Red Maple Core - worth anything?

Boatmanzz

I unfortunately had to take down a beautiful, but leaning/falling oak tree in my back yard. I wanted to preserve the tree the best I could, since I bought the virgin land to build my house and did absolutely minimal clearing. So I brought it to a mill to have cut so I could make my daughter a jewelry box and my son a tool box. The guy at the mill cut it, and told me they tossed the core which I told them I wanted anyway.

My question is this - is the core of a tree worth anything other than burn wood as the mill guy told me? Thanks