I went to an auction Sat. to look at an anvil. I wound up not buying it, now have 2nd thoughts. It weighed I would guess 150 had unbelievable sharp edges but I could not make out the name on it, which is why I did not buy it. The only thing that you could make out on the side toward the bottom was 1 9 1 ,large letters spaced far apart. My question is with these numbers does that narrow maker down or could it have been more than one manufacturer? It went for $260.00. I could have bought it for $300.00 I believe. Did I really mess up? Thanks Randy.

The only thing we can tell from the 1 9 1 is that the weight of the anvil is probably 191 lbs.  Without a picture or any note of any lettering, not much more to say.  Also, remember at an auction, there is no telling how high the competing bidder would have gone.

Thanks anvilman it was a little heavier than I thought. Did not realize that was the weight.

Well it's a pretty good guess that it was an american made anvil.  If you turned it on end and told us what the bottom looked like we might be able to tell you who made it.

Wether or not it has a clip horn, shape of the horn, depth of the step between the face and cutting block (deep or shallow), flare on the feet and wether or not there are flat points on the feet would also help narrow it down on top of what Thomas said. At least for me to take a stab at what it may have been. Also if the numbers were raised (a cast steel or cast iron anvil) or stamped (likely a wrought iron or partially wrought iron anvil) would help.

Large and spaced far apart numbers. Sounds more like stone weight to me?

Large and spaced far apart numbers. Sounds more like stone weight to me?

 

Stone weight wouldn't have a "9" as the middle number. 

As the middle number in the CWT system is quarter hundredweights it can only be 0-3. In the cwt system  X Y Z = X*112 + Y*28 + Z; with Y being 0-3 and Z being 0-27

 

CWT was used on old english anvils, American just used pound weight, continental tend to be in Kg, though some swedish anvils were marked in pounds for the american trade as I recall.

TP, we have seen pictures of rare anvils where higher numbers than 3 being used for the middle number in CWT markings.

Talking with an old anvil collector and he's positively sure he has seen a few anvils with higher numbers than 3 as the middle number on English anvils in all his anvil hunting over the years.

 

Not sure if this one below was a mistaken stamp, or reflecting actual CWT weighting...

 

EDIT- I went back and looked at the thread I got that pic from, and indeed the weight reflected an incorrect stamp. From the owner:

 

1 3 18 works out at 214lb and the actual weight is 212lb so I figure the 3 punch was missing or worn out and they used a 5 instead