Hmm... As to the idea of them being hold downs, I can see where the folded over part would go in the pritchel hole and the longer flattened portion might serve to hold something in place. I've got some woodworking hold downs that work on the same principle. The wood working hold downs are held in place in the bench by tapping them down with a mallet - straight pin into slightly slanted hole holds with sufficient strength until you tap them out from the underside of the bench. With that concept in mind, what about the end of the doubled over portion? Looking at the rounded cut there, I'm not sure a person could tap on the end, and if not, what would hold it tight to the anvil? And what would the purpose of that cut be? Hard to tell from the pictures if it's ground to an edge or just ground out. Looking at the pictures again, I think the cut on the end might be important to figuring this out. It was clearly there for a purpose and from the look of it, appears to have been done with more care than the fold over or flattening the long leg. Just my thoughts.
