Well for me first I'd have to like the color contrast, and then it would be a set of questions for anything I'd be making, be they firearms, or knife handles, or furniture, & etc....
The first would be..., is it known that there were inlays using X material done? If that's unknown, the next question would be..., Was the material for X inlay even available? IF either is a yes, then the final question would be..., Was there an old technique that would make it durable for what I want to do with the finished piece, even if I use a modern technique instead.
What that last question means is that did they have a glue or other manner of securing the inlay into the project, that would last during whatever use the object was put to..., even if I used something like modern epoxy to get the same result?
There was a lot of interesting woodworking done in the 18th century and after, and a lot of international trade because the age of sail had existed for a long period of time.
So for example, your idea of Ebony is probably a much better notion, than would be the use of Tibetan, Black Rose, Heartwood (if such a wood even exists). A little research and one often finds that things like "exotic wood", or paint pigments, or cloth dye, were actually imported into Europe and Colonial America from very distant origins.
An example of this is madder root for red dye. The brickish/orange of the enlisted British soldier's coat had a specific red, which came from Madder root, while the officer's coats were done in wool that was much more scarlet, from cochineal dye. Madder comes from places like Afghanistan, and Cochineal comes from insects in South America. Madder is a lot cheaper, hence the use for the enlisted men's coats...
LD