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Interesting find Indian Chief anvil


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I happened to be cruising Craigslist this morning just when someone posted an anvil for sale. Said it weighed between 450 and 500lbs with the stand and they had these pics-

 

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Gave them a call and went to see it. The price they were asking was $150 but that was negotiable. 

 

I could see some script on the side but it had years of crud on it. The anvil looked more like 150lbs turned out to be 157lbs.

It had some deep hammer forging marks on the underside of the heel so I thought it might be an arm and hammer. Edges are ok maybe a 1/4in radius with a little chipping. and it has a little weld spatter on the face, all in all a very usable anvil. I gave him what he was asking and didn't haggle.

 

After I got it cleaned up it turned out to be an Indian Chief (Trenton) I've only seen one other in Fred Moore's collection.  Serial number puts it about 1908.Here's some pics after a wire brush and some PB blaster-

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Looks like a rebranded Hay Budden to me.  What's the underside look like?

 

Good price.

Its a Trenton- Postman mentions Columbus (OH) Forge and Iron Company (CF&I) marking the leg vises and bridge anvils with the Indian Chief labels. the bottom is an oval post-25611-0-45584300-1398049593_thumb.j.

 

The serial number is also a giveaway since Hay Budden's were numbered on the left side of the front foot and Trentons on the right side(as you face them, plus there is no number stamp under the horn. As i said previously, Fred Moore has one in his collection too. Both his and mine are much thinner longer anvils for their weight than an HB would be. 

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