unusual Peter Wright

[Old South Creations]

anyone seen a Peter Wright similar to this one?

It's in good usuable condition...good ring & rebound. The edges are dinged up a bit but I work around the damaged areas.


- simply marked "Peter Wright" no other markings (can't see any evidence that any other markings were ever there)
I've looked at dozens of Peter Wright anvils online and in "Anvils in America" and can't find another example marked
"Peter Wright" only.

- weight is marked on opposite side 1-2-13 (181 lb) [pre 1852 according to Postman]

- no table...I have not been able to find another Peter Wright without a table
* I see no evidence that the horn was ever broken off and welded back on

- horn seems shorter and fatter than other PWs I seen (I believe the very tip of this horn may have broken off...an inch or less)

- has 3 handling holes [pre 1852]

- has both hardy & pritchel holes [post 1830] * I suppose it's possible that the pritchel was added at a later date

the most intriquing features of this anvil to me is the fact that it is simply marked "Peter Wright" (no "warranted", "patent", or "solid wrought") and the lack of a table.

Anyone else have a PW with similar features? (I know the pics are big, I apologize but this is the only way I am able to get them on here)

[knots]

Well I have one that looks like yours, however there are no markings on it. Mine weighs around 300 lbs . I believe that the anvil is a carrage makers pattern anvil.

Last week I finally ordered up a copy of "Anvils In America" since a recent thread cast doubt on what the anvils that I have are. This is just another example since I have always assumed that mine is an un-marked mousehole.

Is the plate on yours a single piece of steel or two. Mine was forged with two pieces and has a slight sway where yours appears to have one. On mine the edges are still intact, a bit rounded from use but with no chipping . Both solid citizens for sure.

[ThomasPowers]

Perhaps it was originally a "bespoke" anvil. Not hard to get a custom job when everyone was hand forged by a team.

I would say definitely an early model---is there a subtle swell where the pritchel come out on the bottom---indicating it was punched rather than drilled later? If not it may be a drilled pritchel and so an earlier anvil retrofitted later.

[Old South Creations]

Well I have one that looks like yours, however there are no markings on it. Mine weighs around 300 lbs . I believe that the anvil is a carrage makers pattern anvil.

It doesn't look like any carriage makers anvils I've seen. All of them that I have seen have an extra table on the side.Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm not saying that your anvil isn't a Peter Wright (afterall I haven't even seen it) but in "Anvils in America", Postman says that it is rare for a Peter Wright to not have at least a partial makers mark. If it looks like mine I would love to see a picture.

I'll have to look closer at the face to see if it's one plate or two. There may be just the slightest sway in the face...not nearly what that photo shows...bad photo.

Perhaps it was originally a "bespoke" anvil. Not hard to get a custom job when everyone was hand forged by a team. I would say definitely an early model---is there a subtle swell where the pritchel come out on the bottom---indicating it was punched rather than drilled later? If not it may be a drilled pritchel and so an earlier anvil retrofitted later.

I think the pritchel was probably punched rather than drilled later. There is just the slightest swell on the bottom.

I didn't even consider the possibility that it could have been a custom job. Like you said, they were all made individually anyway so it would be easy to make a 'custom' anvil. Based on the factory punched pritchel and the lack of a 4th handling hole I guess it was made between 1830 & 1852.

[knots]

John - Truth is that I still have no idea who made mine, and I may never know. All that I do know is that mine sure looks like yours and I find that of interest . Back when I first got mine I looked into mousehole anvils and found an anvil which had no table and looked like mine that was labeled a carriage makers anvil . What ever they are I really like the compact sturdy shape of these anvils they put a lot of mass where you need it. That is under the hammer.

[Old South Creations]

Yeah, you may never know for sure. I think you'll enjoy having "Anvils in America".

Does yours have a pritchel hole?

[knots]

Pritchel hole ? Yes, and with the bulge

[knots]

"It doesn't look like any carriage makers anvils I've seen. All of them that I have seen have an extra table on the side.Someone please correct me if I'm wrong."



My copy of AIA arrived yesterday. It is going to take some time to research just the areas of most urgent interest. However I did find an illustration of Standard Pattern Mousehole Anvils on Page 80 ( published in 1919). The pattern illustrated under the heading "C" is a good match for my unmarked anvil . In the text below it is identified as a "Coachsmiths" pattern. How ever on page 93 the Brooks and Cooper Mousehole Forge Illustration identifies a similar anvil as a " Farriers anvil". I suspect that the difference is that the coachsmiths anvil is a heavier anvil (mine weighing about 300lbs) where as the smaller anvil would likely some what lighter if used by a farrier.


Even though my anvil has no markings of any kind, that I can find, these illustrations of anvils of similar shape begin to indicate not only a tentative date but what anvils of this shape were used for . Possibly even as a type of industry standard shape standard of the time.

So maybe mine is an anvil produced in the Mousehole Forge in their declining years. Maybe/maybe not. It seems likely that more options will present themselves.


This is going to be a good read.

Edit: In reading AIA it seems that many of the anvil makers performed repairs on old anvils. Could featured Peter Wright anvil be a reworked Mousehole anvil repaired and remarked by the Peter Wright works ? The hundres weight marks have the dots between the numbers, a classic Mousehole identifier.

[Old South Creations]

My copy of AIA arrived yesterday. It is going to take some time to research just the areas of most urgent interest. However I did find an illustration of Standard Pattern Mousehole Anvils on Page 80 ( published in 1919). The pattern illustrated under the heading "C" is a good match for my unmarked anvil . In the text below it is identified as a "Coachsmiths" pattern. How ever on page 93 the Brooks and Cooper Mousehole Forge Illustration identifies a similar anvil as a " Farriers anvil". I suspect that the difference is that the coachsmiths anvil is a heavier anvil (mine weighing about 300lbs) where as the smaller anvil would likely some what lighter if used by a farrier. Even though my anvil has no markings of any kind, that I can find, these illustrations of anvils of similar shape begin to indicate not only a tentative date but what anvils of this shape were used for . Possibly even as a type of industry standard shape standard of the time. So maybe mine is an anvil produced in the Mousehole Forge in their declining years. Maybe/maybe not. It seems likely that more options will present themselves. This is going to be a good read. Edit: In reading AIA it seems that many of the anvil makers performed repairs on old anvils. Could featured Peter Wright anvil be a reworked Mousehole anvil repaired and remarked by the Peter Wright works ? The hundres weight marks have the dots between the numbers, a classic Mousehole identifier.

if you read the text that accompanies the picture on page 80 it says that "C" and "D" are mislabled..."C" is the farrier pattern and "D" is the coachmakers. Early English farrier anvils have no table and Coachmaker or carriage makers anvils have an EXTRA table on the side.

There is no indication my anvil is anything but a Peter Wright as it's marked. It's features are in no way like a Mousehole and there are not dots or punches or anything between the numbers. What I know for sure is it is a Peter Wright manufactured sometime bewteen 1830 and 1852. The unusual features are the lack of a table and the fact that it is marked simply "Peter Wright" ...no "warranted" or "patented" or any other marks except the weight which is marked on the opposite side...which is the way the early Peter Wrights were marked.

After reading more on early English farrier anvils in AIA, I believe my Peter Wright is an early example of a farriers anvil. On p25 of AIA Postman states that smith anvils were not ideal for farrier work so "to remedy these deficiencies, several English makers removed the table. This produced a larger horn near the body".

This is NOT what we generally refer to today as a Farriers pattern. What we call a Farriers pattern has a clip horn...a small table on the side of the horn. These "modern" farriers anvil began to appear somewhere around 1882.


Soooooooooo....here's what I now believe I have....a pre 1852 Peter Wright farriers anvil

[knots]

" Soooooooooo....here's what I now believe I have....a pre 1852 Peter Wright farriers anvil "

Well yes. It most probably is.


But I should have been more precise in my statement rearding the punch marks . There are what appear to be two punch marks in about the correct spacing but lower than the existing weight code marks. One is very clear but the other looks have to hammered over. My logic was that if rebuilt, the anvil would likely have weighed more or less and needed to be remarked. I was just thinking out loud. And yes speculating since others have suggested this anvil may have been a special order.

My problem is not with your anvil. It is with the erronious labeling which further clouds the identity and intended use of my anvil . It's weight is almost double what a farriers anvil is usually sized. I intend to post pictures if it. However I will need to remove it from it's stump, truck it down to my local Southern States and beg them to weigh it before starting a new thread. After all bathroom scales can be significantly off if the object being weighed is in an awkward position. Certified scales will remove the uncertainty.

Thank you for this interesting thread. I look forward to your thought and comments when I finally get mine weighed and posted.

[Old South Creations]

It sounds like your anvil is an early farriers anvil as well. I agree with you, 300 pounds seems awfully big for a farriers anvil. Even mine, at 181lb, seems big for a farriers anvil but I'm now convinced that is exactly what I have. I'll be honest, I had never seen the early English farrier anvils in AIA until you said what you did about page 80. The only farrier pattern I was familiar with was the modern cliphorn. I don't know how long the English made their farrier anvils but I do know the "modern" farrier pattern (cliphorn) anvil came on the scene around 1882.


Unfortunately, you may never know who made your anvil. I have a couple of anvils that I would LOVE to ID but there just isn't enough info for me to do it. Some people would say "who cares... it's a tool, use it!" but as a lover of history I like to know as much as I can.

[ThomasPowers]

I used to have a 199# HB Swell Horn Farriers anvil with clip and *extremely* narrow face, double pritchels, etc.

Definitely a Farrier's anvil but for a shop not for hauling around from stable to stable.

We sometimes forget that the way things are handled now may not be the way things were handled then...(remember Drs making House Calls?)

[knots]

I think that you are right. Probably will never know who made it. But I really like the compact form . So I think that it is about to become my main anvil.

It will be a couple of weeks before I can get around to posting it but will make it as high a priority as possible.