John Brooks Anvil...info?

[A.S and Sons]

Greetings, Guru's of Steel!

 

I recently bought a 499lb London pattern anvil. She's a beast! On one side of the waist, she's marked:

John Brooks

Stourbridge

Warranted

The hundredweight is marked on the opposite side of the waist: 4 - 1 - 23

I haven't been able to find all that much information on the maker of this anvil, possible date, etc. The anvil was part of a large lot of forge equipment I purchased off an elderly gentleman, for a few thousand. Wondering on the quality of the anvil, for plain curiosity.

[George Geist]

Great score!!!!!!

George

[Foundryman]

That looks to be a nice anvil, I'd say it's probably an older ones as it appears to be of forged wrought iron construction and later Brooks are solid cast steel. However I do not know what date they switched from forging to casting or whether it was a graduated change depending on the style/weight of the anvil in question, either way though that's a great find, congratulations!

[JBOLDUC]

It is a very nice and BIG anvil, congratulation.

When I found my cast steel Brooks anvils, I did some search on the internet and didn’t find much information, and almost nothing on the forged one. The best I found was a post on this forum. If it’s not already done, do a search on “John Brooks anvil” and roll down the results to a reply from Bruce Beamish dated December 25, 2012.

It will not gives you the age of your anvil but maybe, at least, a part of the history?

The cast steel Brooks made after WWII looks “common” at least, around here. I found two of them and saw many others in the small adds or in my customer’s shop. It's the first time I see a forge Brooks anvil. I am not an anvil expert but: You found a 500Lb anvil which is special in itself, and it is from a brand we hardly find information on the internet. It is a nice find but maybe it is also a rare if not unique find?