Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Help Identifying This Anvil


Recommended Posts

NC   New Caledonia (French: Nouvelle-Calédonie) is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, 1,210 km (750 mi) east of Australia

Probably from France as you are in a French collectivity....world wide web ya' know

Can we see a picture of the stone weight and any other markings on it?  The fat, short heel, short horn and little height in the step transition was what I was basing my call on.  Does it weigh 130 pounds?

Edited by ThomasPowers
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those photos are much better, thanks.  Obvious globbed together forge welds in the body, visible face plate weld line, and overall shape strongly indicate English import.   There were hundreds? of makers of similar anvils in that era so who knows.  Call it a Green and get hammering.  Not much rarity value if you are planning to take it to ebay unless you can dig up a better story than you are finding here.  It's functional for a smith but beat up for a collector... kind of small in my opinion (grin).  There are 2 or 3 guys on here who might know better, perhaps they will chime in.

Some of those Hay Budds you have in the background look like nice users.

Edited by Judson Yaggy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes the clear pictures clearly contradict my earlier musings!  (save that Green might have been the owner)

Traditionally forged anvil; not a bad weight; does the pritchel hole look to be drilled rather than punched? (If so it may be a retrofit pushing the date of the anvil back a bit further.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the pritchel hole was punched from the bottom side and was punched at a slight angle. the hardy hole is also crooked with a slight taper on all four sides.                                                                                                                                                                               ps posting for hammerhead73 thanks joe

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...

I can tell you that green probably isn't the person's name because I found this thread looking for info on an anvil just like yours that says Green too and has another word under that one. I'm a total newbie to anvils, forges, ect but I have a twin to yours except my horn has been broken off.

20181114_154800.jpg

20181114_154806.jpg

20181114_154816.jpg

20181114_154859.jpg

20181114_154907.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Well age of the anvil may not correlate with how long they had it; (after all I have an 1828 William Foster anvil that I bought; but I'm not quite that old!)

Does the pritchel hole exist and if so does it look like it was punched in (irregularities on the bottom side of it). If  no hole; then probably before the 1820's. If drilled hole; then may have been retrofitted. If punched hole; probably after the 1820's.

Are the feet small, sharp and forge welded on?  Evidence of  the anvil be welded up out of chunks?  Face shows evidence of being welded on in sections?  The more chunks an anvil was made from the generally earlier it was.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Worth depends a lot on location; which of the 100+ countries that participate in these forums on the World Wide Web should we assume you are in?   Does yours say Green on it too?  The stampings have to match to be the exact same as there are a LOT of different anvil makers in England that made almost identical anvils---they tended to learn the business working for Mousehole or Peter Wright and then go off and start up themselves making anvils like they were trained on. As I recall Postman has identified over 200 makers so far.

I bought my apx 125# Powell missing a heel with a beautiful face and fair horn for US$40 in the mid 1990's in Columbus OH.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Being proficient with a welder is important when repairing an anvil. However knowing how to do that without ruining it is even more important. Have you ever welded on an anvil with a wrought iron base and hardened face plate? The best method of repairing anvils is in this article by Robb Gunther and Karl Schuler.

http://www.anvilmag.com/smith/anvilres.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are the stampings identical?  Looks don't make it the same brand!  (Remember when all the American car dealers made all their sports cars almost identical and you had to pretty much read the name to tell them apart?)

The Gunther/Schuler is the gold standard for repair; DON'T forget the preheat!

It is in pretty sad shape for using as it is. I would not suggest it even to a beginner unless it was very cheap indeed!  Fixed it could be a nice anvil; but to fix it well is going to take a LOT of time, talent and consumables for the welder----way more than it could be sold for afterwards  probably.

Now the horn looks in good using shape in case someone with an improvised anvil needs the use of one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

New to the site and thanks in advance for any help.  My uncle gave my son an anvil with this exact maker's 'Green' stamp on one side and '1 1 25' stamped on the other (believe this makes this anvil 165#?).  My uncle was given the anvil from his great uncle who's family settled in Willow City, TX in the 1800s and my great, great uncle's brother worked at the Morris Thoroughbred Ranch where Max Hirsch, the famous race horse trainer started at 12 years old.

I was trying to find a date or at least an era when this anvil was made.

1539558481_Anvil3.thumb.PNG.98d0dc8632d1a86fcad6d500c9deac51.PNG1970788888_Anvil2.thumb.PNG.d1770ad5c9c3c6656d960c357d4c1447.PNG1289755760_Anvil1.thumb.PNG.e27b62d29821834d84fbec368e9655dc.PNGAnvil.thumb.PNG.fa9356caa658314e9e6635bf09f598ea.PNG1122484390_Anvil5.thumb.png.bec33d0158209476d7d86b28e94a6446.png

Anvil 4.PNG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...