I've been smithing for a few months now, and have wanted an upgrade from my railroad tie plate ASO. I looked on craigslist and came across someone selling 55 pound cast steel anvils for $220. I was wondering if I should buy one, or save my money for a better deal? The smaller anvil is what I'm going for: 

At $4/# you best hope it is actually cast steel, or at least ductile iron (far more likely).  The horn design looks terrible, and based on that, and no other info on manufacturer or even country of manufacture, I would steer clear, but I already have a Peter Wright and a backup.  If I were you I would stick with a name brand anvil if buying new, even if it costs a bit more (TFS, JHM, Emerson, Kanka...)

I second that motion @ $4 lb i would pass and buy a real anvil

Frankly I can get a 80 pound piece of steel at the scrapyard for US$16 that looks like the style of  anvils used for over 2000 years rather than the london pattern that's around 200 years old.  Also are you sure they are cast steel?  What is the return policy if you find out it is not a  an anvil but an ASO? (also what is the shipping costs?)

Hey Steve. I may be getting some forklift forks through a neighbor of mine.  Are you in Henderson, or Hendertucky?

You can buy those anvil made in China on Ali Baba for a fraction of that price. 

I'm in Henderson,  BIGGUNDOCTOR, but I don't think I cant fit a forklift fork in my shop. I have maybe half the space in a 1 car garage to work with, and most of that is already taken up by my workbench, forge, and grinder

I Have been to see these. Being sold by link removed. They are nice for the most part but I don't know the origin. The guy said he bought a pallet of them but there are no determinable markings. He works on one all the time and either he cleans his facing a lot or it is good steel cause it appears perfect.

Kinda funny the pritchel is square and in line with the hardie.

I'm only linked to your FB page, no look at anvils.

Harbor Freight used to sell cast steel anvils made in Russia that were actually pretty decent. Their most distinguishing visual feature was a hardy hole rotated 45*. Otherwise they looked a LOT like cheap Chinese cast iron door stops.

Frosty The Lucky.

I've seen similar looking anvils here but they did look a lot worse and were as soft as mud, most likely not the same manufacturer but you might want to take a look down the hardy hole, the one I saw had a lot of stuff in it, not sure what it was but it looked like flashing to me