Picked up this table at an online auction dispersing equipment from an industrial print shop. It was advertised as a "metal top tag". I thought it had a cool industrial look and might be able to use it in my shop. When I get there to pick it up the guy referred to it as an "anvil" table and suggested I bribe the fork lift driver to load it out (which I did). Weighs at least a couple hundred pounds. It's obvious the auction company had no idea what it was, and now I don't either. So help me solve the mystery.

The top is 2.5 inches of solid steel? Or possibly steel plate on top of concrete? It's exactly 36in wide and 24in deep. Stands roughly 38 inches high, and has vertical storage slots in the base that looks like it stored frames of some sort, and a simply wooden drawer on front. Top looks like an old polished anvil. Has some very light, very small hammer marks. The base doesn't look like something that could take the weight of being used for heavy pounding. I'm thinking maybe an embossing table? Or die cutting table? Any of you guy's ever seen something like this?

It's big, looks heavy and has some dents and dings in it. That's the best I got.

Very cool find Dave!

That is really cool.

Looks similar to this. Imposing table?

https://www.brooksvaleartisans.com/products/hamilton-printing-wooden-imposing-table

Kind of like a machine shops granite surface, it provides a precision/perfect flat surface.

Thought this was going to be another fossil find

Looks like a loading dock warehouse table where trucks were loaded and unloaded, Looks like there were stickers stuck to it, "PICK" stickers which could have been stuck on a case of french fries after being pulled from the freezer before loading for shipping to a restaurant.

I think Simple Searcher nailed it. An imposing table. Thanks.

Now what the heck to do with it? Would make a great welding table.

If the top is solid, it alone would weigh over 600lbs.

Yep. Perfect flat surface.

Does anybody have a perfectly flat surface I can borrow? Oh hey! Looky there!

That might be marble under that steel top

The steel top has screws holding it down.

611#'s

So, what do we figure it’s worth?

Small boat anchor.

Looked it up and they are selling for $800 up to $1500, at least that is what some were asking.

So, from a former mechanical QA guy that used precision granite surfaces for measuring:

Steel tops do not make good precision measuring surfaces. When dinged, they actually make a hump next to the ding. The metal is displaced, making an irregular surface. When granite is dinged, it will chip out, leaving the area around the ding still flat.

I saw that. The antique industrial look is in right now so they get used as decorator pieces.

This old warrior has years of service yet to give in my opinion. Would rather see it continue life is someones shop. Going to list it for a couple hundred dollars to raise money for my charity, so watch for the ad over in the classifieds. MANY thanks for all the help figuring out what it is.

Antique industrial will always be IN, as far as I’m concerned. The stuff lasts generations.