Unique Crochet Hook AUCTION OVER, MARTY GETS THE HOOK!

I can't come up with a price for this hook, so we'll let it sell itself.  But I can tell you a few things about it.  The wood?  Take a guess.  Give up?  Ok it's Purple Heart, believe it or not.  I'm not sure where this piece came from, but how fortunate it was found.  I wasn't sure the wood wouldn't explode into dust on my lathe, but it didn't; wasn't sure what size to make the hook so it decided by itself to be even more unique, it's 8.5mm, halfway between an L and an M on the Bates "knit check";  never experienced Purple Heart sap/heartwood and am doubtful that it will cross my peepers again.  Also new to me is the amazing chatoyance.  Purple heart, while an interesting and very hard wood, doesn't usually show nearly so well when polished (at least to my experience).  This is a quality of wood that has always impressed me.  Chatoyance is an optical thing, giving the illusion of depth and changing light reflectance as the hook is turned in the light.  Ever see Chatoyant, wavy, spalted, tiny wormholed Purple Heart?  Well you're looking at a hook with all those characteristics.  "The worm holes?" you ask.  Yup, there are a bunch of them, and some go clear through the hook in the handle.  Those little holes  are no longer home to the little critters who prefered a diet of chatoyant spalted Purple Heart, and they have no affect on the quality of the hook.  In fact I think they enhance the character significantly. 
This is a significant hook, totally unique in its multiple attributes, and it's up for bids.

(PLEASE, click on pictures to enlarge)

 the spalted sapwood side.. see the little bug holes?  They show up as dark dots.

 Top side, you can see the transition clearly in the thumb rest area of the hook.  The dark areas are part of the spalting and have not affected the hook strength at all.  Oh but the added character!  And when you turn the hook in light, those dark areas disappear!  You just have to see it to get the full effect.

 Here you see the transition from sapwood to heart wood and a hint of the chatoyance (which can't be captured on camera)

And the back side full-on.  Now you clearly see the little bug holes.  The 5 little black dots you see are actually three holes that (before I filled them) passed clear through the handle.  Those little guys must have had some strong jaws to get through Purple Heart.

Ok lets get started.   You can email me bids at
jimbocrochetwhittler@yahoo.com .  Please, no "maximum bids" ,  my little mind can't handle such complex issues when ties occur.   I'll post bids as they come in and run the auction until Monday, Feb. 13th, then close at 10pm Pacific time on that date. Please bid in $5 increments. Ties will be broken by the time the bids are received. The first bid received in a tie wins.


As always, thank you for dropping by!
Jimbo

Bids:
Barbara starts it off with $30
Melinda with a big bump to $50
Marty bids $55
Melinda goes to $65!
Marty's back with $75