Hello Gentlemen,

I am brand new to this board, and I am a fan of the blacksmithing trade. My great grandfather used to be one.

I am KC from Lakewood, Colorado and I inherited an awesome, heavy-duty anvil from my late great grandfather, and would like to find a buyer for this
rare beauty. It is the biggest darn anvil I have ever seen. Passed down over the generations, it has been garaged the entire time we've owned it.

Weight? I would guess it weighs-in somewhere around 350 to 375 pounds. :cool:

A local blacksmithing school evaluated it in photos I mailed in as "very respectible" and gave me a market estimate around $4,500 to $5,000 dollars.

They also referred me to this forum as a way to find well versed buyers. To this end, I am shopping it around.

FISHER ANVIL DIMENSIONS:

Size: 33 1/2" long, by 6" wide face, by 14" tall. The horn is 10 1/2" long. Approximate weight is: 375 lbs.

Anvil accoutrements:

Who out there is interested? I have taken many digital picture, so they are forthcoming (need to free some space on my PC first). Hope to have .jpgs ready by 4-4-09. Have any questions, comments, concerns or bids? Take a minute and send them in to me and I'll do my best to respond asap. "Quality is remembered, long after price is forgotten".... Have a productive weekend hammering your new creations! -KC ********* Lakewood, Colorado 80215

[*]Hardie and Pritchel hole (fairly clean surfaces), [*]Decent edges on heel and face (pretty decent surfaces), [*]Base of the anvil has opposing holes on each side to anchor it to base, [*]"Fisher" is forged in on the base (same side as the horn) [*]No visible cracks in waist or base (per my inspection) [*]Raised letters below the waist reads, 85 (does that give clues on age?). [*]Anvil has a black coating that is peeling-off all around it. (I may polish those out before I sell it). Is that recommended? [*]This Fisher anvil is a real beauty, and sure to be the pride of any serious blacksmithing operation, a student or fellow blacksmith anvil collector.

In my area it would be 700-1000 dollars, new ones for the same weight sell in that range as well. I think the price you were told is very unrealistic but you never know. You can buy a new one of the same size with modern alloyed steel specifically chosen for the type of work an anvil is used for in the 850-1200 dollar range.

You can easely get 2-3 dollars a pound and go for no less then that either. If someone really wants it then they will pay 4-5 dollars a pound, maybe more.

You could buy a larger anvil of the top modern maker for less than you were told to ask.

Seems way over priced to me; but then I bought a 515# Fisher in mint condition for $350.

You also need to get the real weight established; because as you may have noticed, anvil sales prices are often calculated in dollars per pound and a buyer may be quite upset with you if the anvil weighs out less than you estimate!

Age doesn't really make much difference in anvil prices until they get back to pre-1800; shoot I picked up one that is dated 1828 (William Foster date stamped their anvils) and it didn't cost any more per pound than my 1907 HB.

If this is an heirloom of your house do you really want to sell it?

This isn't the place you'll get antique store prices. Fishers are nice anvils but I can do way better than that here and I live in Alaska where you don't find smithing tools for less than top money.

Frosty

The two Fisher anvils I have were bought at $1.08 and $.75 per pound (I only calculated that for curiosity,more later in post about $/pound pricing) . While I'm sure your anvil is a real beauty, don't expect to get $10-15 per pound for it. For that kind of money, a serious anvil user could almost have a foundry cast a real beauty of an anvil for them.

Besides, most blacksmiths buy anvils to USE, and therefore pay more of a unit price for a working tool, as opposed to "antique roadshow" find-of-the-decade, get rich quick prices. In my opinion, per pound pricing is not an accurate way of pricing the tool, given varying conditions that anvils will have.

People buy fruits, vegetable, and meat on a per pound basis.

Blacksmith's buy anvils on a "value of the tool" basis.

As far as anvil collectors, the good lord only knows how they establish what they are willing to pay.

Edited April 4, 200917 yr by keykeeper

4,500 to 5,000....I wouldn't hold my breath, not even on eBay do anvils bring that silly of a price! In my area 7-8 hundred would be right. Like mentioned above, a brand new, never before struck anvil will bring maybe $8.00p/#. This is not to burst your bubble but to give you a more realistic view of your anvil. Why not join a blacksmith group in your area and learn how to use it. You will get more enjoyment from that then the "$4,500 to $5,000" will get you! :)

well go get em tiger dont mean to sound *** sorry

Edited April 4, 200917 yr by steve sells
Language AGAIN

Was that quote in Zimbabwean dollars?

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Unless your anvil has some truly extraordinary feature that makes it exceptionally valuable as a collector's item, rather than as a tool, that price range is nowhere near realistic.

If you had the Fisher anvil made for a power hammers, and the power hammer was included, you might have something worth 4-5 thousand - delivered.

"It is only worth what someone is willing to pay", price as you want, but until it is sold, and you have cash in hand, the selling price is just that....

A guy near me has a 300lb peter wright for sale, with a stand for $500.00, better anvil, and better name, seems like he spoke to a misinformed blacksmith??

Seems to me that to get THAT kind of $$$ the transaction would involve a cashiers check and shipping to Nigeria!

This guy probably took this anvil somewhere where he was offered $450-500 for it. He ******** took it home and a friend/relative convinced him he was being low balled and they decided it is worth ten times that amount.

Edited April 4, 200917 yr by steve sells
rude language

hard to have a price with out knowing the weight, Its like saying I have a truck its worth 10,000. its either a F-250 or F350, if I own it I would know what it is, so should this so called appraiser.

perhaps it is one of the anvils made to commemorate the moon landing ,made out of moon rock, the shipping pushed the price up

I currently have a 350# Fisher listed under the TAILGATING section for $925.00....If your source even wants to give me half of your estimate, I will be happy to take $2000 for it! :)

Just for the curious, I think I have "THE ANVIL" he speaks of on my watch on ebay. Same town, same size anvil, must be it. Note he never posted pics here for us. Click the link, if you want to see this "beauty". Also, note the title, as it is a "rare eagle model". Funny, both my Fisher anvils have that rarity, also.

Seller started it at Buy Now price of $4250, which has now been reduced to $1500. Better jump on it, fellas.

anvil fisher 350 lb 31" x 6" x 14" rare eagle model - eBay (item 230337064806 end time Apr-20-09 14:12:20 PDT)

Plus it's been extensively ground-on and appears to have a weld repair on the face step to the table and on the side of the horn At that price it should be nearly perfect.

There also appears to be a pretty serious crack on the horn as well. For that price it should be unused, still in the original packaging with the original sales slip.

If that isn't actually a crack in the horn half his asking would be a good price.

Frosty

Frankly in that condition I'd think that US$2 a pound would be tops in an anvil rich region.

Kind of sad though to be selling an "heirloom" and finding out that it's not a pile of money in anvil shape...

Like folks trying to jack up the price at the fleamarket by telling me something is "old". I generally pick up a rock and tell them it's a million times older and I'll sell it to them....

well its on ebay for buy it now for 1500

Yeah, I wrote about that earlier in the thread. Wonder if he'll drop it even more the last few minutes.:rolleyes:

I like Fisher anvils and have a few. I would buy one in that weight range if it didn't have a cracked horn with chips missing and didn't look repaired and the heel wasn't chipped and the face, body & table weren't all dinged up. I'd be concerned the horn would break off with any use at the minimum, not sure if the face is delaminating on the tail end. Looks like an okay $400 risk anyways.

Is this in the right place? Is this turning into ebay?