Jclonts82 Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Just curious about the meaning of the 3 that is below the obvious name weight and date here: And on the other side, in what looks to be different tooling/stamp style is 150(4?) Thanks for any ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Frog Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 I've had a theory for a few years now, after examining and collecting thousands of anvils stamp pictures. With Soderfors I kept seeing numbers below the year. I started keeping track of those numbers, and which ones appeared. They were always one through twelve, never higher than thirteen. I still have never seen one higher than 13. I believe the number being placed that close to the year stamp, and always being 1 through 12, this was the month stamp of the associated year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubalcain2 Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Makes sense to me. Mine has a 10 in that spot. That would make it October? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jclonts82 Posted February 28, 2018 Author Share Posted February 28, 2018 1 hour ago, Black Frog said: the month stamp That's brilliant. And a good enough answer for me as your research seems to point well in that direction. thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Frog Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 While Soderfors didn't have serial numbers, a month stamp would at least give them an indication of production timeframes after the fact if there ever was a problem with a certain batch of steel or raw iron ore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-ManBart Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 4 minutes ago, Black Frog said: While Soderfors didn't have serial numbers, a month stamp would at least give them an indication of production timeframes after the fact if there ever was a problem with a certain batch of steel or raw iron ore. My Soderfors has a number that could well be a serial number....can't see how it could possibly be a date. Everyone who sees this beauty tries to buy it, but she's mine, mine, mine all mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Frog Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Correct, that's an old style stamp. Sometimes you see numbers like that sporadically, could very well be a serial number. or steel batch number. But they were not serialized like American manufacturers through their entire production history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-ManBart Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 5 minutes ago, Black Frog said: Correct, that's an old style stamp. Sometimes you see numbers like that sporadically, could very well be a serial number. But they were not serialized like American manufacturers through their entire production history. That makes sense...could be something else entirely as well. Is there any documentation or idea when they changed to the newer stamp style? I have it mounted on a nice fabricated steel stand and my search for the perfect smaller anvil is probably over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Or could be an inventory number from a company that bought it. The University I teach an intro to smith class at cam through and added inventory numbers to all the equipment in the shop---even the stuff that was not University property... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Frog Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Highly doubtful that one company bought a huge number of Soderfors anvils, over many years, to have them stamped similarly like this with numbers as we find them now. And with number stamps that are of a Swedish looking character font. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 I was mainly addressing the perception that nothing changed on an anvil once it left the factory. I don't have enough data to remark on the number so stamped. I have a Powe(ll) that I got that I may stamp Powers as you can't see the last 2 characters. Richard Postman identified it for me and as it's missing the heel I have no compunction in modifying it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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