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New anvil - Columbian?


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Back for some more advice.  I am 95% sure I am buying this anvil from a guy located about an hour away.  It weighs 296 pounds and the guy is asking $450.  Seems to be a very fair price.  He hasn't cleaned it up and doesn't know what it is.  However, it has a 1 3/8" hardie, is coming from the Cleveland area, and sure looks like a Columbian to my uneducated eyes.  It looks to be in great shape and he said it rings clear so the face isn't delaminated.  Am headed there after work to pick it up unless you folks tell me I am making a miserable mistake. 

Thanks again for the help.

Columbian.jpg

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Doesn't look like a Columbian to me, a tad more gracile; but do the ball bearing test and if passes snatch it up!  The C in the triangle will tell the tale.

Location doesn't correlate to maker very strongly.  Last two anvils I bought: 1 from CA , USA, that was a HB from Brooklyn NY and the other a Peter Wright I bought in New Mexico.  My Trenton that I bought just outside of Columbus OH, where it was made, had just arrived there from Arizona where it was used in a copper mine---and I took it with me to NM...anvils get around!

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Status update:  Said anvil now resides in a new home where it will be put to its intended use...  So I show up to inspect it and no C or any other markings other than a 9 8 3 on the side.  There may be more numbers but I couldn't tell.  Based on no C and that there was a clear weld seam around the waist let me know it wasn't a Columbian like I first thought.  I don't have a ball bearing but it rebounds really well when hit with a hammer.  The face is in really good shape with only two small edge chips and a really crisp edge on the left side of the anvil.  The right side has a really weird wear pattern though.  There is an area maybe 1.0 to 1.5 inches in diameter that is worn a bit lower than the rest of the face and the right edge is rounded a bit as if it was used to fold something over.  Whoever used it must have made exactly the same piece a few thousand times.  Having said that, it is in really good shape with no torch cuts, gouges, or other damage.

The guy I bought it from said he has a 500 pounder stashed under a pile of scrap (he works maintenance for a scrap yard) and said he will call me as soon as he gets a chance to dig it out.  IF he calls me back, I will post it here so one of you guys that can actually use something that big can get it.

Any thoughts on what the heck the 9 8 3 means?  I didn't weigh it but knowing what I can lift - I believe the guy that it weighs in at the 296 he claimed.  So now I am the happy owner of a 124 Fisher and this 300 pound Hay Budden (thank you FoxFire for the ID).  I am on to forges and some tools.

Edited by DavidP2211
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Take some closeup pics odd the side with the numbers and post them,  would enjoy seeing it.  Any numbers on the front foot under the horn?  Would love to know where a 500# is hiding as well! ;)

Edited by Black Frog
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Will get them and post them tomorrow.  The guy also had a 350 pounder, but pretty beat up, that he sold a few weeks ago for $450 to his neighbor.  I told him if he could find the 500, that I would give him $750 for it so long as it was in good shape.  He was totally thrilled with the price.  I suspect some of you sharks would have him down to pennies on the pound but I figure a long term source of anvils is worth not making him interested in looking around...

 

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