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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Shangas, post: 3780246, member: 360&quot;]A few observations:</p><p><br /></p><p>1. It&#039;s lathe-spun (you can see the drill-marks from where it was mounted to the lathe)</p><p><br /></p><p>2. The mortar &amp; pestle aren&#039;t original to each other, and are married. The pestle is a much more bright, yellow golden colour, whereas the mortar is much darker. </p><p><br /></p><p>3. I think it&#039;s actually meant to be a <b>&#039;6&#039;</b> instead of a 9. Mortars were stamped with numbers like this (I have one marked &#039;5&#039;) which presumably were some variety of size-indication, although exactly what the sizes were, I&#039;m not sure (I suspect, capacity/volume). </p><p><br /></p><p>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&#039;t be knocked over), and since it&#039;s non-ferrous, it wouldn&#039;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). </p><p><br /></p><p>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.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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