It's a sustainable hardwood, very similar to Mahogany in all its characteristics. Mahogany like Ivory is on the CITES prohibited list for International trade. A friend sold some British book-form plate holders to someone in the US on eBay last year, because of the Mahogany description they were seized by US customs, despite being pre-WW2, and long before any ban.
I buy what is called Mahogany, but other suppliers say "Mahogany/Sapele". I have genuine Mahogany from a friend's timber yard, but as Fred Gadolfi says in a video there are various grades, he was on a double-decker London bus to the wood yard. Low grade Mahogany is similar to cheap box wood, and this is what Graflex and other manufacturers used when wood work was covered by leather or imitation leather.
What really matters is I can match what's sold as Sapele/Mahogany to Victorian/Edwardian cameras, in terms of colour and wood grain, I do a lot of restoration work. I experiment when making my own lens boards.
The funky one at the front is actually plywood, ebonised with Iron Acetate, and some help with Tannin from billing up old tea bags and applying to the wood surface.
View attachment 404621
I might be older, but I'm still learning.
Iam