Anvil Insanity Everywhere

[ThomasPowers]

Antique 150 pound Blacksmith Anvil for sale. 
Manufactured in the 1800's
Single horn
The face is 12" X 6". 
The horn measures 7"
1" Hardie hole includes cutoff tool
No Makers Mark
Asking $1100.00

[SLAG]

T. P.

Is that your best offer?

Can you come down a little?

It's a tad over my budget.

Regards,

SLAG.

[KYBOY]

I see 150# and 180# anvils listed for $600-$800 all the time now..AND SELLING

[ThomasPowers]

Not Me selling it!   But this is what we are seeing around here.  No historical context to make it worth something above it's current state.

Are they in that bad a shape?  Just being an anvil doesn't mean it's a top end anvil and should get a top price!

Dunning Kruger!

[SLAG]

T. P.

I knew that.

That vintage specimen, would make fine blast furnace fodder. (or mini-mill feed.)

We will have to wait for the blacksmith reality "shows" to expire and the majority of the anvil collectors give up, or pay $$$ for every move they have to make. Then the prices will come down..

Regards,

SLAG.

[ThomasPowers]

Well I am nicely anviled up and for about US$1 a pound.  I just feel really really bad about new folks that may not have the money and end up spending way too much for "FBFF"; or even worse for a spouse to blow their budget trying to get a special gift for their spouse...only to have thrown away the money...(there's a cast iron ASO advertized down here at an alluring price for a 220# "anvil")

I may have to bring a 4"x4"x8" chunk from the scrapyard to Quad-State---if I get a chance to get to the scrapyard before then...

[Frosty]

I don't pay for old and rusty unless it's REALLY old. Reality BS has run prices up here too, like they weren't already stupid high already. for example there was a CL and Ebay add up for a 4" leg vise asking only $1,200, it was an ANTIQUE! Hurry it won't last. Was on both lists at least a year and a half I don't know if it sold or just taken down.

Frosty The Lucky.

[SLAG]

Ditto. Got most of my equipment in the late 1980's

SLAG.

[Donniev]

Think they'd come down to $5?

[rockstar.esq]

That thing looks very nearly like it's made of stone!

[Mark Ling]

yeah, there's a 200 pound hay budden on our craigslist for $1000. And the problem is, is that then all the other people selling anvils, think that theirs is worth just as much.....

                                                                                                                             Littleblacksmith

[Everything Mac]

Reality check gents. Anvils aren't as cheap as they used to be. It might be time to put on your big boy pants and accept it. 

The anvil market here isn't what it used to be. I'm never going to get an anvil for the same price I paid 5 years ago. Just not going to happen.

Don't like the price? Move on.

All too often I see posts from guys just starting out who are doing things "on a budget" and that's just fine, I reckon we were all that guy at some point. Myself included. But if you decide you want to take things more seriously and invest in better equipment down the line then you're going to have to save up for it and spend the money where it counts.

All the best

Andy

[ThomasPowers]

about a quarter of my serious students get their first anvil free; been that way for several decades and latest was about 2 weeks ago.   Of course they have to get off the internet to do so...

Now that I think about it; I probably judge who is a "serious student" by the work they are willing to do off the internet...

Do you in the UK have the tale about two farmers getting rich selling the same mule back and forth between them?  If folks don't overpay for trash anvils the price most likely would be better for anvils in general.  Why I'm suggesting other solutions than the London Pattern anvils too.

[Thief_Of_Navarre]

 I paid £0.35 a pound for my 260lb forging anvil just over a year ago, and the guy selling knew what he had. Anvils aren't getting more expensive if you don't buy overpriced anvils. Like Thomas said if it's too much dough seek an alternative.

[Daswulf]

Might just be in an anvil rich location here in southwestern Pennsylvania but just looking on Craigslist the other day for fun I saw several Nice anvils for around $3. U.S. a pound. Then I often do see the absurd for way too much too. I still think I lucked out on mine for just under $2. Lb. and under $1.lb. but yeah. People that don't know better find one in an anvil and they think they can make big bucks on it. There will always be the people that are ignorant or fishing for the fool. Or even the people buying and selling playing the market. 

[Fatfudd]

Well tonight we have Forged in Fire followed by Milwaukee Blacksmith so expect prices to surge. That being said I saw the Rhino Anvils at ABANA this year and it you really want a nice anvil for a decent price folks should look there. I don't actually own one and I'm not in their employ but for the price they are pretty hard to beat!

[notownkid]

Antiques they maybe BUT in general Real Antiques in relation to furniture, dishes and the like have fallen on real hard times even carriages and sleights have hit bottom or nearly so since 2008.  We have some from wife's family 150 yrs. old or more, a Large well  known NE auction company told us they weren't interested in taking any more as their warehouses were full and their auctions that did draw 4-500 people now were getting maybe 75 and prices were down 80%.  As they say the Bloom will soon be off the Rose and we may see a decline in Antique Blacksmith items esp. after the TV shows run their course.  My dad said blow enough air to any balloon and it will burst just as the economy  did in 2008 era. 

I know I was lucky to get my PW anvil with known history for $.25 a lb. a number of yrs. ago.  Would hate to be starting now and why would anyone pay $1100 for that piece of scrap with no real value when you can purchase a  brand new one for not a heck of a lot more?  Fools and their money?  Seems like about 3/4 of the folks who show us an anvil here on IFI want to know the value. 

[Daswulf]

Notownkid, I've seen that in the antiques market as well. Could be many reasons for it. I remember going to antique stores and auctions with my parents as a kid and the market was way bigger then. Seems to have really declined a lot yet generally the ones trying to hang onto the old prices just can't sell and at auctions the same antiques are bringing considerably less. You make a great point. 

[notownkid]

 

Daswulf

We have given away many pieces that would have brought good $$ 10 yrs ago. we don't need anymore and downsizing we don't have the room.  Nobody in the family wants them. We had run into way low prices in one state so moved some to another and it was worse.  Not worth the hassle any longer.  The younger families today that are making the good money have no interest in history or what was yesterday only today and maybe tomorrow.

I give talks on local history in my area and I have noticed 90% of the people in the audience are 40 or more  .  I'm scheduled to do one next week and the young lady told me I would be given 20 min. to give 60 yrs. of history on a certain subject.  When I told her I had jokes that took that long to tell she said she couldn't stay interested in anything more than 20 min.  She will be getting a surprise just how long I can make 20 min. last.  Last time I did this one it was 1 1/2 hrs and the people kept me talking for another hr. after I was done.  Told my wife I would sound like the Energizer Bunny doing a Drug ad. to do it in 20 min.   

[Lou L]

Notownkid, how often are you in Harwinton and when can I go see one of these talks?  Even better, when can I get some classes from you?  Yes, I fully intend to go to the meet in Mass.  Still need to get that membership.

[Daswulf]

Notownkid ,  on the talk. Sad on her,  keep it going  

As far as interest in antiques, I think most people put the value mostly at what memories it brings back or the knowledge of a good antique. The people that remember the old days is dying off and being replaced with the entertainment generation. Early electronics and games and such. I see it all the time. A lot of the market really seems to be the reclaiming of childhood experiences and memories. Then you have the knowledgable on historic value or those like me that love the quality in usable antiques since they don't make em like they used to. Many different factors to it. That's all aside from what some antique book that someone gets ahold of said something is worth. 

[Judson Yaggy]

Lou, you can buy a membership at the door if you like, makes it easy that way.  Look me up at the meet.

Everyone should remember that asking price is not the same as sale price.  The crazy high pieces of junk tend to stay on CL or Ebay for weeks and months.  Medium quality with medium prices sell in a week or so.  Garage/barn sale anvil prices are usually the most random price wise and deals can be had.  There is an upward trend to prices but I don't see it as extreme except online where the collectors and price-is-no-object folks are concentrated.  The fact that you can buy great quality NEW anvils for $4 to $8 per pound will limit the upper end prices somewhat, again except for collectors.  But with 7.5 billion people in the world there are a lot of collectors!

[notownkid]

One way to get a deal on an anvil is buy one for way too much and another one will end up on your door step in short order for less and most likely you are broke from the first purchase.  Murphy's law, really wish I could get my hands on Murphy!

Always costs money to be in a hurry. 

Lou

I forgot to mention in my PM to you that where the event is being held they have basic classes and some advanced as well ask the owner who happens to be the Pres. of NEBs.

 

[JHCC]

Another way is to pay too much, but then hold onto it for several decades. "I'm tellin' ya, sonny, back in ought-seven, we were only paying five dollars a pound for anvils!"

[Dustin Quade]

It has been my experience that patience and speed are the key to anvils these days. I got my first anvil for just over 2 dollars a pound 4 years ago now (93 pounds for 200$) and I got my new anvil for just about $1.40 a pound (179 pound for 250$). In the four years between those purchases though more often than not I see people selling anvils all in the range of 4-5 dollars a pound and you know what man those adds don’t stay around long. There are a heck of a lot of people getting into this craft which is great in some respects especially in the community that has grown around it and the ease of access for information about the craft. The downside is that prices seem to legitimately be going up with it. Supply and demand is the law of the land and that’s fine I get that. It’s troubling to me because I can’t afford these new prices as being the norm. If something happened and god forbid someone stole my equipment or it was lost in some sort of accident I literally could not afford to get back into this craft for a while until I had set some money aside. But I do understand why some anvils are becoming legitimately more expensive

 

What bothers me though are the people being taken advantage of by this, lots of people don’t know what to look for when they are buying anvils and think cracks and dings can be fixed with some welding rod or similar. They don’t know how to tell the difference between cast iron and steel and they get taken advantage of. People selling anvils with missing horns or broken off heels like they are brand new. Now I get it, these tools still have life in them and they can still be used but the prices for these seem to be just as high sometimes as others and that’s what I don’t get.

 

Another thing I don’t understand is the reluctance to just buy a new anvil. There are people selling them all through the US and even here in Canada you can find them. And with prices being what they are today why wouldn’t you just buy a brand new one? The entire advantage to buying the older beat up anvils is that they are cheaper because they have been used, my newest anvil has rough as heck edges because someone went to town on something cold all over it, the hardy hole is also quite indented from hard working and the very back of the heel has a tiny torch mark on it, but I got it for less than half the price of a new anvil of the same weight so it’s not such a hard pill to swallow.  But the one used at the start of this thread for example is 150lbs and they want 1100 bucks or for 1200 bucks you could go to blacksmith depot get a 165lb peddinghaus anvil brand spanking new. I just don’t see how someone can with a straight face ask 1100 for that older one.