Thanks in advance for all help on this.....this is the anvil from my family's now sold 100 plus year old farmstead. I am so proud to have it and thankful that before Grandma passed, she entrusted it to me. I have purchased and received both of Richard Postman's books and have started pouring through them. No family members know of it's origin. It is very important to me to identify it's make, and year. There are no visible marks and I only have one pic on phone, but I will add more when home if needed. My guess on weight would be 125# to 150#. Thanks again!

 

Postman's Mousehole Forge book is facinating reading into how anvils were made way back when.

As far as I can tell, there's no pritchel hole; that would make it pre-1830-ish at the latest.

Do you think it is a mousehole then? I will take more pics and add them tonight. But I am guessing it is a mousehole farriers anvil?

1 minute ago, JMarsh said:

Do you think it is a mousehole then? I will take more pics and add them tonight. But I am guessing it is a mousehole farriers anvil?

You're the one who said Mousehole! It's right there in the thread title!

There wasn't any such thing as a "farrier's anvil" per se at that point in history; they developed a bit later. 

Looking forward to the new pics. Pro tip: take the photos without flash, with the light at a low angle to the surface. That will help us see any markings that might be on the anvil. 

oops....my bad........the title of thread was supposed to be Mousehole? .......I missed the question mark and am not sure how to fix.

I am sorry  that knowing the make and year is important to you as the year was not very important to the makers in general.  (William Foster used to date stamp their anvils, and Fisher used to put a date in as part of their warranty program) however if you read Postman's books you will see that for some makers he was going by the "number sold" in their ads to try to date serial numbers and some it's the style of the logos  or letters that give a relative date.

Also for english anvils a lot of the smaller makers learned the craft working in the factories of the big makers: Mousehole or Peter Wright.  So when they went on their own; their anvils often look a LOT like the ones they learned on...With several hundred English Makers, if you can't find markings it may well be indeterminate! 

However I believe there are really only a few types of anvils: Excellent Anvils, Good Anvils, Fair Anvils, Poor anvils and ASO's and that is determined by working on them.  You can get an anvil that was made by a top company that has been ruined by fire or abuse and so is a Poor anvil *now*; while a "lower grade" company's anvil is in great using shape, *now*.

I really appreciate everyone taking time to respond....It isn't that the maker and date are super critical because I am using and caring for the anvil regardless.....I would just like to have "the rest of the story" to help piece together it's journey. hopefully through more pics, we can conclude that it for sure came from Europe and a rough time frame. Just a great piece of family history that I drove by 10000 times, on a lawn mower while cutting the farm lawn, dreaming about the things built on it and the craftsman/farmers/family that used it.

More pics .....if it helps

Well, I can tell you right off that the stump is from a tree killed by the Emerald Ash Borer. 

4 hours ago, JHCC said:

Well, I can tell you right off that the stump is from a tree killed by the Emerald Ash Borer. 

Im always learning!

 

Concerning the anvil:  those pictures probably won't tell anyone much more.  If you can take a wire wheel to the sides you may find subtle details that some of the gurus can work out.  The side in the original picture (bick on the right) should having telling information on it.

I will try that tonight....thank you for the help!

6 hours ago, Lou L said:

Im always learning!

The galleries left by the feeding larvae have a characteristic serpentine pattern.

Looks like the face plate is broken off of the tail section. If that's the case take it easy on that section. 

Daswulf......I am ashamed, embarrassed and sad to say that due to the anvils former outside lifestyle. ...it had a bit of flaking/delamination in that area.....and I chased it a bit with a grinder.....I know better now....and from that point toward horn it is still perfectly useable.....but before this site, I did't havery anyone local to ask.

30 minutes ago, JMarsh said:

before this site, I did't havery anyone local to ask.

Don't worry; we're here for you.

Well you found the right place to learn. I was in the same boat before.( not knowing better of things) Now you know. That anvil can still serve you well, just keep all the heavy hammering over the sweet spot and you'll be fine. 

Your anvil, your right and it's not like you did something unforgivable like grinding on the face....

I predate Postman's book in the craft and remember when "Names and Dates" were not that important when buying anvils...

After buying a Mousehole of my own, I also poured through the 2 Postman books. Yours has every nuance of being an early 19th century Mousehole anvil. Unfortunately the best I have gleaned from the second publication is that even with a known makers mark, the best you can do is to date its manufacture to about a ten year period. It seems Mousehole Forge changed maker's marks about every ten years or so. 

The most distinguishing features, as I understand them, are the feet (definitely Mousie looking), the basic shape (old English style), the lack of a pritchel (said to have been added after 1830), and the wide, somewhat stubby, work face (another trait common to Mousehole). 

Congrats on the anvil!

I'm totally making this up (inasmuch as I have no evidence on authority that it is true) but my limited experience investigating my own two English anvils is that the older the anvils have a more robust bick.  The weld on my broken anvil ends right where the waist starts to narrow.  On the slightly younger Isaac Hill the bick is supported by long tapered section that goes all the way to the center of the waist.  This could, of course, simply be the result of two different makers but I have noticed the same on older Colonial anvils compared to their more recent models from the same makers.  I surmise that the Civil War Yankees must have breaking bicks since the late 1700's and they responded by trying to make them more robust.

I'd appreciate input on my theory from those who already know.  Feel free to tell me I'm full of moose droppings, I'm used to it being married and all.