The tagua nuts are fruits of one of the palm trees, growing in Latin America, which are used as an excellent substitute of ivory. The pianos keys, jewels, bottles of perfumes, vases are cut from them... If tagua is left on the sun it becomes dark with the passing of the years; that is why nuts of different age are used for chess figures: for whites - 6-8 years old, but for black ones - 20-years old.