Fig. 217.—Fresné la Mère. ½ ——— Fig. 218.—Fresné la Mère. ½
Bronze anvils of the form now in use are of extremely rare occurrence in any country. That figured by Sir William Wilde[649] appears to me to be of more recent date than the Bronze Period, and I am not aware of any other specimen having been found in the British Isles; but as it is a form of tool which may eventually be discovered, it seems well to call attention to it by engraving a French example. This anvil is shown in two views, in Figs. 217 and 218. As will be seen, it is adapted for being used in two positions, according as one or the other pointed end is driven into the workman’s bench. In one position it presents at the end two plane-surfaces, the one broad and the other narrow, inclined to each other at an angle of about 120 degrees, so that their junction forms a ridge. This part of the anvil has seen much service, as there is a thick burr all round it, caused by the expansion of the metal under repeated blows. On the projecting beak there are three slight grooves gradually increasing in size, and apparently intended for swages in which to draw out pins. In the other position the anvil presents no smooth surface on which to hammer, but a succession of swages of different forms—some half-round, some V-shaped, and some W-shaped. There are also some oval recesses, as if for the heads of pins. The metal of which the anvil is made appears to contain more tin than the ordinary bronze, and therefore to be somewhat harder. On one face is the mark of the runner ⅞ inch in diameter, which was broken off after the tool was cast.
This interesting tool was found with the hammer already mentioned, a spear-head, a double-edged knife or razor, a knife with the end bent round so as to present a gouge-like edge, and a large curved cutting-tool of the same character (Fig. 247), all of bronze, at Fresné la Mère, near Falaise, Calvados. With them was a magnificent gold torque with recurved cylindrical ends, the twisted part being of cruciform section; and a plain penannular ring or bracelet, formed from what was a cylindrical rod. The whole find is now in my own collection. It is not by any means improbable that this anvil was rather the tool of a goldsmith of the Bronze Age than that of a mere bronze-worker.
I have another anvil of about the same size, but thinner, which was found in the Seine at Paris. It also can be mounted two ways, but in each position it presents a nearly flat but somewhat inclined face, and there are no swages in the beaks, one of which is conical and the other nearly rectangular.
M. Ernest Chantre has engraved two other specimens, somewhat differing in form, but of much the same general character. They were found near Chalon-sur-Saône and near Geneva.[650] The analysis of the metal of one of them gives 16 parts of tin to 84 parts of copper.
Another bronze anvil is in the museum at Amiens, and a fifth, also from France, is in the British Museum. This has a flat projecting ledge at the top, and at right angles a slightly tapering beak. An anvil of the same kind, but without the beak, was found with other objects near Amiens, and is now in the museum of that town.
A small anvil without a beak, found at Auvernier,[651] in the Lake of Neuchâtel, is in the collection of Dr. Gross. A square flat anvil, somewhat dented on the face, formed part of the Bologna hoard.
In my own collection is what appears to have been a larger anvil of bronze, which was found, with other instruments of the same metal, at Macarsca, Dalmatia. In form it is not unlike an ordinary hammer-head about 5 inches long; but the eye through it appears to be too small for it ever to have served to receive a haft of the ordinary kind, though it probably held a handle by which to steady the tool when in use. One end is nearly square and but slightly convex; the other is oblong and rounded the narrow way. Both ends are much worn. On one face and one side are rounded notches or swages. This tool has been cast in an open mould, as one face presents the rough surface of the molten metal, which contains a large proportion of tin. The other face and the sides are fairly smooth.