This fancy, figured, and amazingly colorful maple platter-like bowl is 7” tall, 22.5” long, 17.25” wide, and weighs 5 pounds.  The container is sculpted from spalted maple that includes twisted and figured burl patterns, bird's-eye patterns (only 1% of the maples have this), and rich colors of tan, brown, and gold with a hint of red.  
I have arbitrarily called one side the “front,” but it is equally fascinating from all sides.  
The rare and beautiful salvaged wood for this fine art piece came from a tree, weakened by age and injury, that blew down in a severe ice and wind storm.  The tree was 27” in diameter, 40’ tall, and about 90 years old.  The trunk was partly hollow from decay but still had strong supporting wood that helped preserve the wood’s beautiful colors.  The spalted areas (somewhat weakened by decay) have been impregnated with clear epoxy to give them great strength and protect their vibrant colors.  
This one-of-a-kind fine art piece is truly unique, a magnificent bowl worth passing down to many generations of loved ones.  
A smooth and glossy oil-based, food safe finish protects this bowl so it can hold and display anything but liquids or moist items.    
Care of your Valuable Art piece:  
1.  The beauty of your art piece is best maintained by periodic gentle dust removal with a soft brush on a vacuum cleaner and, if you feel it is needed, occasional buffing with a very light coating of something like food-safe Howard's Butcher Block finish or -- especially if it is for display -- Howard’s Feed-N-Wax (a blend of beeswax and Brazilian carnauba wax [pronounced kahr-nou-buh], mineral oil, and orange oil) which helps protect and enhance the rich colors.  
2. As for all wood art, it should NOT be displayed in direct sunlight (no wood likes direct sun) because strong light will fade its rich color. Of course, some wood colors inevitably change over time. 
3. Display this treasure where it will be protected from chemicals, moisture and damaging heat. 
4. If you have specific questions, you are welcome to email me:  rcpaulson@msn.com
About Maple trees (Acer species) -- typical trees shown above:  
The exact species of this tree is not known, but maple trees in general have very strong wood, are used for lumber and, due to excellent color and figuring, are prized by artists and craftsmen for making containers, carvings, sculptures, canes, hiking sticks, and staffs.   
Maple trees can be found throughout North America, both as native to most areas and as introduced species used for horticulture.