Hi everyone! This is my first post but I have been reading and searching through several of the forums for a while now. Just wanted to introduce myself and show off my 1st anvil. I just picked this up on Tuesday and after a little cleaning and research I have id'd it as a William Foster and can just make out most of the date as 184*. Can't make out the final digit of the year but looks like it could be 1844. It has some of the marking of a single crown with William Foster printed side by side which I have not seen in other pics (most others have the 1st and last name stacked). On the opposite side I can only make out the last part of the weight markings as a "16". I weighed it on my really cheap bathroom scale as about 177 lbs. Going by the old english weight system a final digit of 16 would have made this anvil originally 184 lbs. The plate is chipped a bit right at the heel but it looks worse in the picture than it really is. The face is really flat across the entire anvil with no noticeable swayback at all. I love it and I only paid $75 for it! I'll post more pics when I have time to clean it up a bit more.

It looks like you made an excellent purchase.

Awesome purchase! The damage at the pritchell hole is completely irrelevant and won't affect the use of the hole. That you have such a clean horn and face is priceless, though.

Imagine all the stories that anvil could tell, having lived since the 1800's!!

Thanks guys, I'm glad you like it! It seems as though Monomoit was correct in another post, when it rains it really does pour anvils! I have been asking my Father-in-law for two years if he has an anvil hiding in his father's workshop somewhere. His father worked at the dump in town for many years in the 30's and 40's and brought home anything antique that came in. When I started my search for an anvil two years ago he was the first person I asked but unfortunately he did not have one.
On Thanksgiving the first thing he said to me when he walked in was "Hey, where did you get that anvil on the porch? You should have asked me, I have one just like it that's been sitting in the garage since I was a kid!" Go figure...

So I now have my second anvil only a few days after my first! (technically on permanent loan)
It's 140 lb cast iron with a tool steel top, very similar in construction and design to an older Fisher. It has a raised five pointed star cast on one side, a round notch on the rear foot area directly below the heel, and a "V" cast into the front foot area below the horn. I have id'd it as an "American Star" brand anvil from Trenton, NJ. This was confirmed by the presence of a very deep (7 or 8 inches) "tempering hole" directly in the bottom of the anvil. This was unique to American Star anvils and was a patented technique to aid in the tempering of the steel top plate I believe. American Star manufactured anvils from the early 1850's to the late 1860's. It has a pretty descent rebound but not quite as good as my William Foster, and like Fisher anvils, it does not ring which is a nice option to have in the shop.

I can't wait til my wife sees the WD-40 overspray marks on the porch floor haha

looks good ! now put it to use !

Could you show us the hardening hole? Great find on *both* the anvils.

Your William Foster is in MUCH better shape than my 1828 William Foster which is missing the heel and 90% of the face---I bought it for US$5 at a fleamarket to add to my wall of shame collection of abused anvils. (was the worst one till I found the PW missing everything above the waist and then was given a Vulcan that is so trashed it's unspeakable!)

Hi Thomas, I think I do remember reading something about your Foster anvil at some point during my lurking here. It is certainly one of the older ones that I have been able to find online. I really enjoyed seeing some of the abused anvil pictures to help me feel even better about mine being just a little chipped :)
Here are a few pics of the hole. I'm not sure if it was to help cool the face during tempering or if it was to help keep the cast iron from doing weird things while casting or quenching, maybe both. The hole seems to be exactly 8 inches deep.

I'll bet quenching (unless they were using "tempering" in the old usage which pretty much meant all the heat treat steps).

The problem with getting anvil faces hard is that massive heat reservoir they are attached to so a method of getting the heat out of the mass faster would help get a harder face.

Thanks for the pictures I've always wanted to see one like that "in the wild" so to speak

Stick a bearing up there and you can mount it on the shop roof as a weather-vane! (what was that number for hot air balloon rides in MA....)