Adelaide’s Alexander Huser sold the anchor to Ben Lindsay first thing on Saturday morning for an undisclosed sum.

The Bathurst man had a site one lane away from Mr Huser’s at the swap meet and fell in love with the anchor as soon as he saw it.

“It’s just something that caught my eye,” he said. “I thought it looked fantastic.”

Another man gave Mr Lindsay some background on his purchase.

“I spoke to an old guy who knew a lot about ships and he said it was a reef anchor from at least a 50-foot ship.”

The man said the anchor had been hand-forged by a blacksmith and dated it as pre-1870.

“It’s good to have him tell me that I haven’t bought something made last week,” Mr Lindsay said.

He has big plans for his new purchase.

“I bought it to throw on the front lawn (but) you could even tie your dog up to it,” he laughed.

In another twist, a 1920s coach Mr Lindsay has had in his family for 30 years was sold to someone from Orange, half an hour away from his Bathurst home.

“I drove it 11 hours only for it to be driven 11-and-a-half hours back the same way,” he said. ?