I have a Kohlswa just about identical to that and in a similar condition. It has a rebound of about 90% with a 32mm ball bearing and I have no complaints about its performance.
So at $500, I would grab that one immediately. But then, you guys have a lot more choice of anvils than we do in Australia.
Still, seems like a good deal to me. Great mounting set up as well.

Black Frog, all I was showing was that over the last few decades my Dad and I have been able to find quality anvils for good prices-even in the internet age. I am not interested in selling, but I have loaned some out to help get others started. Now, if I had a good friend that was in need, and demonstrated a true desire to become a smith I would probably give them one , because that is the type of friend I am.

The owner of the HB had looked them up on the internet, and said the prices were stupid. He agreed to $1 a pound on the anvil, and I ended up filling the bed of my dually with forges, hardies, and much more for decent prices.

The owner of the JHM (retired farrier) knew the value since he had purchased it new. He just wanted it, and the other items out of his garage to make room for his Harley.

Patience is a virtue.

If I had to make a choice between a 176# anvil for $500, and a big hunk of scrap the same weight for literally just a few dollars, I would go with the scrap anvil. The money saved would be better used for other tooling in my opinion.

I think a lot of the prices lately are hyped up by TV shows,collectors, and general silliness..a 140# HB farrier anvil with 90% of the top plate missing , and a chunk of forklift time welded to the top haphazardly is not worth $400 in my opinion, but someone bought it for that recently. In my opinion the buyer was not very well educated in that purchase. Now don't get me wrong. If a person is really serious about smithing, and is looking to make a living from it, then a higher price will outweigh the time spent waiting for screaming deals. I am a hobbyist, so I am in no rush to buy more equipment, but...I will jump on a good deal when I find one. They are still out there.

Not smithing related, but I just purchased a Gillette Executive double edge razor in the original ostrich skin travel case for $4 from a thrift store. Current value is a couple of hundred. It only took me a couple of minutes to find out what it was on the net after I had bought it. They routinely look items up on Ebay, but obviously not this one. Many, many people may have access to it, but not everyone uses it.

I am honestly stuck on the issue. I would really like to own a "real" anvil but my railroad tracks anvil and my forklift tine anvil work pretty good so far. There are a lot of other tools I could get for $500. This is just a hobby for me I may just wait but then I may not.