td, there are two pieces of steel shoved into the handling holes front and back that hold everything up. no welds, feels surprisingly solid.
tp thanks for that info, and yes it's in ohio. i'll have to try and clean it up some, but part of the stamp is covered by the repair. if it helps any there is a handling hole in the bottom, and a 1 stamped right in the middle of the front foot. i couldn't see any dots between the weight stamps.
mark