Hey ya’ll! Hope everyone on here is doing well and keeping cool with this blistering summer heat. I was curious if anyone may be able to help me with a little knowledge of this mortar and pestle? It is a one piece, handcarved cyprus stump. All I know about it is that it was found in a dilapidated slave cabin in the lowcountry, and it has axe and saw marks where it was chopped down. The mortar is 13" wide and 14.5" tall, and the pestle is 25" long. I’ve been told it is mid 19th century if not earlier, but any help would be awesome.
I’ll have to do more research of what it is worth considering it is pretty darn rare, in my opinion. I have a small business so if I can turn it for a decent profit then I would consider doing it, but then again, it would be really cool to hang on to.
To answer leadenwahboy’s question, yes, a couple museums have been interested.
Before doing anything, I would certainly have it appraised by an antiquities appraiser who specializes in such artifacts…for both insurance and resale purposes
If you are still able to obtain the info or if you already know it, you need to write what is known on a card and keep it with the item. Where it was found, name of plantation, etc. etc.
“Endeavor to Persevere.
Give,Give… Never Take.”
EC
Wait a minute! It’s a Mexican copy of a Corn Smasher used to make ground corn for Corn Taco Shells! It’s only worth about $10. You can buy them all day long on the Texas border! Kinda neat, give you $20 to save on the gas money going down there!
You guys are so gulible! https://www.ebay.com/b/Wood-Mortar-and-Pestles/98853/bn_2714418
That half used Outback gift card sounds mighty tempting!
Badfish and Pescazorro, I’ll start getting those things together and contact a museum to see if they can point me in the right direction. Thanks for the pointers!
