UnderMiner
Silver Member
- Jul 27, 2014
- 3,783
- 9,643
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- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Excalibur II, Ace 250
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Was driving through an area out on the island when I saw a bunch of guys working around a pile of rubble that used to be a house. There was a big dumpster in front so I decided to investigate. I stopped the truck and looked in the big dumpster. There was nothing but wood and bricks in there and some branches. One of the demo guys asked me what I was looking for and I said I was interested in anything historic or old, I explained that I was a historian and loved finding and saving old things from the garbage. The guy liked what I said and told me that there was an old barn in the backyard that they had knocked down earlier and there had been 'alot of old junk in there'. I asked if I could go check it out and he said I could although there probably wasn't much left.
So I went and looked around the area where the barn once was, now nothing but a few pieces of wood here and there, a broken off leg of a Chippendale chair, brick pieces, then as I was almost ready to give up on finding anything I saw a huge anvil sitting by itself next to a pile of wood. I had never found an anvil before so I did not yet know the significance of what I was looking at, but I figured if anything I could use an anvil for something as I am always tinkering with things. I asked the worker if I could take the anvil and he said I could so I got a hand truck and brought it to the truck and tossed it in.
At home I looked online and was astonished at how insanely expensive these giant old anvils cost, I still cannot believe it! As far as I can tell this is an old English-imported anvil, I can tell because it has three numbers stamped on it near the base: '1 - 1 - 17'. I originally thought these numbers were a date stamp, but they're not, they actually represent the anvil's weight in the archaic English Hundredweight System. The stamp '1 - 1 - 17' translates to 157lbs. or 71kgs. - the weight of the anvil. I do not know what brand of anvil this is yet, but it may be an Attwood based on the shape of the base and my preliminary research into this exciting new world of anvil history, if I clean the side a bit I can probably make out more detail and possibly make out the maker's stamp if it's there at all. This anvil is likely 100-150 years old and is worth way more than I expected. Now I know to keep an extra sharp eye out for anvils in the future!
Some perspective:
You can just barely make out the weight stamp '1-1-17', there may also be a maker's stamp above this but I will need to clean it more to tell for sure:
So I went and looked around the area where the barn once was, now nothing but a few pieces of wood here and there, a broken off leg of a Chippendale chair, brick pieces, then as I was almost ready to give up on finding anything I saw a huge anvil sitting by itself next to a pile of wood. I had never found an anvil before so I did not yet know the significance of what I was looking at, but I figured if anything I could use an anvil for something as I am always tinkering with things. I asked the worker if I could take the anvil and he said I could so I got a hand truck and brought it to the truck and tossed it in.
At home I looked online and was astonished at how insanely expensive these giant old anvils cost, I still cannot believe it! As far as I can tell this is an old English-imported anvil, I can tell because it has three numbers stamped on it near the base: '1 - 1 - 17'. I originally thought these numbers were a date stamp, but they're not, they actually represent the anvil's weight in the archaic English Hundredweight System. The stamp '1 - 1 - 17' translates to 157lbs. or 71kgs. - the weight of the anvil. I do not know what brand of anvil this is yet, but it may be an Attwood based on the shape of the base and my preliminary research into this exciting new world of anvil history, if I clean the side a bit I can probably make out more detail and possibly make out the maker's stamp if it's there at all. This anvil is likely 100-150 years old and is worth way more than I expected. Now I know to keep an extra sharp eye out for anvils in the future!
Some perspective:
You can just barely make out the weight stamp '1-1-17', there may also be a maker's stamp above this but I will need to clean it more to tell for sure:
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