Collection: Collectors Grade - Oud Treasure

The quick buying guide: your decision in a minute

At the summit the guide is brief, for the pieces are asked for by their names, not their descriptions.

Why buy your acquisition from Oud Treasure?

What makes a piece one of the collectors'? The summit's position first

This is our whole five-tier ladder with its four criteria: resin density, persistence, piece purity, and origin rarity. One scale from the base to the summit, and you are now at its top:

And here the meticulous reader pauses at a paradox that deserves a full explanation, for it is the most mature classification lesson in our store: the Blue's price is 87.60 riyals, that is below the price of the luxury grade itself at 100.20 riyals, so how does it sit a grade above it? The answer is in how the scale works: the four criteria balance and none of them tyrannizes, so when the resin density and the persistence draw close between two pieces, the pans of rarity and purity tip the balance. The Blue is a pure enhanced piece of a Kalimantan origin that is among the rarest to arrive on our map, and its aromatic personality is a signature the knowers ask for by name, so the utmost origin rarity and the purity of the pure enhanced tipped its pan to the summit even though its market price stayed below its lower-grade neighbor. And the lesson we want you to leave with: the grade says what the piece is, the price says what the market pays today, and the two lines cross often and do not always coincide. Were the ladder a price list you would not need us: any store arranges by price, and we arrange by the scale.

So what makes a piece a "collectors'" one, then? Three marks together: that it be asked for by name, for the Blue and the Tiger are asked about by buyers before they open our page, and the name in the oud market is not granted but earned. And that it be a first pick: picked from the batch before the general sorting, so nothing reaches this shelf but what we saw before the market. And that it carry a personality that mixes with no other: you know the Blue from the first ember as you know the voice of whom you love from the first word, and this signature personality is what makes a piece remembered, asked for, and acquired.

And an honest consideration before the cart: the collectors' is not "the best for everything," it is the rarest and the most particular. For your regular weekly majlis the excellent is more honest and more ample, and for the session of deliberate listening the luxury gives you the talk of layers at a gentler price. Come to the summit when your question is a piece to remember a moment by, or a name you know and want, or an acquisition the collectors know. The summit for its occasion, and the whole ladder for you.

The summit's two pieces: two signatures, not two types

And whoever wants the Blue's full origin background, the Kalimantan oud page tells the story of the Bornean basin and its oud moods, and the background of the paths is on the natural oud page.

Quality and grading: the summit's threshold is a pick, not a minimum

Every grade below us has written thresholds: such-and-such density and such-and-such persistence and above. The summit works by a reversed logic: no "minimum" here but a pick, for we do not ask whether the piece reached the threshold but whether it deserves the name it will carry. From every batch that reaches us we accept few pieces and reject more than we accept, and the rejected is not poor, for much of it sits honored in the luxury and the excellent, but it is not a Blue worthy of the Blue's name nor a Tiger true to the Tiger's pledge. And this is why we do not always guarantee the quantities and do not fake abundance: the batch that grants summit pieces may not be followed by its sister for months, and we display what we actually have and say "sold out" when it runs out. The honesty of scarcity is part of what this shelf means, for the rare of guaranteed supply is not rare.

Who is this grade for?

How do you acquire from the summit?

The source and origin: the first of the pick

Our oud arrives from the forests of Indonesia, Vietnam, and their neighborhood through direct relations with the oud harvesters, then is sorted and graded at the preparation centers in Indonesia. And this grade has a procedural privilege that is its whole secret: the first pick. Before the batches reach the general sorting table, the collectors' pieces are picked as a first pick, for the direct relation with the harvesters grants us the right of the first look at the heaviest and rarest pieces before a market sees them. Then comes the absolute individual inspection: each piece on its own by the eye, the hand, and the ember, with no exception and no sample-check standing in for the original, and what passes the inspection is photographed as its very self so that what you see is what reaches you. And more about our whole system in about us.

Related collections

The educational guide: the summit and what lies beyond it

Why are the pieces asked for by their names? The economy of reputation in the oud market

The oud market is among the oldest reputation markets in the world: a merchandise read only by the nose, with no central arbitrating laboratories to stamp the quality, so the name stood in for the certificate. When a fixed aromatic signature recurs from the batches of a particular origin, one the knowers distinguish ember after ember, a name is born for it that the majlises trade before the stores: Kalimantan Blue, Vietnam Tiger. And the name in this economy precedes the seller, for the knowing buyer does not ask "what do you have" but asks "do you have the Blue," and the seller's test is that his piece be true to the name's pledge, not that he stick the name on what he has. And this is why we reject more of the batches than we accept: the name that the market built over decades is torn down by a lax seller in one season, and we are keener on the two names than we are on a single sale.

The pricing paradoxes at the summit: why might the rare be cheaper than the steady?

The new buyer expects the price to be a ladder parallel to the grade: every higher grade necessarily dearer. And the real market is craftier than that: the price is made by today's supply and demand, the grade is made by the fixed scale, and the two lines cross and do not coincide. A rare piece from a little-circulated origin may sell for less than a piece more famous than it in name and steadier in supply, because the demand market for the famous is wider, so the rare comes out cheaper than the steady. And a steadily-supplied, widely-renowned piece may rise in price above a rarer one, so the steadier comes out dearer than the rarer. Our living example is before you: the Blue is above the luxury by a grade and below it by a price, because our scale weighs rarity and purity, not the market's invoice. The lesson for whoever buys with his mind: use the price to know what people pay, and use the grade to know what you take, and when the two indicators diverge you have found either an opportunity or a noise, and the declared scale is what distinguishes for you which of the two.

Acquiring and aging: when do you burn and when do you keep?

The rule of the experienced: burn what reaches its peak now, and keep what time ripens. The resin-rich pieces, and this page's pieces are among them, gain from correct aging a fusion and a depth, for the sharpness of the first edges quiets with the months in the sealed dark container as the sober wine rounds in its cellar. So whoever acquired a kilo of Tiger, the wisdom is to divide it: a portion for the present by which he tastes his batch, and a portion for the coming that ripens in his cabinet. And let us say it without ambiguity as we said it on every page: we do not sell oud as an investment and do not promise rising market values, for markets fluctuate and promising them is not of our craft. What we do promise is verified in experience: the piece kept by its conditions is, after a year, more beautiful in scent than the day it arrived, and this is a profit your nose collects, not your wallet.

The ladder's conclusion: a reader's journey from the daily to the summit

With this page our five-tier ladder is complete, so let us fold up the journey as we began it: in the daily you learned that real resin begins at thirty riyals and that the noble habit needs no extravagance. In the commercial you saw the merchants' turnover point and the home's smart value. In the excellent you stood at the middle of the ladder where price and quality balance for recurring majlises. In the luxury the talk of layers began and your nose learned to listen to the chapters. And here in the collectors' you reached where the pieces are asked for by their names and you learned the last lesson: that the criteria balance and rarity tips the scale, and that price and grade are two lines that do not always coincide. Five grades and one scale, and for each of your sessions its honest grade: this is your full map, and whoever wants it by his nose rather than his eyes, the sample kits fold up the whole ladder in a single session.

Frequently asked questions of the collectors grade

The Blue is in the collectors' and its price is 87.60 riyals, less than the luxury itself. How?

This is the most mature lesson in our whole ladder: the grade is weighed by the four criteria together, resin density, persistence, piece purity, and origin rarity, and the price follows the market, not the grade. The Blue is a pure enhanced Kalimantan piece of an origin rarity at its utmost and a personality asked for by name, so when the density and persistence draw close to the luxury's pieces, rarity and purity tip its pan up a grade even though its price stays below it. The grade says what the piece is, the price says what the market pays today, and the two lines do not always coincide. Had we classified by price alone the ladder would be a price list, not a scale of quality.

The Tiger is the dearest piece in the whole store, 126 riyals per hundred grams. Is it worth it?

The Vietnamese enhanced Tiger carries the heaviest gathering of the criteria we have: the royal power of the Vietnamese oud that made Vietnam's name the summit of the oud market historically, a resin density at our utmost range, and a presence no nose misses in any majlis. Its higher price is a reflection of an origin that is the rarest and dearest on our map and of a demand that precedes the supply. It is worth it for whoever knows what he buys: whoever has tasted the Vietnamese and known its station, or whoever wants the piece of the great irreplaceable moment. And whoever has not tried it, the sample before the kilo is wisdom, not stinginess.

What is the difference between this page and the distinctive premium oud page?

This is a grade's page and that is a display page: here you read what makes a piece one of the collectors', the summit of our five-tier ladder where the pieces are asked for by their names and picked as a first pick, whereas the distinctive premium oud is a displayed assortment in which we gather the picks of the upper shelves as a storefront for the visitor. This grade's two pieces may appear there within the display, but the logic of their classification and the meaning of the summit you read here.

Are the quantities always guaranteed?

No, and in full frankness: this is the nature of the summit, no flaw in it. The collectors' pieces are a first pick from batches that do not resemble one another, and the batch that grants a Blue worthy of the name may not be followed by its sister for months. We display what we actually have and do not promise what has not arrived, and whoever found his piece available and his taste has weighed it, a long hesitation may cost him the wait for the next batch. Verify availability before the big decision, and for quantities message us before building on the display.

Do I try with a sample before a piece at this price?

In this grade specifically the sample is a verification, not an introduction: you most likely know the Blue or the Tiger by name before you reach here, and the sample answers a finer question, is this very batch true to the name you know? Order through the sample request page and mention the piece by its name, and dedicate to it a quiet session. The hundred grams itself is a reasonable verification size before the kilo decision.

Do I buy it to burn it or to acquire it?

Both are legitimate and the difference is in the intent: whoever burns it in his great moments buys a scent that does not recur, and whoever acquires it buys a piece the collectors know by its name and that is kept by the aging conditions. Most of this grade's people combine the two, burning some and keeping some. The one thing we advise avoiding: making it the oud of the daily habit, for that is the place of the ladder's first grades, and here you would be burning a rarity where the available would suffice.

Does aging increase its value with time?

Its scent, yes, mostly: the resin-rich pieces grow more fused and deep with sealed, dark, stable keeping, and this is an aromatic gain verified in experience. As for the market value, we do not promise it and do not sell oud as an investment: the oud markets fluctuate and we are perfumers, not asset advisers. Acquire what you love to own and burn, and if its value rises one day, that is a bounty, not a promise.

Do the collectors' suit my weekly majlis?

Frankly: this is an extravagance we will not adorn for you. The weekly majlis is a noble habit that needs a grade bearing repetition, and the excellent at 75 riyals gives it a presence and persistence worthy of it at a price that befriends the habit. The collectors' are quantities that do not always recur, and burning them in the routine is spending the rare where the available suffices. Make them for the moment that deserves to be remembered by them, and for your permanent majlis the excellent grade page.

Which do I gift: the Blue or the Tiger?

According to the recipient: the Blue is the gift of the knowing connoisseur, a rare Kalimantan story and a clean pure enhanced read by whoever knows, and its price is gentler. And the Tiger is the gift of the great moment and the highest station of appreciation, the dearest thing we have, its royal power announcing itself even to whoever does not know the details. And for whoever wants a gift of safe effect for recipients in general, the occasion oud page arranges the wider choices.

Is this grade available wholesale for merchants?

By its limited nature: the Blue by the kilo at 803 riyals and the Tiger at 1,155 riyals, but the quantities are a first pick, not a production line, so we do not promise a regular supply as in the middle grades. The elite's merchant who serves special clients orders early and reserves what is available: message us through the request-quotation page with the varieties and quantities and we reply with what we can actually commit to.

How do you ship pieces at these prices safely?

Documented international shipping with a tracking number from the preparation centers in Indonesia, with a tight multi-layered packaging that preserves the pieces from breaking and the scent from the road's moisture. The dearer pieces receive a packaging care befitting their value, and the arrival duration is by your country and appears at the completion of the order, and for the commercial quantities there are arrangements within the quotation.

How do I store the collectors' pieces?

As what is irreplaceable is kept: a tightly sealed glass or metal container, total darkness and a stable temperature away from kitchens and windows, and the container is not opened except at need. Keep the pieces whole and do not break except just before the ember, for every new surface is a vaporization door. And mark each piece's container with its name and arrival date, for the collector's memory is half the value of his acquisitions, and by this system its scent ripens with the months instead of wilting.

What if the piece is not as I expected?

Message us through the contact page before anything: we help you verify the method of burning, the charcoal, and the quantity, for most disappointments of fine oud are a bad burning, not a bad piece. And if the matter remains, the return policy declared in the store applies to this grade like any other, and the pieces by their actual photos before purchase cut off most causes of surprise from the root.

And for any question about the two pieces and their availability, message us through the contact page before buying.

We currently ship from Indonesia, and we are working to expand to shipping from Malaysia and other countries in the future.