Hi. The attached anvil was in my friends uncles garage. It is small.  I have no means of weighing other than bathroom scale with me on it.  If I guess I thin 2.5 to 3 pounds.  Not cast iron. Either bronze or brass.   No markings per se other than incised mark that I thought was a bird.  Maybe just some random mark in metal.  What I haven't found is an anvil with rectangular hole on face plate.  Her uncle would be 106 if he was alice today.  No way of knowing the age.  Please see pics. Thanks 

 

 

Honestly looks like a trinket pencil holder or something to me. Maybe old, maybe not so old. 

Appreciate your input.  It is very old.  It has been buried in that shed for many moons.

 

Old in terms of an anvil is sometimes 1700's and back, I believe that's what was meant. Unless it's been buried in that shed since the revolution 

Hi no need to be mean.  I know te one company was founded in 1873 that would be  antique.   Old to me is 75 plus years.  My posting is not fodder for jokes.  If you can't say anything nice, please don't reply.  Ps it is not a pencil holder.  

Nobody's being mean to you, or making jokes. There was a reference to age and anvils age much slower than people do. 

I am curious as to what I could be since you say it's not a pen/pencil holder. The size would be good for one on a large executive desk.  Do you know what it is?

Not knowing which of the 100+ countries that participate on these forums it is in, I can say that here in America items like that were sometimes made in school shop classes as part of the foundry section of metalworking class.  It could date to the 1930's but probably not before 1900.

Can you explain how you know it was not planned to be a holder for desk implements back then?  That would tell us more about it.  It does look like it's missing the fettling I would expect from foundry classes of that period.  Perhaps a second?

You may wish to search under "advertising Anvils" to see if any others with a rectangular hole in the face show up.

I don't know. My aunts uncle was a wood worker. There were a lot of old tools in shed as well as a cast iron victorian umbrella stand with an evil looking face.  I know it is old not chinese modern junk.  It is heavy and one piece construction.

one person replied that it is a pencil holder.  I thought maybe a jewelers anvil. Don't know why there is a large rectangular hole unless something else fits in it.  

 

 

  

 

My reply was in no way intended to me mean or rude at all. The reason I think it was a pencil holder or other desk setting holding object is because of the hollow center and I have seen other items cast in brass/bronze for that purpose. 

Some manufactures made "salesman samples" which would be given or taken to potential purchasers to show or demonstrate their product on a smaller scale as opposed to lugging the full sized object all around trying to sell them. 

Usually tho the "samples" would be more refined and even have the markings that the actual product had. This one has a nice shape but lacks some definition that the sample would have. 

Also there are small anvils for jewelers but the hollowed out center makes me believe this was made as it is and it was not made to be used as an anvil but more as a desk ornament. 

I didn't intend to be mean at all, rather making a lighthearted joke. 

I did find a similar example listed on another website:

http://www.antiqbuyer.com/All_Archives/MISC-ARCHIVES/collections.htm

Someone mentions in there that: "looks like it would accept a hammer handle.  Never saw that one before! "

But it doesn't go all they way through as a hammer eye would.

 

43 minutes ago, Charcold said:

I did find a similar example listed on another website:

http://www.antiqbuyer.com/All_Archives/MISC-ARCHIVES/collections.htm

Someone mentions in there that: "looks like it would accept a hammer handle.  Never saw that one before! "

now. My aunts uncle was a wood worker. There were a lot of old tools in shed as well as a cast iron victorian umbrella stand with an evil looking face.  I know it is old not chinese modern junk.  It is heavy and one piece construction.

one person replied that it is a pencil holder.  I thought maybe a jewelers anvil. Don't know why there is a large rectangular hole unless something else fits in it.  

Thank. I looked at website but could not find what you were referring to. Thank you for helping 

 

  

 

Blacksmiths business card holder ?

either way it's a great conversation piece.

Reminds me of a decorative mantlepiece spill holder......they came in all manor of wierd and wonderfull designs.

 

Not business card Holder.   Hole is 1.5 inches deep by 1.75 inches wide.

HI don't know what a spill holder is.  Hole is 1.5 inches deep by 1.75 inches wide.   

Wikipedia: Thin sticks of wood or paper, used for transferring fire, and stored in a spill vase.

So if you wanted to light a candle to light you to bed, you'd grab a spill and light it in the fireplace and use it to light your candle. (You could then toss it in the fireplace).

They were not as common once matches became prevalent.

HI don't know what a spill holder is.  Hole is 1.5 inches deep by 1.75 inches wide.   

Thank you  just looked it up.  Interesting.    

 

The amount of strange and often useless information available on these forums is astonishing!  We've had people correct our ancient Greek before, for example...(not that ancient greek is useless, I know just the person to kidnap invite along when my time machine finally works!)

And Fridays often get weird as folks wind down from work and look forward to smithing on the weekend. (As a special treat I get to go to the scrapyard Saturday morning!!! Then we're going to celebrate our 33rd anniversary at the St James tearoom in Albuquerque; though I'm sure my wife will turn the hose on me before letting me leave the house...)

HI don't know what a spill holder is.  Hole is 1.5 inches deep by 1.75 inches wide.   

Thank you  just looked it up.  Interesting.    

 

Happy Anniversary.   Again thanks for info

 

to many here 'old' and 'very old' mean different things than they would to normal people, our main shop anvil is from about 1730 and we have older we think, we have made replicas for museums and reenactors / historical interpreters, recently my assosiate made 3 brass kettles that went to the mary rose museum here in England.

personally I consider 1700 to be 'old' ( of course Thomas was only middle aged then    ) and the 10th century and before to be 'very old' and anything after 1800 is 'new'.

I dont think anyone here was being mean to you Nancy and we only normally make jokes about each other here

T.P. & Nancy,

Try this reference for a picture of a spill generating plane that Lee Valley Tools still sells

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=64338&cat=1,230,41182

It also describes what a spill was/is and a history of its use.

Regards,

SLAG.

p.s. abusive posts and obnoxious members (there are a very few of them) are dealt with quickly by the site monitors.

looking at the top-down view, it looks like things were dragged in/out of the hole repeatedly, over long periods of time. I could visualize jewelry, specifically chains/necklaces, being drug in and out of the storage hole and being lightly hammered on the face of the anvil. Maybe making chains, hammering individual links from longer rods could leave the wear tracks? I dunno?

 

kinda neat though. 

Thanks. See what you are saying 

I'm going to guess that this was the base for something, the rest of which is now missing.