Made a brand new set of pictures.

Any ideas who made it will be appreciated. It is made of cast steel with a tool steel top, weighs 340 lbs and has a letter V between feet. Pictures are here:

misc ==> Anvil ==> Set Up

By the way, I bought and read the entire book ANVILS IN AMERICA and still had no luck. So do not say that I did not do my homework, I did.

My guess would be Haybudden, I think I see a "6" on the front of one of the feet?

Look carefully there for numbers, long tail and narrow waist, looks like Haybudden to me.

It looks like a hay budden, in many ways, but the book does not mention such markings as I found on my anvil.

Does it have a casting line running up the centre below the horn?

Like here? look I think I see a "6" on the foot? To the left of center... this is where Haybuddens put their serial number.

Edited December 16, 200817 yr by unkle spike

Yes, and this one also shows what seems to be some casting imperfections to me.

Does it have a casting line running up the centre below the horn?

Yes, it does have a casting line, which is not sharp but rather looks like chicken poop that was stepped on. But the line is very visible.

So that would keep it from being a Hay Budden, would it not?

http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Picture_0723.jpg

This is a picture of one of my cast anvils. It looks somewhat similar to yours except yours seems to have been dressed (horn ground down etc.).

So that would keep it from being a Hay Budden, would it not?

http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Picture_0723.jpg

This is a picture of one of my cast anvils. It looks somewhat similar to yours except yours seems to have been dressed (horn ground down etc.).

Does yours have a tool steel plate on top?

http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Picture_071.jpg

Here's a pic that seems to show a top plate as well. It does have a nice ring when struck, so that tells me it's probably cast steel, not cast iron.

You can see where I tried reading the maker, but it is pretty distorted. At first I thought I saw a 'V' in a circle, but I can't be sure.

It is a Columbian

Did Columbians have a separate top plate? My first thought was that it was a Columbian as well, but I thought they didn't have the separate top plate.

Might be a Vaughn ("V"). Not that color means very much but I once saw a Vaughn anvil in that shade of blue-grey that supposedly was untouched from the factory. I don't have Postman's book so don't know if they are listed but Vaughns are still made and could be of newer vintage.

To answer a few points...

The original color of this anvil is black. The military spray painted it gray on one side at some point. The base is cast steel, 90% rebound.

The reference I have says that Columbians were cast, then the face was machined and hardened. i.e. no plate.