I recently acquired a wrought iron  Arm and Hammer anvil.  The logo is stamped in the side as opposed to being raised from the surface.  This, as I understand, is much more desirable since the raised logo would indicate a Vulcan Arm and Hammer which is cast iron.  It weighs 366 lbs.  I'm not worried about the value of the anvil as I was gifted with it and intend on gifting my son with it 40 years from now.  What I am interested in is hoping someone on the forum can assist me in dating it.  The serial number on the foot is 31538 I believe.  I'd hate to run out and purchase a copy of Anvils In America for $65 only to date it.  I don't mean to sound as though I intend on benefiting from someone else having invested in the book but I am hoping someone is willing to share the info.

     

AIA indicates 197-1918 ballpark for that serial number.

Could you please post a closeup picture of your side logo stamp? 

 Absolutely!  Here are two pics - One of the logo stamp and a pic of the anvil.  Sorta bummed out that the stamping is as poor as it is.  Maybe the worker was a bit tipsy that day.  :-)  

Lots of A&H's are not stamped very deep, and most can be quite faint.

Yours the 4th style of logo stamp that A&H used in their production history.  Thanks for the pictures!  Beautiful anvil

Thanks, Black Frog.  I appreciate the assistance and look forward to the other valuable information I will learn from the website.  Knowing this is the 4th logo style of A&H makes me now want to buy the book so I'll know more for future opportunities.  I may sell this one and get a smaller one.  Not sure I'm going to need this behemoth as my intentions are to make knives and smaller things.  BUT -- better to have more than I need than not enough.  Besides - it was FREE.  Guess I'll cross that bridge should I run across another while trying to build my smithing tool collection.

         

That information is not in the book.

I wouldn't sell that anvil, it will only go up in value.  And someday you may want a bigger anvil.  Since you got it for FREE, you don't have anything to lose by hanging on to it except storing it.

I once traded a ~125# Peter Wright (plus money plus a postvise screw and screwbox) for a 410# Trenton as the fellow wanted to have an anvil; but one he could move easily as he was travelling a lot; where I wanted a large anvil for my shop and didn't plan to move much more.

I think you could very easily find a deal like that *here*!  Blacksmiths suffer terribly from Anvil Envy; but in reality most of us could do our work on a 165# anvil which was once specified as a good size for a commercial shop anvil. (Industrial work went larger)

Yeah, after having a bit to think on it I'm probably just going to keep it.  I don't NEED the money.  I don't have anything invested in it except a couple of hours manual labor digging it out.  And I have plenty of space in my shop for a smaller anvil should I run across a deal on a smaller one.  BUT -- it will be something to consider should I decide I need a power hammer.  :-)

 

   

The idea of having a powerhammer is that you won't need a big anvil to do heavy work on!

My theory is you can do small (light) work on a big anvil but can't do big (heavy) work on a small anvil.

That's a good theory IF&C, I like it!

I can't look at that picture of the "stamped" logo without it looking raised. The lighting is coming from the opposite direction than my brain is expecting.

Funny. I stared at the pic for a while, too thinking how it looked raised. But I know for certain it isn't. 

I'm not doubting you at all. It's just one of those funny optical illusions. If I squint just right I can see that it's stamped. Or if it was turned upside down, then the light would be hitting it as my "calcified" brain expects and it would look stamped.

Of course for some things you might need a bridge on the big anvil where you could use the heel on a small anvil---why I have my 91# anvil and my 515# anvil right next to each other...