A.S and Sons

Greetings, Guru's of Steel! I recently bought a 499lb London pattern anvil. She's a beast! On one side of the waist, she's marked: John Brooks Stourbridge Warranted The hundredweight is marked on the opposite side of the waist: 4 - 1 - 23 I haven't been able to find all that much information on the maker of this anvil, possible date, etc. The anvil was part of a large lot of forge equipment I purchased off an elderly gentleman, for a few thousand. Wondering on the quality of the anvil, for plain curiosity.

Hey everyone! Just putting some feelers out, to see if anyone is from/around the Toronto, Ontario, Canada area. I'm seriously interested in getting into the art of Blacksmithing. It's in my family, distantly, as my great-grandfather was a blacksmith in the Maritimes. I don't have much background knowledge base to work with, but will scour all the reference sections of this forum for every tidbit I can find. In the meantime, trying to get an idea of the cost of building and setting up a little hobby shop in my backyard. Cheers!