Rosewood Go bowls - ok to buy again?
Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2020 10:02 am
Background:
Several years ago, an international body called CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) banned exports and international sales of most rosewood items. This was done because rosewood was being harvested from Africa in perverse amounts for furniture production. Owning rosewood items was not prohibited, Neither was buying rosewood items, as long as you bought them domestically. The restriction applied to moving rosewood internationally.
There were several unintended consequences.
-- When you ban something, if often doesn't stop whatever you are trying to stop, but instead drives it underground where other seedy aspects reveal themselves. That ended up being the case in certain west African countries.
-- The musical instrument industry was hit particularly hard. Not only did sales decline by millions of dollars, but musicians traveling with their own rosewood guitar or clarinet or whatever risked having it confiscated in customs.
-- People who collect antiques - old, small items that have nothing to do with current furniture-focused rosewood demand - encountered great problems buying internationally.
2019 Exemptions:
It seems in late 2019, the musician community raised enough of a stink that they got musical instruments exempted from the ban, as well as other finished products less than 10kg in weight. This may be having an impact on Go equipment as well.
Several years ago, rosewood Go bowls disappeared from many vendor websites. Asian websites that did have rosewood bowls for sale had a warning for international buyers that they were prohibited from shipping internationally. Until recently, that is. These warnings have largely disappeared.
So maybe we will rosewood Go bowls around more.
Several years ago, an international body called CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) banned exports and international sales of most rosewood items. This was done because rosewood was being harvested from Africa in perverse amounts for furniture production. Owning rosewood items was not prohibited, Neither was buying rosewood items, as long as you bought them domestically. The restriction applied to moving rosewood internationally.
There were several unintended consequences.
-- When you ban something, if often doesn't stop whatever you are trying to stop, but instead drives it underground where other seedy aspects reveal themselves. That ended up being the case in certain west African countries.
-- The musical instrument industry was hit particularly hard. Not only did sales decline by millions of dollars, but musicians traveling with their own rosewood guitar or clarinet or whatever risked having it confiscated in customs.
-- People who collect antiques - old, small items that have nothing to do with current furniture-focused rosewood demand - encountered great problems buying internationally.
2019 Exemptions:
It seems in late 2019, the musician community raised enough of a stink that they got musical instruments exempted from the ban, as well as other finished products less than 10kg in weight. This may be having an impact on Go equipment as well.
Several years ago, rosewood Go bowls disappeared from many vendor websites. Asian websites that did have rosewood bowls for sale had a warning for international buyers that they were prohibited from shipping internationally. Until recently, that is. These warnings have largely disappeared.
So maybe we will rosewood Go bowls around more.
