually sold to Japan if Mr Lee did not remember wrongly.
Also, Mr Lee was able to find some carbon copies of receipts issued for fragrant wood purchases during that time, this receipt dated 1986. The chinese words described the product sold as “well resinated agarwood” 10 kilograms, and the price was $3500, or $350 per kilogram! Such superb prices and perhaps the correspondingly high quality wood can no longer be seen today. These details and records remain a historical snapshot of what went on in the 80s 🙂
