[TreeHouse]

I'm a new to the forum so thanks for reading this and trying to help me out. I'm more a metal fabricator than a blacksmith, but for some of the work I'm doing I needed an anvil, I found a local guy with a beat up 200lb english made (looks to be peter wright) anvil. I picked it up this morning for $250 and I'm wondering if I wasted money. It seems to have a very small drop from the face to the step... is that normal? and it's got a crack on the near side toward the heal that rings at a higher pitch and has a little lest rebound. The far edge appears to have been welded at some point. Should I grind out the welded section and fill it in with a hard-face alloy? and should I do the same to the small crack? If so can I do it with a 250 amp mig without preheating? I've got a giant propane torch so I can do a preheat if necessary and I'm good with a welder and grinder... But what wire should I use? Before I consider doing this will it help the anvil or make things worse? Any thoughts, or Suggetions I just want to make this new tool worth while... I only know what I've read online, and so far this anvil has all the negatives going for it... it's been welded, it's got a small crack, and it's face is warped should I look for something else?

I'll post some pictures this afternoon.

My camera died before I could photograph the crack... it's very small and I think I can grind out about a 1/2" cube and remove it... would that be a bad idea? I'm 90% sure it's made by peter wright, in good light I can read Wright England 1 3 5, Does anyone know what the base material of an anvil like this is?
-Eric