Large Old Mortar & Pestle - what for and how old?

Is the inside flat on the bottom as well as the pestle?
I don't think it was for herbs - the ones I have are rounded.
Can't tell you what it IS for though - sorry.

 

Looks like elm. I'd say it is for anything that it works with. Handmade country stuff. Shame about the crack.

 

Generally, mortars are not used for anything that would "leech" flavor, oils or remnants of medicines. Wood is not a suitable material for just about any substance that would be ground in a mortar. Which is why most mortars are made from stone, ceramic, brass, other metals -- anything non-absorbent with a smooth surface. I imagine yours could have been used to clean rice, for example, or something similar. The pestle looks like a stomper, so it's possible that it was used to crush something dry although I suspect it really doesn't belong with it since the bottom of the mortar looks rounded.

 

Maybe the two pieces are a marriage. That pestle looks more like it's for tamping rather than grinding.

 

They made lignum vitae ones for medicines. They were wood but weighed a TON. Hmmm, this could have been for gunpowder. Those had to be nonferrous, and non-sparking, so they were either wood or brass.

 

I don't think the pestal belongs with the mortar. The think the pestal is vegetable, potato, masher. I have never seen a pestal with such a large flat bottom, it would not work well in this mortar.

 

Antique washing machine for small garments

 

Some kind sauerkraut masher\stomper? The following is presumably a sauerkraut masher/stamper. It may have had an wooden something or other to mash in then removed to a brining crock.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Pri...698?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51bea8c1e2

--- Susan