help identify mystery 204# garage anvil?

[RolfOrge]

Hi there - just picked up an old local 204-pounder, at a decent price.

Trying to identify. Clues so far:

1) Weight is in *pounds, not stone, at '204' (which means it's American, not European, correct?);

2) It has stamped markings, which means forged steel/ wrought iron, not cast, correct?

3) Extra little step/ledge around the feet (which I assume is common to a certain maker or area);

4) Extra handling hole between the feet in front;

5) Kind of a narrow V-shape between the feet - less rounded/ spread than some;

6) A number "6" stamped into the rear right-hand foot (assuming someone's Model/Number '6' anvil?);

7) We can make out an 'OL' above the '204,' which we are guessing is part of 'SOLID WROUGHT,' like you'd see on a Trenton or Hay Budden;

8) Also maybe an 'ENGLAND' above that. (So there goes my American theory?) Will try to post pics that show marks.

9) Bottom is dead flat, except for handling hole.

10) We think it may have been double-stamped. There is a fainter '204' above the main one, a fainter 'ENGLAND' above, and so on.

Also, possibly an 'RY' at the end of the maker's name, up top. And there is a hint of a ring (double ring) around the whole stamp. All of it maddeningly faint.

Best guess: we are looking at a British Peter Wright knockoff (maybe they started using pounds for weight instead of hundredweight fractions, at some point)? Not Hay or Trenton, if British, of course, maybe closer to a Sanderson or Hill, but not them?

Any thoughts/help much appreciated.

Thanks!

Rolf and Hannu in MA

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

32 minutes ago, RolfOrge said:

Rolf and Hannu in MA

We won't remember this after leaving this post, hence the suggestion to edit your profile to show location. Have you read this yet?

https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/53873-read-this-first/

Sorry I can't help with the anvil ID but am sure someone will have some ideas.

[RolfOrge]

Thanks, Irondragon - will edit profile.

[Marc1]

Peter Wright as far as I can tell. 

Pounds not stones ...  ... yet to see an anvil weight in stones, but you never know. We still use stones for body weight. Drives one crazy. I am 12 stones

[RolfOrge]

Yes, pounds. But generally marked in hundredweight, quarter-hundredweight, and pounds. At least Peter Wright/ Mouse Hole, Sanderson, Hill, etc are marked that way.

My guess: Peter Wright copy, from somewhere in England, a couple hundred years ago or less.

Sure is cleaning up nice with the wire brush.

Thanks!

[RolfOrge]

Well, my son figured it out. It is a Henry Wright.

The '...RY' makes sense. The 'ENGLAND' makes sense. The '204' pounds weight makes sense. The 'shelf' feet make sense. The flat bottom makes sense. Check check check check and check. Problem solved. Thanks, all!

(Henry Wright was apparently an imitator of Peter Wright, forging out of Dudley. Couldn't keep up with PW, who filed a complaint against him for patent infringement, or similar. Produced anvils between 1840s and 1914, I think? Similar 98#er attached here, for comparison.)

Anyway. We got a good deal on a forged British hunk of iron. AND, we have a massive black locust trunk to mount it on. A good day's work.

[ausfire]

Interesting. So there was a bit of skulduggery going on in the anvil business way back then!

[ThomasPowers]

Well most of the folks making anvils learned the craft in another shop before they set up their own. Since there were two BIG ones around: Mousehole and Peter Wright many of them worked in those shops and so when they went on to make their own they "made what they knew".

Still going on today though not so much in the anvil world...