Rarest anvil out there....

[Blacksmith Jim]

.. there is a great book called "Anvils In America" by Richard Postman that has a lot of good info on anvils that were used in the USA and a lot of dating info in it too.

I can't recommend this book enough. I got a hold of it through inter-library loan a while back. Sooo much info. Really neat to thumb through it. It's on my list to buy..

[cbl4823]

Here they are...

Smallest Trenton ever found, 24 pounds
Small 35 pound Soderfors
RAREST ANVILS... Pair of 25 pound arm and hammers. 25 pounds is the smallest weight they made. Both are in mint condition. And the part that makes them even rarer is they have CONSECUTIVE serial numbers 51736, 51737. Wont find something like this ever again.

[MLMartin]

ive seen pictures of a Bronze stump anvil, the things well over 2000 years old, thats pretty darn old and rare considering you can barly forge bronze, so a bronze anvil dosent make a huge amount of seance, the thing has a wonderful mushroom from years of work, ive also been lucky enough to see a few rail yard anvils, there huge, around 800 to 1200lbs short horn, that ends in a flat, no point to it at all

[ThomasPowers]

You know I wouldn't pay a US dollar for "rarity"; I buy my anvils for working and condition, style, size and how it was made drive my purchases---if they were *rare* I might be afraid to use them!

[cbl4823]

These 4 anvils cost more then a lot of people's entire shop. They are strickly for collectors. I would be afraid to even hit them with a hammer as well!

[highlander]

These 4 anvils cost more then a lot of people's entire shop. They are strickly for collectors. I would be afraid to even hit them with a hammer as well!

Those anvils are meant to be used, not collected, so you are wrong in that statement. You dont have to show off the size of your wallet by saying that "these anvils cost more than all your stuff." Next time, just post the pictures and call it a day. Hold the greater-than-thou attitude, please...

[Glenn]

Highlander, you are correct in saying that the anvils were (most likely) meant to be used. At this point I will not suggest they were made as specialty anvil, or a promotional item, or etc. Now many years later they are now the object of collectors attention due to the low number produced, shape, markings, whatever. The quote was *These 4 anvils cost more then a lot of people's entire shop.* NOT as you wrote *these anvils cost more than all your stuff.* Please do not change his statement in order to make things a personal matter.

There is another thread strange anvil concerning a rather rare anvil. Many people posting to that thread suggest it should be purchased (grabbed) quickly as it is a rare find, a one of a kind, etc etc. You have the opportunity to purchase the anvil, ship it home and use it as a coffee table, an end table, or place it in the front yard as a plant stand. What you do with your anvil would be your choice, including using it as an anvil.

[ThomasPowers]

Well the folks I associate with are always bragging how *cheap* they bought their stuff; not how much it costs.

My shop would cost a lot more than my shop if other folks had bought it! It's a different mindset and as foreign as it is to me I respect the right for some folks to hold it. I have a lot of fun trying to run my hobby on the cheap and enjoy all the scrounging and fleamarketing and dumpster diving that goes with it.

Of course I'm pretty tooled up having lived 15 years in the Blacksmiths' happy hunting grounds; central OH before moving out to the blacksmiths' desert of central New Mexico.

[Sam Thompson]

By way of changing the subject... Has anyone any idea what these are? The one with the ruler belongs to a friend's mother and has a rounded section on one corner (for drawing down?) and a row of three square holes along the bottom. The black one fetched about

[John Martin]

Those are those cathedral anvils, real nice. Nice cbl4823. You have to have money to be an anvil collector. Or just be Mike who seems to trip over them everywhere.

[forgeman]

cbl4823, those are beautiful anvils , and in my opinion well worth the money , what ever it was. I am still amazed at the number of people that cannot believe that an anvil can be a collectors item . In our local paper a few days ago there was an article about a pistol that set the record for price at an auction. It was a Colt Walker made in 1847, it brought over 900,000 dollars . I have several anvils that were made before 1847, the Walker Colts were made to be used , and in fact were used by the Texas Rangers . there age and rarity makes them valuable , just like anvils . thanks Forgeman

[cbl4823]

Highlander you must be a Republican the way you twisted what I said. All I meant was that they are very rare collectors pieces, and if you think they are just a tool they are not.

Edited October 15, 2008 by cbl4823

[Glenn]

Please let us stay on blacksmithing and leave politics out of the discussion.

[hammerkid]

Well if I paid that much for an anvil I~D USE IT. But its his choise he bought it LOL. My 2 cents worth
Chris

[Glenn]

If you had a gold coin you inherited from your grandfather, would you use (spend) it to buy a cold drink, candy bar, etc, or would you save it? After all it is just a coin.

Would the fellow that sold you the cold drink or candy bar replace the gold coin with his paper money, putting the paper money into the cash drawer, so he could have the coin? Would he save them for his own pleasure and maybe later give them to his kids, or would he find a collector and make a deal?

Would the collector buy the coin, and would the collector pay more than face value for the coin?

My point The 1933 Saint-Gaudens Gold Double Eagle

The U.S. Gold Double Eagle, Saint-Gaudens type, had been issued from 1907 until 1932. Although 445,500 Double Eagles had been minted with the 1933 date, none were released into circulation because of changes made to currency laws during the Great Depression. In an effort to end the run on the banks and stabilize the economy, President Franklin Roosevelt took America off the gold standard. Not only were no more gold coins to be issued for circulation, people had to turn in the ones they had.

The 1933 Double Eagle sold at auction on July 30, 2002, for $6.6 million, plus the 15% buyer's fee, which brought the total cost to the buyer to $7,590,000, plus $20 to monetize the coin and compensate the Mint for the $20 it believes it lost when the coin was thought to have been stolen. Reference: click here.

Is this $20 coin good for a cold drink and a candy bar, or do you want to hold on to it for a while? Maybe find a collector who would buy it for more than face value?

There are anvils, and then there are other anvils. I am sure that if you politely and sincerely ask cbl4823 for his assistance in finding an non-collector anvil for use in your blacksmith shop, he could come up with something, or refer you to where one could be located.

[Jmercier]

To get back on topic, this is my rare anvil

Temporary Stake Anvil page

best guestimates i've been able to get from people who know rare anvils is likely 16th century french, probably armorer's pattern. Used to have engraved faces on the side but they're mostly worn flat.

The person who was able to give me the best info on it deals with auctions and said he could probably get several grand for it at auction. Myself? including shipping I paid under 200 for it. I dont use it, it stays in a corner of my shop looking pretty. Just because you get a good price on something doesnt also mean you should use it too =P Some things shouldnt be used for fear of deteriorating their condition when they're a true rarity.

[Sam Thompson]

From the pics it looks like the top plate is folded over the edges and down the sides, is that so?

[Frosty]

I agree Justin, that's just too rare to use. It's not like it has some property unavailable elsewhere.

I'd give a place of honor, probably next to the wood stove in the living room, if I could convince Deb of course. Maybe have to buy her a special goat or maybe make an iron spinning wheel, etc.

Maybe nothing! I'd have to bribe the stuffins out of her to allow an anvil in the living room!

Frosty

[Jmercier]

From the pics it looks like the top plate is folded over the edges and down the sides, is that so?

It's hard to exactly tell how the top was welded on, its' not steel, it's solid wrought iron the whole way up, and never had a steel face. It's too old to have had one. It's certainly possible that the top was one piece and folded over the sides, but it's not really easy to tell if that's the case or if it was welded in multiple slabs / layers.

You can tell the horns were built up from slabs from the voids from where the forge welds were bad, and you can even tell the post was welded up the same way in one spot, but the face was much more refined and finished, so i cant see the seams.


Hrm, maybe I should bring it into my living room, get a good clean and nice looking stump to mount it in, and sit it near my pellet stove =D

Being single and with my own house, i can do what i want with it lol.

[devon blacksmith]

never had a steel face. It's too old to have had one? how old is that ,when did the old smiths start edging tool, knives, swords ,I thought that it was in the iron age that the adding of hard edeges started,200 to 100 BC Iron period In Europe, birth of the steel. The techniques used to produce steel could be based on iron selection or on carburization. The fire welding technique is used to produce iron weapons with a steel cutting edge. Damascus - History http://damascus.free.fr/f_damas/hist.htm

Edited October 20, 2008 by devon blacksmith
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[Ice Czar]

my vote would be the Creusot's Anvil weighing it at 750 tons

in order to support the weight and the hammer blows, the machine's foundations were built of solid masonry resting on bedrock 11 meters below the soil. A one-metre thick bed of oak timber topped the masonry foundation and provided the immediate floor for the giant anvil.

[Hillbillysmith]

Hey, I have an arm and hammer anvil as well! I'm not sure what the weight is (haven't weighted it) but if I had to guess, I'd say it was about 110#'s.

cbl4823; since you're a collector of such items, maybe you could tell me, were arm and hammer anvil's really made in Columbus Ohio???

My vote for the rarest anvil would have to be a tie between that three-headed anvil and that french style anvil Mr. Hofi found.

[ThomasPowers]

Arm and Hammer anvils *were* made in Columbus OH, Vulcans were not (used an arm and hammer emblem cast proud of the side of the anvil compared tot the Arm and Hammer's one being punched into the side of the anvil).

Trentons were also made in Columbus OH.

I used to live there and after talking with one of the workers at one of the sites who mentioned that they had left a line of anvils over by the top of the river bank when the plant shut down I visited the river! Didn't find any anvils but found a dozen of the old sandstone wheels they used to grind the faces with---about a foot thick and 4' in diameter when they were small enough to discard down into the river.