Biggest Anvil Collection in the country?

[Falconer]

If you ever find yourself in North Central New Mexico you have to go by and see Fred Moore just outside Mountainair, NM. Fred started collecting miniture anvils, like salesmen samples, about 40 years ago. He now has over 1400. He decided along the way to start collecting the real thing. He now has, what may very well be, the largest anvil collection in the county. He goal is to have one of every size from every maker. He has somewhere between 400 and 500 at present. They range from miniatures to some 750LB monsters. He has also collected power hammers, now having over a dozen from some very early models to some later Little Giants. In his warehouse, which he has begun to make look like a museum, has has also collected cone mandrels (now having more than anyone alive he says), swage blocks, leg vises, tongs and hardies galore...an anything blacksmith related. Even his real estate agency is called 'Anvil Realty'.

The good news is he is willing to sell everything he has two or more of. His real intent is to only keep the anvils.

I'm a professional blacksmith and metal artist living about an hour and a half South of Mr. Moore and I'm not connected to him except to buy tools from him from time to time...and to drool over his collection. He's a nice guy and is always looking for something he doesn't have. Many SWABA members know all about him but he has been a well-kept secret outside NM.

So...if you are looking for something hard-to-find to downright rare, or you're in NM and just want to drool over the most amazing collecton of blacksmihing tools you've ever seen...give him a holler. (505-847-2962)

[jimmy seale]

that's just too many toys....

[todoned]

It's like some kind of dream... a very nice dream!

[Fe-Wood]

I'd hate to be there in an earth quake
Nice collection!!!

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

BIGGEST collection seen in the BIGGEST forum pictures

I have only seen one mandrel, it was in an old welding shop that was closing. I believe the next tenant made off with it

I take it that the slots/grooves in some of those had a purpose, but what? Holding a part with tongs?

[Sask Mark]

Very impressive! I wonder how it compares to the size of njanvilman's collection?

[HWooldridge]

Correct - the slot is so you can fish the ring off the mandrel. There is a tong design often seen in older shops when a lot of wagon work was done, which pinches the material perpendicular to the motion of the reins opening and closing so the band can be held in line with the arm (similar to bent nose pliers).

[chyancarrek]

I'm hoping Fred makes some of his collection available on an ongoing basis or helps other folk find tools they need.

While the collection is impressive, sure seems a shame to see so many anvils and other equipment just playing a supporting role in a stack.

[Ferrous Beuler]

Oh man, some day that is going to be one auction not to miss !!!

[ArtWerkz]

I'm hoping Fred makes some of his collection available on an ongoing basis or helps other folk find tools they need.

While the collection is impressive, sure seems a shame to see so many anvils and other equipment just playing a supporting role in a stack.

I am with ya on that one. That anvil pic almost made me cry. I am having a hard time to find one decent anvil and a post vise.

[njanvilman]

He has me 'beat' in all ways. I am only concentrating on Fisher, and other NJ branded anvils. I have a few of other brands for comparison.

I am still actively seeking 600 and 700 lb Fisher anvils. Those two will complete the line of Fisher blacksmithing anvils.

Someday I hope to visit NM to see that collection.

[chrisfrick]

That's an overwhelmingly impressive collection. It's a shame that all of those tools are just sitting there, doing absolutely nothing.

[blazerbud]

If there are 500+ anvils in the working sizes and 1400+ miniatures. He is sitting on at least a Million Dollars worth of tools if sold individually at market value. He probably only has a fraction of that amount tied up in all that.

I am both impressed by the size of that collection and by the goal of him trying to aquire at least one of each ever made.

But, I am left with some feelings of sadness that these anvils are just collecting dust.

[Falconer]

I've got to say that I understand the feelings that these are just collecting dust and not being used by smiths. I alternate between that feeling and being happy that someone is preserving a part of the history of this country. Like the void that Richard Postman filled in writing "Anvils in America"...anvils, and the blacksmiths that used them, built this country. It serves us all to be reminded of that...

[Travis Covington]

At least here they are not sitting in someones garden rusting away or being sold toscrap yards. I'm happy for him to acomplish what he has.
Travis

[chyancarrek]

Falconer,
While he may in some small way, be helping to preserve a vertical legacy of the past, he's in a larger sense, denying that equipment an opportunity to participate in "future history". Blacksmithing undergoes an ongoing transformation as it moves through the generations and it's the new participants who take up the banner and assure that "living history" continues and survives. By isolating large volumes of equipment that would otherwise be in the hands of those participants, his collection under-serves our craft.

Mr Moore has every right to spend his money and time any way he sees fit, and from your description, seems a fine fellow - as I stated earlier, I only hope that he's also using his position as a resource which will help our craft move into the future.

[Bill Roy]

I hunted and shopped for a year and half before I found a decent small anvil, and paid almost $2.00 / lb. for it.
And I'll tell you, I was really pleased to get it, too. Most of the anvils I saw were wrecks or going for $3.00 to $4.00 / lb.
Now, if Mr. Moore's beautiful collection was out in circulation, do you think it would have an affect anvil prices?

[ThomasPowers]

Well while they are not being used; they are not being abused either. Nice dry clean storage here in NM.

When I was younger this sort of thing used to annoy me a lot; as I grow older I realize that *someday* they will come back into play; shoot sometimes even *museums* will sell off part of their collections!

Even in anvil poor NM I have been able to locate anvils at about 1/2 the price he wants to sell at so I'm not tempted to buy any from him being "anvil'd up" from back where they were cheap and plentiful. But if you have to have an anvil they are there!

[Sam Thompson]

Anyone who takes that many usable tools out of circulation purely for his own satisfaction should be strung up.

[Bentiron1946]

One of the things that I see in a collection like this is the possibility of future research. In the not too distant future there will be no anvils left or very few of the old ones anyway and in a collection like this they are preserved for a time. Now when he dies and they are auctioned off one by one they do very little for future research into the practice of blacksmithing. However if they are willed to an institution like the Smithsonian they can be preserved for future generations. New anvils are manufactured all the time but the old ones that he has in his collection are a product of a bygone era and will never be made again. If our generation of smiths and the next and the next beat them to death where will the researchers of the future go for good examples of period anvils?

[lazyassforge]

I hate to admit it, but this time I agree with Thomas! These anvils will someday go back into circulation. It may not be in our lifetime but sooner or later they will be used again. At least this man is not welding them into a pointless "monument" like an un-named person here in Oklahoma:

http://www.horseshoeingmuseum.com/faithfulanvil.htm

Bill Davis

[Bentiron1946]

l.a.f., Now that is a waste of anvils, but here again when this fellow passes on I think his little monument will be dismantled and the anvils put back to work. I not suggesting that all of the anvils be kept out of circulation but I think there is a need for a good quality collection of tools from bygone eras to be placed in an institution of some kind that will keep them safe forever from destruction. I think that collectors are in a back handed sort of way doing us a favor by hoarding these items in the here and now, they keep them out of circulation for a few decades and then they are put into circulation again, used by a few fellows, bought up again by collectors and then the cycle is repeated, thus ensuring a supply of anvils in reasonable condition for future generations of smiths.

[blazerbud]

All I know at the moment about the anvil collection is. He IS keeping them safe from becoming lost or scraped, which is good. He has every right to hoard or emass a privately owned collection. We all do. He is probably a really good guy and also helps promote blacksmithing.
But, I just can't get over one person having so many when others have none. And I'm not talking about socialism or Left Wing stuff or spreading the wealth. What I mean is there are plenty of smiths who would pay top dollar to own some of those, they aren't looking for a hand-out from the richest person, but the items that they wish to aquire are in really short supply in the open market. I am just not capable of enjoying this collection like most people because I have a different view of what promotes Smithing. I have been blessed that the main guys who started the blacksmithing associations that I am affiliated with have been known for giving of their own self and time and resources to help promote and teach others in this craft, they did not hoard stuff, they aquired it and distributed it, not for free, but for the prosperity of all who could become a part of it. Some of these guys, upon passing away, had all of their stuff donated by their widows to create teaching schools and shops that continue the craft that their late husbands loved so much.

As for the Anvils welded to the cross. I think that even xxxxx might be mad that someone can't continue to work the iron with those anvils.

[Rio Bravo]

One of the things that I see in a collection like this is the possibility of future research. In the not too distant future there will be no anvils left or very few of the old ones anyway and in a collection like this they are preserved for a time. Now when he dies and they are auctioned off one by one they do very little for future research into the practice of blacksmithing. However if they are willed to an institution like the Smithsonian they can be preserved for future generations. New anvils are manufactured all the time but the old ones that he has in his collection are a product of a bygone era and will never be made again. If our generation of smiths and the next and the next beat them to death where will the researchers of the future go for good examples of period anvils?

Yup. I don't see the "sadness" in the collection. It's a fraction of the total number existing in the country today...and, as was pointed out earlier...they're in a dry climate; not wasting away in gardens and barns and sheds like so many others.

Dave

[njanvilman]

Richard Postman, the author of "Anvils in America" had a large collection of anvils. (About 100, if I remember correctly) He contacted the Smithsonian about donating them. They replied that if he wanted to pay to ship them to one of their warehouses, crated, they would accept them. But probably never display them. They only have on exhibit in all of their musuems, less than 1% of all of their holdings. He did not donate them, but sold most of the collection to a farrier/smith in Michigan. The Smithsonian really does not want anvils.

There are many anvils out there. Anyone has the right to spend their money however they want. Anvils can be shipped almost anywhere. I have never understood how many people complain that they can never find an anvil. They are not looking hard enough. I have found anvils at farm auctions, CL, EBAY, friends, and places totally unexpected(car dealers, bars, antique malls). Some have been bargains, some expensive. It all balances out in the end. I have driven hundreds of miles to pick up anvils, and have met wonderful people. That alone is priceless.

Anyone who visits my museum comes away awestruck at the variety of anvils produced by Fisher. I am still amazed at the variety that continues to turn up. Someday, it will be a great collection that hopefully will not be totally broken up. But I know that many will go their varied ways. In the meantime, they are being preserved in a dry environment, and on display for all to see and study. Someday, my book on the history of the Fisher works will be done, and many of the anvils and artifacts will be featured in the book.

PM me for a visit if you are ever near 07727, NJ. (Summers are best)