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Mossy Trenton


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Hello, everyone. My name is Dennis. I was hoping someone could help me try to estimate the weight of an anvil I hope to acquire at an upcoming auction. I think I can make out a 25 as the first two digits in the weight stamp, but it's difficult to read because it's covered in moss as the title indicates. Judging comparatively with  photos of other Trentons it looks to me like it's at least 200lbs., but I figured a more knowledgeable eye would be better able to nail it down. It's a 4 hour drive from my location so, I'd sort of like to know what to expect. I'm also just curious. It looks to be in good shape. Anyway, I'd appreciate it if some of you could help me out with a more educated opinion.

trenton.anvil2.JPG

trenton.anvil.JPG

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Hmm... Nothing wrong with that. I have to admit I was hoping for more, but that's alright. Thanks, Ferrous Beuler. :)

 

I've also been wondering if those two things on the ground to the left are round hardy tools. It looks like it might fit in the hardy hole. I may try to get those too even if they're not. Looks like they'd make good legs for something. lol

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Can't say for sure but rail is about 3.5" wide making the anvil face around 4" wide. I'd guesstimate in the 125lb. + range. Condition looks pretty good if the strong line under the face at the heal isn't a delamination.

I love the color though, I'm going to have to see if I can find green flocking for mine. Hunter green flocking and a dash of gold sprinkles and my shop colors would enter the 21st. century!

The two objects ball ended shafts and sq. pins look to be ball connectors for stabilizer bars or similar. Shined up they'd make decent deep ball stakes for raising vessels.  I have a small ball with a bolt flange that supports one end of a long stabilizer bar on a road grader that came out of the scrap bucket at the heavy duty shop. The scrap bucket was a 3 yrd loader bucket that sat behind the welding bay of the shop. GOOD scrounging that! 

Frosty The Lucky.

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Trentons are great anvils in my opinion and that one looks in great shape. Auctions are tricky tho and you need to set your price and stick with it. 4 hours for a maybe is a lot. If there is a lot of other possibly interesting stuff then it might be worth it but really other then a few rare times I have seen people pay way over my kind of rational prices for anvils. 

Those two objects remind me of parts of andirons. 

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Well if they are solid and heavy enough, I wouldn't think twice and make them into ball stakes of some kind but yeah, they certainly remind me of andirons. And Could be so. 

I have a couple pair of andirons kicking around the shop. One pair is mildly ornate and heavy brass. The other are some home made of rr track and horse shoes welded on the ends. Pretty neat, and rr track anvils if ever need be. Both sets were picked up at auction. 

Auctions can be great for buying but conditions and reality need to be right. Always go in with a plan (and or formulate one during preview) and stick to budget on items. Read the auctioneer as you go or better if you know how they work already. I have been to some where I made out like a bandit and others where I came home empty or had to pay premium if I really wanted the item"s". 

Good luck. 

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Thanks for your insights guys. In response to Frosty on the potential delamination of the faceplate. I was a bit concerned about that because of the area at the heel too. As for the long drive and unpredictability of auctions, I'm hoping I can get it at a decent price if win the war, but there's going to be lots of stuff at the event so even if I don't get the anvil I'm sure I'll be interested in many other things. It's an estate auction for an elderly couple the husband of which was an auction lover. He accumulated a huge collection of tools over the years. Also, though the drive is a long one, I think a friend and I are going together and there are some nice lakes in the area. We may go a day in advance and take the boat so we can fish the day before.

I'm actually interested in copper work for making still boiler components so those things on the ground, whatever they are, I think would work well for raising vessels as you pointed out, Frosty, or maybe I'll have to build a fireplace and use them as andirons, Daswulf. Sounds like you have some nice brass to utilize at some point.

Back to the anvil, I do have feelers out looking for others so I'm not too concerned about not getting the one at auction if I can't pick it up at a reasonable price. The Trenton looks to be one of the later models to me because of the logo. That being said, if I had to pay premium prices for an anvil I'd like to save an older one if I can find one. I hate to see stuff like this go to scrap yards. My oldest friend who has passed away now was a knife maker. Although he didn't get heavy into the blacksmithing side of things I did learn a bit from him and ended up with an appreciation for the craft and all the things that encompass it. I wish I had been able to acquire his anvil, hammers and tongs. It all went to a single buyer when he sold his shop.

Anyway, thanks for the help guys. If I buy it or a different one at some point I'll post some pictures.

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Read the auctioneer as you go or better if you know how they work already.

There's an auction local to me that I have seen the auctioneer run the price up on some items. Either he's bidding it up because he wants it for himself or because he knows what it's worth and he's trying to bid someone up for the sellers (and his) benefit. It took some time to figure that out but once I did it was helpful. 

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I've run across several auctioneers with dubious business practices; one had members of his team bidding things up and if they won it the piece mysteriously showed up later in the auction; another would grab imaginary bids from the floor.  I stopped going to auctions for the most part as I found it was cheaper and faster to work the TPAAAT.

I have bought 1 anvil at auction: 134# HB; but the auction was a business auction where (back then) there was little interest in smithing stuff---it was a HVAC company so no yuppie crowd with money but no clue about going rates for old tools. *AND* the auction was held on a holiday weekend and so most businesses didn't attend either---so the chance of a business guy interested in smith was lower.  Buying a 5' heavy duty brake for US$15 was the height of my buys; the 10' hydraulic brake went for over $12K.  Anvil was one of my more expensive ones $150.

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I almost never go to auctions here. When you sign in you're agreeing to their terms which say up front they can and will up bids if their set prices aren't or expectations met. The shills don't even try to pretend to be attendees, they wear company jackets and caps in the audience. Auctioneers will ignore too low an opening bid and point at a shill to check his/er list and make the "right" opening bid.

Auctions around here have become stupid blatant fixed.  

Frosty The Lucky.

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On 9/21/2017 at 12:21 PM, ThomasPowers said:

Definitely take the boat and get some fishing in.  With the current bubble in anvil prices I would expect it to go high; especially as that sounds like an auction the dealers will be attending.

I'm sure you're probably right. I have no intention of paying more than a couple dollars a pound though, if that. Definitely taking the boat if my buddy wants to drag it up there. I haven't mentioned that to him yet. I just said "fishing" and he knows the area so I'll "let him come up with the idea". lol

On 9/21/2017 at 1:18 PM, ThomasPowers said:

Buying a 5' heavy duty brake for US$15 was the height of my buys; the 10' hydraulic brake went for over $12K.  Anvil was one of my more expensive ones $150.

That's awesome...

On 9/22/2017 at 3:38 AM, Frosty said:

Auctioneers will ignore too low an opening bid and point at a shill to check his/er list and make the "right" opening bid.

Auctions around here have become stupid blatant fixed. 

That's a shame... I guess I'll find out in the future if the same is true around here. Seems to me they'd be losing money if they do xxxx like that regularly especially if the regular auction attendees know their games. I know this though, I'm no sucker and I'm one of the biggest tightwads there is so they're gonna have hell trying to screw me over. lol

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That's a shame... I guess I'll find out in the future if the same is true around here. Seems to me they'd be losing money if they do shit like that regularly especially if the regular auction attendees know their games. I know this though, I'm no sucker and I'm one of the biggest tightwads there is so they're gonna have hell trying to screw me over. lol

I don't know how they stay in business either but it's gotten to where there are only two (I think) auction companies operating and both share a large store where they try and sell stuff that doesn't at auction. People get auction fever and and start competing against each other over the dumbest stuff. I've seen a frame and one fender of a Schwinn bicycle go for about 150% of a new bike. Auctioneers live on the bid fever, it's their job and I don't hold it against them. There's a limit though and these guys are pushing it.

Hopefully they'll finally greed themselves out of the business and someone more honest will take up the business. Yeah, right I've only been waiting for that to happen here for 45 years now. Maybe the next one? :rolleyes: 

I am SO glad Dad took me to auctions when I was really young. He bought a lot of shop equipment at going out of business and bankruptcy auctions. He talked me through and had me watching bid fever at auctions till I was pretty calloused.  Still got me a couple times but I REALLY wanted that . . . thing. The weirdest dumbness I ever came home with was a case of eggs. I didn't bid on them, nobody did so they ended up in the free pile. What was I going to do with 30 dozen eggs? Nobody I knew wanted any so they ended up in the dumpster and ONE dozen in my fridge. Yeah, I had to Google case of eggs, I didn't remember other than there were a LOT of eggs in that big old heavy duty carton.

Dad would've died laughing had I told him, so long as I didn't tell anybody he knew and embarrass him. 

Frosty The Lucky.

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(you didn't think to store them till Halloween.....)  I've often bought what I wanted from the buyer of a jumbled together lot for less than I was willing to bid; doesn't always work. Sometimes they wanted the same stuff that you did.   My wife had the auction experience of waiting all day to get a specific item and then having the Auctioneer's helper destroy it when it cam up for bid---he didn't know how it should be treated and so ruined it "demonstrating" it to the crowd.  I'm rather surprised he went home un-throttled...

And then there was buying my Hopkins #2 screw press for US$50 (+ buyer's reaming, + rigger's cost + tax => $100)  Had to jump in before they lumped it in with arbor presses that were going silly high...

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