Anyone know what stone this is? Marble?

Here are some Patriarchal Kings type images on bookends.

I am not sure if this is marble or not.

They are six and a half inches high by 2 & 3/4" inches wide and another 1 & 1/2" inches deep.

 

Looks more like granite to me, but I am not sure

 

Also, if you look at the number on the bottom, it's a mirror image of a six. I'm wondering if that's the Russian character set. One is a nine but the other one cannot be an Arabic number like we use in the West if it you turn it in different ways.

 

It doesn't appear to be Russian to me, but one never knows. It looks like a lower-case "a", sort of. Or could somebody have carved the number backwards accidentally?

 

They look Asian/Chinese so I would guess soapstone? Otherwise, I would have guessed marble.

 

So are these carved out in some kind of factory? Seems like there is a variation between the sets. Does soapstone come in that kind of natural marbling?

Wow, would be great to really know one's geology, but not sure an easy enough way to learn it on my schedule.

 

I would suspect that earlier pieces would have been done by hand. If it's modern, there is no doubt something like that would be machine made. Soapstone comes in various colors depending upon mines (not uncommon) and can have a marbling affect. I'm with you on the geology