ANTIQUE W. BRADY & Co MEAT CLEAVER Hog Splitter Forged Pre-Civil War.

Here’s a great barn find in amazing condition for age.

I believe the mark is W. Brady & Co.

William Brady joined his family blacksmithing business in 1851. This logo likely dates this piece before the Civil War. The company logos changed after that.

Anyway, I’ve taken a lot of photos so you can get a really good idea of condition. Its overall length is about 23 1/2”, blade is about 11 1/2” long and around 6” at its widest point. It looks like probably the original handle, cracked and taped just the way we found it. The blade is sharp and straight, it has not been overly or poorly sharpened. The top edge has some marks, but often times, these tools have been harshly hammered on. This one hasn’t. I thought about having this professionally restored, as that would definitely put this into 4 figures, but I’ll leave that to the new owner/collector. This is a very rare piece by this company and in awesome condition for being well over 150 years old.

I will entertain reasonable offers.