Ferrous Beuler Posted August 18, 2007 Share Posted August 18, 2007 This morning I attended a farm auction and came home with an anvil. I believe I paid a fair price for it and certainly can't gripe as I feel the price was fair and the first one I got, 5 years ago cost me $65 at a barn sale, 269 lbs. About a year later a freind of mine got divorced, she got the house in town, he got the cottage at the lake, where he moved permanently. When I stopped by to see him there I saw all the "lawn ornaments" she had put about the place over the years. Among all the garden gnomes, pink flamingos and wagon wheels was an anvil. Of course I asked if he would sell it, "heck, just get it out of my sight, it was hers". Got that one for free, 144 lbs. Today I was the lucky bidder at the action and on the ride home I just wondered how high other smiths might have bid or would pay outright for a good anvil. This one is marked PETER WRIGHT LONDON PATENT HAND WROUGHT 0 8 3. It is in good shape, the edges fair. What would you pay? I'll hold off on saying what I paid, just want to get an idea what anvils are going for these days. Not going to sell it. Thanks, Dan:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 18, 2007 Share Posted August 18, 2007 That's probably 0-3-3 not 0-8-3. The first number is CWT (hundredweights) = 112lbs. The second number is quarter CWT = 28lbs. The last number is lbs. So, while the first number could be anything, the second won't be more than 3 and the last won't be more than 27. A 0-3-3 anvil is 87lbs, give or take a lb. A 0-8-3 properly written would be 2-0-3 and weigh 227lbs. Give or take a lb. So, what's your back say when you pick it up? Good score regardless, congratulations. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccarth Posted August 18, 2007 Share Posted August 18, 2007 I've bben to quite a few auctions in the Chicago area recently and have seen old beet up stuff go for huge dollars. A 140lb Chicago something or another anvil well worn rough edges brought $325.00. I found the back bidder and quickly sold the 150lbs trenton I had in the back of my truck to him no questions asked. At the same auction a 200lb Mouse hole brought almost $500. Sway backed as they get and a 180lb swage block around $400. I didn't get any of the actual prices each time I walked away when the bidding went through the roof in complete disbelief. I left the same auction with a 50ton dake air over hydraulic press for $480. Works perfectly. Only one other person was interested. I paid $300 for my 150lb 1-1-15 Peter Wright, Flat top crisp corners. At the time I thought that was a little steep, I guess I was wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrous Beuler Posted August 19, 2007 Author Share Posted August 19, 2007 That's probably 0-3-3 not 0-8-3. The first number is CWT (hundredweights) = 112lbs. The second number is quarter CWT = 28lbs. The last number is lbs. So, while the first number could be anything, the second won't be more than 3 and the last won't be more than 27. A 0-3-3 anvil is 87lbs, give or take a lb. A 0-8-3 properly written would be 2-0-3 and weigh 227lbs. Give or take a lb. So, what's your back say when you pick it up? Good score regardless, congratulations. FrostyOOPS! Sorry Frosty, yes I am familiar with the hundred weight/ stoneweight system. I pulled a typo and got the numbers reversed in the post, it is marked 0 3 8. The middle number could of course only be a 0, 1, 2, or a 3. This Peter Wright weighs 92 lbs according to that. I,m just trying to get a feel here for what folks are paying for this and that in their various locations these days. I paid $230 for this anvil, several men started in with bids and it was fast action as the price jumped and jumped but then suddenly there was just me and another guy, I thought I would lose out as my cieling was $300 ( less, really because I needed gas for the 50 mile trip home) but the other guy had had enough and quit. I don't think that is a high price, in fact a pretty good deal actually. It is fairly common to see post vices for $35 to $50 at flea markets/ barnsales around here but most of them are light, thin vices with 4 or 5 in jaws. Tommorow morning I'm picking up a 6 in post vice which is very thick and heavy, a monster. I paid $90 for that which is considered quite high for a post vice around here but I don't mind paying that sum because the heavies just aren't seen at all really. I've seen tongs in antique shops sporting price tags of $50 and covered with shellac ta' boot! $3 to $5 per pair is the going rate in blacksmithing circles in this region. All in all just curious to see which way the wind blows out there. Thanks! Dan:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 The days of $1/lb for anvils are about gone and I don't think you overpaid if that's what you are fishing for - especially for a good anvil that doesn't need a lot of restoral work. I haven't bought one in a while but the last anvil I did buy was a 100lb Hay Budden in pristine condition - I gave $140 for that one and started using it the same day. I used to pay $10 per inch of width for post vises and that still holds here in Central Texas but many of those are missing pieces. A complete 4 or 5 inch vise will easily bring $100 and like you said, there are not many heavy 6" ones floating around. Several years ago, I restored an old shop for the local historical conservation society and that place had a 7 inch leg vise that probably weighed between 150 and 200 lbs - it took two of us to move it around the shop and set it in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike-hr Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 What are you going to do with your tools? Are you going to go into full time smithing, and will it help you feed your family? At $40.00/hr shop rate, you will pay for the anvil just after lunch on Monday, and it will most likely out live your grandchildren..sounds like you did just fine to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millwright Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 I have a one hundred pound peter wright. with a flat top, square edges, and a brain splitting ring that I paid exactly $230 for off of ebay about a year ago. You might not have got a sweet deal but I would say you got it at a fair price. J.W. Morris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrous Beuler Posted August 19, 2007 Author Share Posted August 19, 2007 What are you going to do with your tools? Are you going to go into full time smithing, and will it help you feed your family? At $40.00/hr shop rate, you will pay for the anvil just after lunch on Monday, and it will most likely out live your grandchildren..sounds like you did just fine to me. What am I going to do with my tools? Use them of course, for many many years I hope. Once I've croaked they will be handed down. Today's newbies (me) are tommorows master smiths. Let's face it, old tools are scarce so get what you can as you find it. I'm working at putting together a workable shop and learning as much as I can as I progress in this craft. No, I don't envision myself going into "fulltime blacksmithing" as a career. A combination of things form up my goals here. Working as a fulltime farrier is the main and most immediate goal, also building horsedrawn vehicles and wheelwrighting as time allows and the market dictates is possible. Expensive tools aquired for a hobby are a costly extravagance. Investment in tools that will provide a means of making a living are a wise investment if I can prove it to be so by my efforts. I do think I got a good deal on this anvil, which now makes three for me. Why do I need three? So in the future I may pass along the craft to others, have others over to my shop for mini hammer ins and probably because I just can't help myself when I see one become available (drool). Dan:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 It's getting to the point where holding out for an old anvil at a good price is a waste of time. In most areas anyway. Oh sure, you can still find good deals on old tools but it's getting to where you're farther ahead buying new. By the time you find a decent anvil and pay antique shop prices for it, then maybe have to put many hours and additional cash into refinishing it you might've spent a year or two you could've spent learning or practicing the craft. The last anvil I bought I spent around $3/lb for a Trenton in good shape. Then I had to get the thing to Alaska from N. Dakota. If Deb and I hadn't been trucking her stuff from the UP already it would've cost at least another $200 in shipping. At the time $1,000 would've gotten me a new 250lb shipped here. A lot of what you're going to have to spend depends on where you live. If you live in the mid-west you have a pretty good chance of finding good smithing tools for a reasonable price. If you live on the west coast it's going to cost you a lot more. If you live in Alaska you might consider just making your own because shipping is going to add at least a $1/lb to anything old or new. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccarth Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 I just saw an aprox 500lb+ Arm and hammer go for $2500.00. 40" long excelent condition except for the grime and rust it looked unused. I probably would have bought it if I had the cash to spend. About the same price as a new quality anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 "going rate" is usually 2-3$/#; the old 1$/# is "bragging rate". In the Columbus OH area I used to buy an average of one brand name anvil in good to great condition a year for less than US$1/# this was in the 1990's through early 2000's; but sussing out anvils was sort of a hobby for me there. Since I have moved to NM where anvils are scarce on the ground I have not bought any---though I have found 2 for free, a 61# cast steel anvil from Sweden and an old bridge anvil from the oil patch (about 350#). Post vises that were $20 for a 4"'r in OH are $25 per inch out here. One problem we have is that there is an anvil hoarder out this way, buys up any old anvil and sits on them and we don't have many out here! (In OH it was usually every farm had an anvil and it was several farms per sq mile, out here is was every ranch had an anvil and beat it to pieces and it was several hundred sq miles for a good sized ranch and pretty much little anvil using industry save for mining) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bear Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 I picked up my 200lb fisher in january for about $520 at auction( $450 for the bid plus 10% fee+ tax). It was in excellent condition except some minor pitting on the horn. I have seen a 100 lb arm &hammer with severe saddling and a crack nearly across the heel go for $300( i could only read m& ha on the side). a smaller swedge block( about 60-80 lbs) went for nearly $300 and it was in worse shape than the anvil. It is very hard in my area to outbid either the antique dealers or the old timers () who seem to hoard everything( also known as the dreaded tool accumulators). Sean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bear Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 Post vices also vary in price here. you can pick up a 4" for $25-$50 depending on the auction. 6" ers can go as much as $200( i got lucky with mine as i only paid $35 but it has been repaired). Sean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrous Beuler Posted August 22, 2007 Author Share Posted August 22, 2007 I picked up my 200lb fisher in january for about $520 at auction( $450 for the bid plus 10% fee+ tax). It was in excellent condition except some minor pitting on the horn. I have seen a 100 lb arm &hammer with severe saddling and a crack nearly across the heel go for $300( i could only read m& ha on the side). a smaller swedge block( about 60-80 lbs) went for nearly $300 and it was in worse shape than the anvil. It is very hard in my area to outbid either the antique dealers or the old timers () who seem to hoard everything( also known as the dreaded tool accumulators). Sean Crazy ain't it? The prices that well worn/abused things go for at auction is just amazing. Who are these "dreaded tool accumulators"? A friend of mine is a military antiques dealer, mostly civil war and ww2 militaria. He has always been awed by the prices paid and dogged determination of collectors in Japan buying up such items as ww2 american leather flying jackets also vintage american made classic guitars like Gretsch, Gibson, Fender. Is there some fanatical tool hoarding faction out there somewhere? What do they want with this stuff?!?! I feel bad for the person in an area such as the southwest, as has been pointed out in this thread, where anvils, etc. are scarce. Here in New York, in the east, an area with a heavy population density and long rural history, an anvil can be found without too much searching. They do come up fairly regularly in the auction listings. For the person who seeks to avoid the flurry of the auction crowd, go to rural yard/barn sales and ASK FOR ONE! Those having a sale may not have bothered to haul out the old anvil Grammpy left in the barn. ASK! Dan:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evfreek Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 The only anvil I saw for sale around here was $250 for a 150 pounder. Somebody had done the cutting torch dance on the hardy hole, so not only would it not hold a tool, I was afraid the face would fall off. There was no bounce of a hammer in that area. They guy told me if I didn't buy it, there were 5 others who wanted it. I have heard that decent anvils go for $4-6 per pound, but I haven't seen any. I did get to a sale which opened at 8AM. Unfortunately, I got there at 8:20, and somebody got the anvil before me. The seller said that he was surprised that the demand was so high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmercier Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 Having watched just about every anvil that's sold in my area on ebay, craigslist, and in the papers for a little over a year now, decent used anvils even in the 'anvil rich' area of new england are going for 2-3$ per pound. I've bought exactly one anvil for 1$ a pound and it was a great great bargain. Even in bad shape an anvil at 1$ per pound is probably a good deal these days, particularly if you know an experienced welder who can repair/reface it with a good rod like 21018 (think that's the high tensile str rod i'm thinking of) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 Now sometimes an abused anvil can be a great deal depending on the abuse. broken off horns or heels can send the price plummetting for a good sized anvil with a great face---my loaner anvil lost it's heel at the hardy and at about 140#? cost me US$40 and it had a great smooth thick face. You can always put a hardy holder into the stump or put the hardy in a post vise... Just for fun I picked up an anvil's remains for a couple of bucks. It was the base of an anvil that had broken at the waist weld---still had the weight stamps that said it had once been a 100#+ anvil And I have a 100#+ William Foster from 1821 with no heel and almost no face that I got for $5 a good deal just for the wrought iron! Sometimes I demo with these walking wounded just to show folks that you don't have to shell out big bucks for an anvil to get started and it's more in the skill of the smith than the fancyness of his tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yesteryearforge Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Here in central virginia i hear people say they have looked everywhere and cant find an anvil . Me and my wife go to a fair amount of sales and antique shops and I just seem to trip over anvils everywhere I go. I know where there are 5 or maybe 6 anvils in shops right now. I have told other smiths or wannabe smiths about them and their location but they still say that they have looked everywhere and just cant find an anvil. I just purchased a colonial anvil ( believed to be pre 1790 ) Its around 200 lbs and in very good condition for its age . I gave 275.00 for it. ( the shop had 3 more anvils but since I was on my way to Hatteras island for vacation and didnt want to spend all of my vacation money on anvils ( actually I wanted to but my wife wouldnt let me ) I left them there. I would rather pay too much for something that I really want than get a real good deal on something that is just ok. I am one of those hoarders / tool accumlators / collectors / sob / a hole / that everyone talks so bad about and if you want a good anvil at a good price you better beat me to it. But people have been smithing around here since they landed in Jamestown and there are anvils everywhere. Plus I seem to aquire several every year at Quadstate. Some people collect guns and knives and such ( I collect anvils and such ) Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Mike, such hoarders used to rile me up; now I just wait for the estate sale...can I offer you some deepfried mars bars and some scotch eggs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmercier Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Mmm, scotch eggs are sooooo goooodd.... that said i only have them like once a year for good reason =) If i had a lot of money, i'd probably turn into an anvil hoarder, but since i dont, whenever I upgrade my anvil, I try to sell the old one to defray the costs =) (anyone want a nice 126lb peter wright in the new england area? 2$ a pound!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yesteryearforge Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Thomas Im afraid you will have to wait for the estate sales of my children and or grandchildren of which several are smiths and upcoming smiths but the worst that you could hope for is that matchless antiques ends up with them and puts them on ebay . Of course he gets about 4 times the going rate for one but I guess its easier to sit in front of a computer than actually going out and looking for them in person. Come to think of it he is selling estates and collections ( now thats something to think about ). A 400% return on an investment aint to shabby Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacksmith Jim Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 I think it's relatively hard to find a good anvil on the west coast. They are out there, but its few and far between, and often you have to jump on it quick 'cause someone else might want it. I paid 3$ a pound (or slightly over) for my Peter Wright. It's in pretty decent shape, about 115#s. If I would have been more patient I might have snagged this one for nothing.. My parents recovered it from some contents of the old family barn. The anvil had disappeared for a while, but some inquiries in the right direction were successful at getting it returned. I haven't seen it in person yet, but am pretty anxious about it. I'm thinking it might be a Trenton? It looks like it has a diamond on the side.. I have much higher resolution pictures, but wasn't able to post them because they are too large in size. This one came out a little grainy when I scaled it down.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 The IForgeIron Gallery can take the larger images. The Gallery then automatically reduces the size of the image for posting and created a thumbnail. That why when you click on the thumbnail you get the reduced size image, chick on that image and you get the full size version. On each size, right click, then click on properties, then copy the URL. This URL can then be put into the forum. You can send me the full size image and I can put it into the gallery for you if you wish, or walk you through the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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