"New" Trenton - My first anvil!

[DanBrassaw]

Found this at an antique store of all places. Normally they sell for $5-$6/lb around here, but an extremely nice gentleman only wanted $200. It's stamped 147, and that's roughly accurate, based on my bathroom scale reading. Interestingly, the logo seems to have been stamped upside down. I thought it looked like the Trenton logo, but the letters just didn't make sense. Then I was looking at the pictures I just took, and all of a sudden it clicked.





I still need to rig up some hammer holders, but I wanted to get to work actually using the thing, so I made these tongs, which I needed anyways, for holding 1/2" square. Boy does all that solid mass make a difference. My only complaints are the noise (need to find some big magnets), and the lack of any reasonably sharp edges for shouldering. I still have my little homemade one mounted nearby though, so I've got the edges on that when I really need them. Other than that, I'm very pleased.



The serial number is 55920, if anyone could help me figure out when it was "born." If it's supposed to be 6 digits, it may be 155920, but I'm pretty sure that "1" is just a dent of some sort.

[Sask Mark]

I have a 1899 made 110 pound Trenton that is also stamped upside down.

A serial number of 55920 would be manufactured in 1905, 155920 would be made in 1917.

[DanBrassaw]

I wonder what percentage of these were stamped that way. If it's only a few, we own collectibles. If it's a large number, the guy with the stamp took way too much liberty with his lunch break every day.

I'll have to take a closer look at that serial number, and see if I can figure out whether the 1 belongs. Thanks for the info.