matei campan

well, at that price it would be a decent anvil in spite of the flaws. and it has two horns, which is a plus, it's an Italian pattern anvil, as seen by a chinese manufacturer. that soft spot is easily avoidable if that bothers someone, plenty of working surface left. just put some radius on the edges and bolt it down firmly on some kind of base

looks like a German made London Pattern, but I could be wrong

between Peddinghaus and Big Blu I would choose the southern-german pattern from Refflinghaus (if I would have an extra kidney)

very nice anvil, I'm a great fan of the French avils. I think they have the greatest variety of shapes and patterns, while in the anglo-saxon world "the anvil" always look as a London pattern, even the new DIY fabricated anvils. I still don't understand why even those making rail anvils try to replicate the London pattern with a cutting table which no one really use, just because that's how an anvil has to look. it seems there is life beyond the London Pattern, and there are a lot of forms of life, the above "cochon" being one of them. I have a different shape of "piglet" (two horns), but still has some convexed area towards the round horn, then you have some flat area which evolves into a light dish, etc., that's very useful. the above anvil could be a specialised anvil, targeted for a special branch of blacksmithing (I'm not shure if I dreamed this or it's a true memory, but I remember that pattern being called shovel maker's). I have a small portable military double horn French anvil which has also has that transition from the horn to the face which I find very useful for my work. anyway, generally, the french anvils are of very good quality, you don't see as much chipped edges as on american anvils (maybe also the kind use has a word to say here). these "pig" anvils (the forged variant), I think, are the most complex to forge anvils, and there's a lot of unnecessary complication of the process for only an "aesthetic" gain, but's how the things were done in old times.

Are there some markings on the front side? Could you provide a close up picture? The pattern is Austrian, but it could be manufactured in a different country

I don't think they use full penetration to ansemble the parts on the modern Peddinghauses either.

If you radius that area you still have sharp edge over the horn and shelf

A southern german anvil, for example, has features that already surpasses your proposed mods/features.

Bear in mind that the rust layer on the face tends to affect the result of the bearing ball test, tye thicker, the less rebound, so for an accurate result the rust must be removed if possible. if i were to consider the result of the bb test on a little Trenton I bought, I wouldn't have it now - it was heavily painted over a good layer of rust, so there was almost no rebound. Also useful for testing is a file - you check if it skates over the edge or it easily bites into it. On that little Trenton the file was very useful to confirm what my eyes told me, that is a good anvil.

If that anvil have served for a time, there's a chance to be a good anvil, if junk, it couldn't be in such a good condition (heavy chipping, hammer marks, etc). as I can see, there is some tooling also, so I'm inclined to think that that anvil has served. Also, usually junk anvils are smaller and with a rougher finnish and ugly shapes. I think that anvil worths being checked, you could miss a very good anvil

Hello Robbie, I just replied to your PM. As I realised now, you're already there or already back home. I regret not being of any help Maybe next time. Maybe this could be a beginning to other visits in Romania not just Bucharest. I's a country that worths visiting.

Nice one! On my rusfed anvils I used a hand wire brush with water and sand, then oil. That removed the excess rust and preserved the patina, the least aggressive method. You just dip the brush in some water, then in the sand and then you rub the anvil. As the brush loses sand, you 'refill' and rub again. From time to time you remove the sand by rinsing the anvil with water to see the progress. It takes more time than power-brushing, but it's more effective than just regular hand brushing.

angiolino please check https://www.leboncoin.fr/annonces/offres/ile_de_france/occasions/?f=a&th=1&q=enclume you asked about eastern Europe - forget about Romania - few anvils survived, bad condition, very high prices. I'm checking the ads from time to time - there are the same anvils for sale for years now. the average price is about 400euros. for that price I could buy from France something awesome and get shipped here, in Romania. I already bought a very nice old "pig" anvil from France, a ~150kg one, with a nice oak stump, for 150euros. there are better anvils, for better prices, but that anvil was close to a friend who moved to Romania, so it was easy to retrieve. just a weak ago I saw a double horned anvil in a as new condition (except a thin coat of rust), 1m long, which means over 200kilos for that kind of anvil, for the price of 60euros. for example, today's anvils, under 200 euros: https://www.leboncoin.fr/bricolage/1088004059.htm?ca=12_s https://www.leboncoin.fr/bricolage/1087909809.htm?ca=12_s something very old, colectible: https://www.leboncoin.fr/bricolage/1087805915.htm?ca=12_s https://www.leboncoin.fr/outillage_materiaux_2nd_oeuvre/1087768834.htm?ca=12_s https://www.leboncoin.fr/outillage_materiaux_2nd_oeuvre/1087743402.htm?ca=12_s https://www.leboncoin.fr/autres/1087711215.htm?ca=12_s

German

when I looked for used anvils in Italy, on the internet, I saw that they are not very cheap, but I'm sure that with little patience you could find one. In France you could find FANTASTIC anvils for around 100euros anytime. just 2 days ago I looked for anvils in France for a friend. I found quiet a few in the area where my friend has an opportunity for the anvil to be shipped.