Soapstone? weight - age and origins?

It weighs over a pound, and definitely solid stone. The bottom is very worn, so it has some age to it. If nothing else it's a heckuva paperweight.

 

First-impression (which means flying by the seat of my britches) guesses -- if it is soapstone perhaps it's a "weight" to keep a lid/cover down on a crock or other container.

If it is made of a material which is harder than soapstone perhaps it's a hand-held grinder/masher for dried corn kernels or other grains or herbs.

Or it is an old example of a "pestle" druggists used long ago to grind plant material into "medicinal concoctions."

 

It's definitely shaped like a weight. What gets me is the indent that was bored into the base. A masher wouldn't have that.

 

Could it have originally been for an old impression seal - to be inserted in the cutout area & pressed down. I have a metal one I use as a door stop - could be where the scratches came from.

 

If you weigh it in grams and google it you may find it weighs some exact figure on some exotic and obsolete scale

 

Good idea; I have a metric scale here.

 

I don't know what it is, but doubt that its a scale weight. Being soft stone, it is too prone to damage and wear to be reliable for that function.

 

The lighter it gets the shorter the weight,the better the deal for the seller. I doubt if there was any weights and measures dept.

Looks OK for weighing out rice or chicken's feet.

 

I stick to my guns on this one. Weight and Measure Departments have been around as long as taxes. Someone even thinks they're being shorted, someone complains... and there's always an authority to complain to.