Thomas Dowling

i put some photos up yesterday but they seem to have gone astray. So i am making another attempt at posting.

I put a brief article on the site about 12 months ago but have been busy doing house maintenance. Originally i thought that the anvil was a Peter Wright.Today i gave it a wipe with a rag and some turpentine. i found the wilkins name on it. I inherited it 20 years ago. It is a 123 pounds . On the side it has Wilkins then a stamped logo then Bodley Queens and below that a stamp "extraquality". On the front base it has a stamped "w"There is also a stamp on the rear back edge which is unreadable. Does any one know when it would have been made and how good a quality is it. It has been kept out of the weather for the last 60 year since my father had owned it. Also are they of any value. My debate is whether to keep it as non of my siblings want it nor do any of their children. I do a fair bit of woodworking but do not have the room for both my wood working tools and the anvil.It has sat in my shed for the last 20 years under my work bench

JHCC & Frosty, Sorry i did not include area. I live in Melbourne in Victoria. The area i was talking about is about 50 miles south east of Melbourne. I will get some photos posted of the anvil as soon as i can. The big anvil my dad had first seemed like a monster and i could never lift and he struggled to get it in and out of the car. Even the one i inherited as i get older i have trouble trying to lift it. I have not tried to physically lift it for several as i know it would hurt my back. Thats why it has sat under my work bench -out of sight out of mind in doing something with it.Also the need to rearrange my workshop to fit more tools. I also have some of his tools he used as a farrier and i have converted some to use on wood work. several rasps, tongs, hoof trimmers etc.

10 years ago i inherited my fathers anvil with the idea of using it. My father was a self taught farrier and worked around the mornington peninsula at the time Pony Clubs were the big thing.He worked most weekends to supplement his income to support the family. Originally he had a monster anvil he used to cart around in his car a vanguard. One day he was working at a place in Crib Point and the horse owner suggested they swap anvil.He wanted a larger one and eyed off my fathers monster and dad took up the opportunity to swap the monster for one he could lift more easily. I had dug the anvil out of its resting place in the last couple of days. I never knew it was branded until i took a good look at it. After a bit of searching on various sites i found it was a Wilkinson Dudley Queen anvil and also "EXTRA QUALITY" in the branding. The weight is shown as 1 0 11 which to me means 123 pound. Any ideas how old it would be.also any ideas of value. i have hit it with a ball hammer and had quite a good sound and the hammer rebounded quite a bit. Do not own a ball bearing to test the bounce.