Brass Mortar and Pestle - How old is mine?

Hello! I found this very heavy brass mortar and pestle at talize in Canada. It has a 9 at the bottom. There are some fine rings going around the inside rim and bottom. There is a little dip on the inside center but not on the outside. It's 4.6" tall and the base is nearly 3" wide. It looks old to me, but i'm no expert. Any ideas?

Here are photos: https://www.pinterest.ca/retroarrayy/brass-mortar-and-pestal/

 

I can't figure out how to post pictures, ugh!

 

All my images are too large apparently

 

I haven't figured that out yet (I just made an account now). It's a shame they can't be enlarged to see details. Thank you for helping!

 

A few observations:

1. It's lathe-spun (you can see the drill-marks from where it was mounted to the lathe)

2. The mortar & pestle aren't original to each other, and are married. The pestle is a much more bright, yellow golden colour, whereas the mortar is much darker.

3. I think it's actually meant to be a '6' instead of a 9. Mortars were stamped with numbers like this (I have one marked '5') which presumably were some variety of size-indication, although exactly what the sizes were, I'm not sure (I suspect, capacity/volume).

Brass mortars like this were often used in medical and scientific situations, such as in apothecaries / pharmacists for grinding ingredients to make medicine. The brass was easy to clean, heavy (so it wouldn't be knocked over), and since it's non-ferrous, it wouldn't rust or discolour from the contents of the mortar, which would taint or contaminate whatever you were making (which could be disastrous if it was some kind of medicine).

So far as I know, the carved rings are purely for decoration. A lot of antique mortars and pestles had these, added in by the manufacturer during the spinning process, just to give it a bit of visual appeal.

 

bad casting, probably Indian. the two rings are good for nothing or rather to deviate the eye from the cut-in point for the running center.

 

Readily found for sale new in Spain today. Here's something not dissimilar from Amazon.es.

Debora

 

I'm sorry, I see no resemblance between the two, except that they are both mortar and pestles.
jojo's mortar is like this type:


https://www.123rf.com/photo_28388259_bronze-mortar-with-walnuts-on-isolated-white-background.html

I agree with @Shangas that the two are a marriage. The pestle in the photo above is closer to the type that goes with a mortar like that.

 

Thank you! By drill do you mean the "hole" on the center inside? I don't see a dip on the outside center. How old do you think it is?

 

See this discussion for similar ones: https://www.antiquers.com/threads/brass-mortar-and-pestle.45130/

I believe this style, which is often seen in resale market, to be circa turn of the century, 1900 or so or later.