The light/dark effect is possibly rosewood. It's a wood this an extremely pronounced difference between sapwood and heartwood. Is it extremely dense and heavy? That's another rosewood characteristic.

hi sombreuil, thanks for the response. it's funny you mention that and i should have included that in the post, that is it does feel heavy for what it is. rose wood? is it a common wood to work with. sadly there are a couple of visible cracks running length wise. thanks again, chris

It is a rare wood. In antique furniture, they only used the dark portion, because they wanted the most elegant look possible. Working with rosewood veneer was the trade of a master cabinetmaker, because it was wicked expensive and really hard to work with.

Your cigar stand or ashtray pedestal comes from a period closer to our era. Maybe 40's or 50's. The maker chose to use the wood in a more naturalistic way, and letting the wild color change of the solid wood speak for itself.

I would not worry about the crack in the rosewood. The top bowl is a different wood, I can't tell but maybe natural or bleached mahogany.

Casey

hi, thanks again for your input. it looked like something i should bring home. a friend of mine used to like to play with wood and told me to keep an eye out for strange looking pieces, i once went shopping at our local woodworking store with him and he pointed out some raw materials and the prices they command (shocking!).

thanks, chris