Folks- picked up this broken anvil, and was pleased to see markings. Would love to pick the collective brain trying to identify this: to me it looks like hadfeld hill, but I could be very much mistaken.

Can't see detail well enough to read but a couple letters. . . maybe.

Haven't we talked about chalk and indirect lighting? 

Taking pics of shiny objects with direct lighting washes out details with strong reflected highlights. Like taking a flash picture facing a mirror to use an extreme example.

Dust it with chalk powder or even flour and wipe it off lightly. THEN with the lighting at an oblique angle say 10 degrees or so, 45 minimum from parallel with the face, surface details will stand out more clearly. 

Frosty The Lucky.

If it’s “HADFIELD” perhaps it’s more likely to be Hadfield and Sanderson ...???

 

Larks, 

I think you are correct. I can faintly see a second line under the proposed "hadfield" which is a short word beginning with the letter "A", then a third line below that that is all jumbled except for the last letter that is "N", and the line under that has an H or something similar. 

I will try and get a rubbing soon once the linseed oil dries. 

The image seems to match the ones in this post: 

 

 

 

 

not that this makes it a whole lot clearer, but it helps distinguish three lines, not two like I originally thought. 
 

 

interestingly , I put it through AI and it gave me a few options, plus highlighting letters it saw. Interesting experiment. But you all are far more knowledgeable.

The lighting isn't very indirect. Take pics at night with a single light source that shines almost parallel to the face you want to shoot. No more than about 10-15max. degrees from parallel. 

That one is pitted almost to the bottom of the characters, it might take magna fluxing to read. That'll cost unless you pique the interest of the owner of the machinery. Being a blacksmith is often a great icebreaker you  know. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty; my next course of action was going to be to take a rubbing. I always forget to go out at night; when I get a photo like that I’ll update.

You should submit that photo to Grok3 or the AI of your choice.  It might be able to see what you can't see.  It saw a word on an anvil that I could not.  I was like, thanks bruh! It was like, dude!  But if you do ask AI, know that you are giving your soul over to The Matrix.