Those anvils really caught my eye too. It's kind of hard to say for sure but they look to be in the classic style of a lot of the Peter Wrights I've fondled over the years but Hay Budden are pretty close too. I can't own fancy things like that, people always come along and offer crazy money.
BTW, love that picture and those horse shoe door and windows.

 

I used to pass up anvils on old farmsteads here back in the 70s. In particular I remember being at Alice and Leon Guilford's place when they were leaving the farm for a retirement community and I felt self conscious asking about the anvil next to the glass globe gas pump. It's a yuppie joint now and that filthy old junk is long gone.

 

I see them and always ask but they tend to stay in the family. Plus most of them I find have been used hard. I have a 4"x5"x16" chunk of D2 tool steel that makes a really great anvil. Way better steel than those old ones. I still want a nice one though. $3 to $5 a pound around here for a decent anvil.

 

Pretty sure those are concrete just like the rest of the facade.

Kinda' narrow cap stone up there & those anvils just happen to share the same foot-print.

And no anvil size holes in sidewalk corresponding to the missing ones.

Just an observation.

 

Very interesting picture, I also see letters on the anvils,
it looks abandoned yet the door is open, thx for sharing

 

.................................................. ...................





........................................

 

I have a couple old anvils one is a 100lb and other is 75lb. They both have little to no use. I use the 75 and the 100lb is decoration. They just look cool..

 

Most older anvils actually marked using English hundred weight system. The first number is the number of hundred weights which are 112#. The second number is quarter hundred weights which are 28# and the last number is pounds.

 

Looks like a pile of horseshoes around that tree? Hard to tell from a smartphone. Glendive, MT isn't a big town, as far as towns go. Anybody got an address? Wondering if it's still there.

My great-grandfather on my dad's side was a blacksmith, in Minnesota. He must have had big hands, saw his gold wedding band in a safe deposit box once and the ID was about as big around as a quarter.

 

You could search using Google Earth. I do this all the time looking for ghost signs on former auto dealerships. I use the Edsel, Hudson, Nash, Packard, Studebaker online dealership lists.

Most dealers were located close to one another, so if you find one, others are usually nearby.

Edit: I just looked at hudsonjet.net .. there's no Hudson dealership listed in Glendive, but I'll take a look-see anyway on Google, because I've seen this pic somewhere before.

 

It's strange that US made anvils would use the Imperial hundred weight (cwt) for denoting the mass of the anvil.

In Canada and the US we used the short or USC (United States Customary Units) hundred weight or cwt. (Centum Weight) and it was a 100 lbs.
It along with the short ton were the only USC measurements Canada used that did not follow British Imperial weights and measurements

The Imperial or long cwt. was 112 lbs
The USC or short cwt. was a 100 lbs

20 USC/Short cwt. = 1 Short ton or 2000 lbs The standard ton in the US and Canada.
20 Imperial or long cwt = 1 Long ton or 2240 lbs the standard ton in the UK.

 

Earlier pic. Anvils read 'CSJohnston'.
Agreed that they are plaster or concrete- not metal/real anvils. Shapes are a bit off & inconsistent with each other. Researching location....

 

I looked at Glendive using Google Earth, unfortunately Google didn't drive on all the streets in the business district. I didn't see a building that matched the old livery stable, but it may have been modernized.

The main drag has many old run down empty buildings with vacant lots in between.

 

This is the same gentleman : Clarence S Johnston. Held a handful of patents.
The Johnston Disc Wheel ? Quickest Demountable Rim On Earth The Old Motor

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...oto-1833792699
Address of C S Johnston blacksmith shop in Glendive MT was 115 South Kendrick Avenue. Historical Aerials has grainy pics back to 1965, building appears to have been demolished before then, best I can tell.

 

I think the Brittish had a lot better steel and many good anvils just came from there