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Value of Fisher(?) anvil


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I am new to smithing but looking to get started. Yesterday i picked up a old fisher anvil, the only markings on it are the cast eagle, and a capital A on the foot. Any idea what year this is. Also i found it at a estate sale out in amish country.  Is this anvil still usable with the chipped sides. I got this 100lb for $200 and the 5in post vise for $50. I took a wire wheel to it to get the rust off then hit it with a can of black engine enamel. I stoned the work surface and hit it with some scotch brite on a angle grinder. Does refinishing hurt the value of a old anvil?

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Value depends a lot on LOCATION which you haven't mentioned. Can't say about "refinishing" till you tell us what that means to YOU. Any grinding on the face can drop the uselife by decades if not centuries. Welding on the edges may drop the price as the buyer can't tell if it was done right or done wrong---which generally doesn't show up till it gets used and the welds peel off deeper into the face than the original issues.

BTW there are Amish living in several countries and even more for Mennonites---we get a lot of Canadian Mennonites crossing to Mexico to visit their settlements there.  I help them with their visa forms sometimes as I cross the border 4 times a week. (Surprises them when they find out someone else knows some German...and Spanish.)

Personally I'd pay under US$200 for that one; but I am anviled up.  Others might pay more.

If you want to know the date you need to post a good clean picture of the eagle trademark here and let the Curator of the Fisher Museum tell you what years it was used.

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A good photo of the eagle may provide a clue to dating this anvil, specifically what the eagle is clutching. It looks surprisingly like one I just recently sold. Does yours have a chunk missing from the underside of the horn out near the tip? Looks like it in the first photo.

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