anvilfire.com Anvil Gallery

Anvils of the world, American, British, Chinese, French, German, ancient and modern. Images from the Ferdinand, Prillwitz and Greenwood collections and the anvilfire image collection.

This collection is the result of many years work by many people. It is the work of the collectors such as Ken and Lenny Lyda-Ferdinand and dealers such as Steve Prillwitz of Matchless Antiques who have graciously taken the time and donated photographs. More may follow. It is also the work of those who have donated and/or given permission to use their photographs. Lastly it is the work of the anvilfire guru, Jock Dempsey, who took many of the photos and has digitally reworked all the images many of which are now digital paintings as much as photographs.

The purpose of this collection is to be a free on-line museum of historical and modern anvils for the curious and for the student. In particular it is for those that think all anvils look alike and those that design new anvils who should know what has come before and what has worked. There are many historical designs that can be improved upon very little and many modern copies that are poorly produced.

New anvils are few in this collection simply because we do not have the photos. It is a sad fact that our industry generally does a very poor job of presenting their product or does so in such small images that it is difficult to tell anything about the product.

This is a continuing project. We have launched it with over 40 anvils but expect to have over 100 when the project is finished. If you have photos you would like to donate we would be happy to consider them.

ANVIL TIP OF THE DAY : Anvil Weight Markings Monday May 11, 2026 - 23/27

If the weight of an anvil is marked on it, there are four or more possible methods. The most common on old English and some European anvils is the Old English Hundredweight system of hundredweights (112 pounds), quarter hundredweights (28 pounds) and pounds. More modern English anvils may be marked in whole and fractional hundred weights such as "1¼ Cwt". Many European anvils are marked in kilograms but Swedish export anvils were once marked in pounds. Old German anvils were marked in the "pfund" (486 to 510 grams). Forged Ameican anvils are marked in pounds and old cast American anvils in tens (18 = ~180 pounds). It is highly possible that other traditional units were used in other parts of the world if they manufactured anvils.

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