Above: Photo of an anvil. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
Not too long ago I went on a short road trip with my friend Linda. Often we end up in stores and "marts" where antiques and collectibles are sold. She has taste, style, and a collector's eye focused on a certain few things that run as a thread through her life. It's fun to see her seek.
Left: A cone anvil, useful for certain types of hammering. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
I am easily distracted, sucked in by pretty much everything, and not allowed to go to these venues on my own!
But I always have fun when I go with Linda.
We have a friend who is a sculptor who has blacksmithing skills. When I saw the anvils pictured in this post I thought of Marcia McEachron and took these photos to show her in case these were good prices and useful tools for her. (They were overpriced.)
I find the anvils fascinating to look at knowing they had a productive life. Every profession has unique tools. Sometimes the reasons for the utility of a tool is lost in time as the practitioners die out. (It's one reason I love films about old printing methods!)
I recently went to the art institute with my friend Tom and there was a carved desk on display there made by a slave in the antebellum southern United States. The desk face depicted all the tools used on an 1800s plantation. A chart showed that many of the carved images were no longer identifiable. Tom, a great source of esoteric info however knew what some of the unlabled ones were and wrote them in the guest book!
Right: A mini anvil. Sorry I didn't put a quarter or something down for scale. It was about 8 inches wide. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
