Posted about an early Trenton I found in an antique shop in Md.. After reading about the history, it says that they had cast bases - so why would this anvil have all the handling holes, including the two in this photo, one in the middle and one in the foot of the anvil?   Anybody have any ideas?

Not sure but my anvil (suspected Brooks but no markings to confirm) is definitely cast and also has a handling hole. I'm also interested if anyone knows why that would be.

I think the earlier Trenton anvils had forged bases and only the later ones were cast. They had a weld line around the waist if I recall correctly. 

A bit of searching on this forum will bring up the information. 

Andy

Handling holes are for handling the anvils---remember you only need to heat the face area for heat treating and the waist area if you are forge welding the top and bottom pieces together.  Handy to have a way to grab and manipulate them

Thomas, thank you for that information, however, that's the basis of my question - I thought Trenton bought cast bases and thus negated the need for forge welding the top and bottom pieces.  However, I finally got the right keywords here together and found a response from member 101 H-B in 2014 to a question about an unidentified anvil.  His response, in part, was:

"Early on when CFI started making Trentons for Boker in Columbus, probably before they used cast bases, the bases were forged with a ledge on the feet, but with a handling hole in the front foot like all later Trentons. Some were marked U.S.A. as if to distinguish them from the previous German made ones."

Knew this group would have an answer.....but still don't know what approximate year was for A7812 - can anyone take a look at AIA?  I think it's 1898 or 1899.

 

Thanks.

 

So what does having a cast base have to do with heat treating and grinding the face and needing to hold/maneuver the anvil while doing so?

Maybe nothing, and I do not have an affirmative answer.   While I realize that I cannot state that all cast base anvils will not have handling holes, neither can I say they will.  I believe there to be a subset with handling holes for the reasons you state.  However, the number and location of the handling holes would most likely be driven by the type, number, and location on the anvil of the actions that needed to be performed to complete it.  

Your statement, in response to mine, seems to infer that cast base anvils would, of necessity, have handling holes.  I have seen cast base anvils that do not just as I have seen some cast base anvils do.  The ones on cast base anvils I have seen were generally relegated to the foot of the anvil and not elsewhere.  Thus, based upon my current understand of handling holes, along with the location of the two handling holes on the same side of the anvil in the picture, I cannot satisfactorily arrive at an explanation of why they would be necessary on a cast base anvil, whereas I can if it was forged.  

Hopefully, you can shed light on this.  I will defer to the facts, information and skills that you have acquired over the years to provide an explanation for your own question.

No there are other methods of holding them but being cast does not preclude them either!

Agreed.  However, you have piqued my curiousity.  In my limited empirical data collection of what cast base anvils look like,  I have noticed less handling holes than on forged anvils.  I don't remember seeing any with more than 2, so are there cast base anvils that have 3 or 4 or more holes?  I would appreciate any insight you can provide as I would like to research this a bit more and your insight could help focus my research.  

May I commend to your attention "Anvils in America" by Richard Postman in particular the discussion on page 39; (but there is a lot more buried in the book under each type of anvil listed!)  He should get the credit not I.  You can also call him up and talk directly to him; he's a nice fellow and one of the leading authorities on anvils in the world.

Thank you.  I shall do so.  I'll let you know what I find out.