This is a rare find!  It is an antique kou wood compote bowl.  That would make it unique and valuable if we stopped right there but there's more.  On the bottom it reads "Kou Wood  Wood from the Sandwich Islands. Now extinct and much valued by the natives. (undecipherable but looks like someone's name) Nov. 11th 1873".  Try and figure out the mystery of who wrote this description on the bottom by looking at the pictures.

To perhaps explain why the above says that Kou was an extinct wood: According to Native Trees and Shrubs of the Hawaiian Islands, "Kou was a favorite shade tree in old Hawaii but never became a forest tree.  It was attacked by a moth and nearly exterminated." 

This bowl is almost 140 years old and is made of a wood that even today is considered unusual. Perfect for the collector of antiques who has everything! Or for someone who enjoys a mystery!