Antique and Vintage Anvils

The first anvil maker in the United States was the Eagle Anvil Works of Trenton, New Jersey. Founded in 1843 by its inventor Mark Fisher, Eagle made its anvils out of cast iron, which was topped by a thick layer of gun metal that was so hard, it was advertised as being impervious to hammer blows and guaranteed not to ring when struck. Like most 19th-century anvils, Eagle anvils featured a flat horizontal surface called the face, which was punctured by a square "hardie" or "hardy" hole and a round "pritchel" hole, both of which were used for holding other tools used to bend or punch pieces of metal. Eagle anvils also featured a rounded point called a horn, which was used for bending pieces of metal into such useful necessities as horseshoes. In fact, the horn of Eagle and other brands of anvils was so important to 19th-century life that during the Civil War, troops would seek out the local blacksmith shop of whatever town they were sweeping through to find the anvil, heat it until it glowed, and break the horn with chisels, thus leaving the horses of their enemy unshod and less effective than those of the invaders. Cutting the horn from an anvil was no small feat since a typical horseshoer's anvil weighed around 150 pounds, while many blacksmith's anvils intended for a greater range of work weighed up to 800 pounds.