stuarthesmith Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Ever hear of a cornucopoae? An anvilcopoea is a bounty of anvils. I just sold a "brand new" 120 year old hay budden acme to a teenager from this forum. Lo and behold, a local auctioneer calls me yesterday, and tells me that from now on, rather than auctioning off anvils and forges at farm sales, instead, he is going to buy them outright from the farmers and sell them to me directly. He told me he just bought two anvils, a 100 lber(peter wright) and a 150 lber(mousehole), which he sold to me dirt cheap, only making fifteen dollars apiece on the anvils. I buy these things to accomodate newbies and teenagers looking to start off blacksmithing at a reasonable price. Posted below are pics of my new acquisitions. This gets even better! The laborers who loaded these anvils into my van told me that they too have anvils, one of them a 300 lb hay budden! They took my bizness card and will call me, selling these unseen anvils extremely reasonably! Anyone interested should pm me..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divermike Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 you da mann! I do the same up here as you know, just gotta keep em out of the hands of collectors and in the hands of working smiths!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yetti Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 how much to ship to 49240? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 That's kind of him and kind of you to help young smiths get started. B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuarthesmith Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 I thoroughly enjoy helping youngsters out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Great story, Stewart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigred1o1 Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 not to put to much of a damper on it but its to bad people going to the auctions wont have a chance to stumble on an anvil other than that glad for your good luck this might also be bc i just went to a auction where there ended up being a pre sale that meant that a good chunk of the blacksmiths equipment ended up going to a dealer before the auction Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lloe01 Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Do you ship to Arkansas? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuarthesmith Posted May 10, 2012 Author Share Posted May 10, 2012 yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwolfforgeca Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Good for you Stewart :) !!! that kind of giving keep's blacksmithing going :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuarthesmith Posted May 10, 2012 Author Share Posted May 10, 2012 I do this because I remember when I was 22 years old, before I served my apprenticeship, I too had to search high and low for an anvil. My younger brother, who was in high school, and I chipped in and bought a perfect 220 lb peter wright. I am now 58 years old, and he is 54. I do this for a living, and my brother is still a hobbyist blacksmith, who still has our original peter wright, as well as other anvils. Back when I served my apprenticeship, in the late seventies, this craft was just starting to get popular. Even then, there were anvil collectors who were thwarting people wanting to hit hot metal I have a suggestion for this organization, I Forge Iron. While public education on this craft is increasing( we see less and less references to farriers being "blacksmiths"), there ought to be a formalized program in HERE to disseminate information, CORRECT information, about our craft. This might include a media guide to blacksmithing, replete with press release info given out to major media, as well as public television. Something along the order of the PBS special I saw on Phillip Simmons and his cousins, or that television byte I saw on Larry the New York Blacksmith. This ought to be done, and organized, under the auspices of I Forge Iron! And one more thing. If we did a video, we should stress the importance of saving anvils from the horde of invading anvil collectors and scrappers, so that this craft can continue. These collectors are a bane to all of us. I accidentally discovered this, two years ago, while selling a perfect hay budden on ebay. Some misfit in a business suit showed up at my shop, taking this anvil "out of the game", for an exhorbitant price, denying some newbie the opportunity to use the darn thing. Sadly, in the back of his van, was a perfect 500 pound hay budden he had just purchased before buying my anvil................another anvil disappearing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuarthesmith Posted May 10, 2012 Author Share Posted May 10, 2012 not to put to much of a damper on it but its to bad people going to the auctions wont have a chance to stumble on an anvil other than that glad for your good luck this might also be bc i just went to a auction where there ended up being a pre sale that meant that a good chunk of the blacksmiths equipment ended up going to a dealer before the auction This is a fair question, and deserves an honest answer. Had these two anvils come up for sale in his auction, there is a possibility that both of them would have sold to collectors and not blacksmiths. By me purchasing them, and making them available in HERE, there is zero chance of that occurring. I always put my money where my mouth is, and the auctioneer has known me for years. He knows that I buy every last anvil that come up in his auctions. I just saved him some angst, and myself some time. I am NOT a dealer of blacksmith tools, I am a facillitator of blacksmithing ENJOYMENT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuarthesmith Posted May 10, 2012 Author Share Posted May 10, 2012 I have "hooked up" dozens of newbies in here..................I am the "go to" anvil man in here, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonjic Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Great work Stewart ! sound like karma is doing her job :) I have a slightly different view to anvil collecters than you do though, I just see an anvil going into a collection as a 'pause' in its working life. The anvil will long out live the collector, and in a hundred, or two, or three hundred or more years time future generations of working smiths will benefit when they come back 'on line' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divermike Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I just picked up 2 from craigs list, 1 94 lb peter wright, hardly a scratch on it, it may become my new demo anvil and a 150 lb peter wright, has some damage but very workable, this one will be passed to a needy smith. Both came on decent post stands and will stay with the anvils. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuarthesmith Posted May 10, 2012 Author Share Posted May 10, 2012 UNANVIL is the analog of UNESCO, the United Nations Children's Organizatiom. Divermike and I are UNANVIL members, seeking to hook up children with necessary tools! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divermike Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 I love it! we should create a mission statement, elements included: 1.Whenever a B.S. tool can be rescued from the dread claws of collectors, it shall. 2. Monitoring of local auctions and communications between members shall facilitate this. 3. A network of members across the nation shall be established for the purpose of accumulation and dissemination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yetti Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 if its any consolation Stewert the collector like the one who bought your anvil will not live forever. at that point the anvils will re enter the market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrous Beuler Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 LOL! Good for you, Stewart! When I was looking for an anvil to get started I talked to an antiques dealer who is big in the business around here. I said "I'm looking for an anvil, do you ever run across those"? He said, "sure, all the time. I don't bother with them because I have a bad back". The moral of the story is if one is at a farm sale, auction, garage sale -ASK- very often there is something there but the folks running the sale might have thought about lugging out that big heavy bit (anvil, vice, swage, etc) from the barn but just didn't have the gumption to do it. Doesn't mean it isn't there if you don't see it out front. ALWAYS ASK! Whenever the wife and I are at a flea market or other sale she is perusing what is on the tables and my eyes are fixed on the ground, under the tables where the heavy stuff is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 I ask at the fleamarkets whenever I see "barn junk" as many folks won't drag the heavy stuff to the sale. or one time I found a hardy in with some plumbing stuff and asked where the anvil it went to was---100#'r back in the garage. Of course the local implement auction owners are related to the big anvil collector out here; so I seldom go anymore even though it's 2 miles from my house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuarthesmith Posted May 11, 2012 Author Share Posted May 11, 2012 LOL! Good for you, Stewart! When I was looking for an anvil to get started I talked to an antiques dealer who is big in the business around here. I said "I'm looking for an anvil, do you ever run across those"? He said, "sure, all the time. I don't bother with them because I have a bad back". The moral of the story is if one is at a farm sale, auction, garage sale -ASK- very often there is something there but the folks running the sale might have thought about lugging out that big heavy bit (anvil, vice, swage, etc) from the barn but just didn't have the gumption to do it. Doesn't mean it isn't there if you don't see it out front. ALWAYS ASK! Whenever the wife and I are at a flea market or other sale she is perusing what is on the tables and my eyes are fixed on the ground, under the tables where the heavy stuff is! Ferris, my good friend divermike lives in leicester, I believe.................do you know him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elemental Metal Creations Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 I rescued a bobtailed mousehole from the local scrapyard a couple of weeks ago! When I no longer need it I will pass it on to someone who does. It will NOT be going to China! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Archer Posted May 13, 2012 Share Posted May 13, 2012 Hi, This is a very cool thing for you to be doing. Thanks. I sent you a privat message asking for you to add me to your "looking for an anvil" list Thanks, Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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