Big ol' anvil find, Sisco.

[Black Frog]

Here's a 495# anvil I recently jumped on for a screaming deal. The seller did not know what he was selling...... It was my lucky day and saw the ad within minutes of it being posted. A blurry picture of an anvil shaped object that you couldn't tell anything from. All the ad said was, "500 pound anvil in nice condition. 40" in length." No details on make or anything, but I was jumping on it NOW regardless of not knowing the make. 40" anvils don't come along too often, and definitely not at that price.. I called immediately and told him, "I'll take it, sight unseen, and I'm not going to trying to get you to move on price. I'm leaving work now and will be there in two hours with cash in hand to pick it up...." I knew there would be an avalanche of calls to buy it minutes behind me, and wanted to get there before he might change his mind on price!

When I got there to look it at, there were many layers of paint on it so I couldn't make out any markings anywhere. But I could see flats on the feet. It was getting dark, and I certainly wasn't going to hesitate buying this anvil, whatever the make was. So at first I was leaning towards it being a Peter Wright due to flats on the feet and a couple of handling holes. I just wanted to get it loaded in my truck and pay the man as fast as possible. I knew there would be a flood of calls coming to buy it right on my heels.

Later in the week I had a bit of time to start trying to figure out what this old girl was. Unfortunately the anvil had layers of white, yellow, green, red, and black paint on it. Yuck.

But once all the paint was off, and I could start wire brushing for details, I was tickled to find the make of Sisco Superior. Sisco was name for the Swedish Iron & Steel Corp. All cast steel, very similar to Soderfors/Paragon. I would've been extremely happy with this deal if the anvil had turned out to be a Peter Wright, but finding the Sisco Superior stamp made it even more fantastic.

Once it was all cleaned up, I could not be more thrilled with the anvil. I've played with a LOT of anvils of all makes and sizes, this Sisco has the best rebound of any I can remember testing. Catch the ball bearing right back between your fingers from where it was dropped. Even way out on the very edge of the heel the rebound is over 80%. Spectacular. Don't find many Sisco anvils around, and definitely not in this sort of shape.

 

[FJ 432]

Outstanding. What part of the country are you in? How much?

 

[Jarhead0408]

No price?

Can't get a you **** 'till you post the price!

 

[Canoe50]

I want to know how you got it on the truck. Nice find....congrats.

 

[thebeekeeper1]

Wow!

 

[Zrexxer]

That is one big mothertrucker.

 

[y'sguy]

I want one. Don't need one BUT, I want one.

 

[Black Frog]

I want to know how you got it on the truck. Nice find....congrats.

I use/buy/sell a lot of anvils, and having a Wesco hydraulic toe lift is worth its weight in gold. Can handle up to 750# and go from ground level up to 54" I think.... I throw it in the back of the truck and can handle most anything. The lift is the orange thing in the first pic. Having a way to easily load big anvils is sometimes a good bargaining chip. I loaded/unloaded this anvil by myself fairly easily. I love this lift, use it all the time and wouldn't be without one. I have the one on the right, the platform goes right down to the ground and you can slide really heavy stuff on fairly easily. The one on the left will not go fully down to the ground due to having four wheels, but that one is easier to maneauver the load once it is on the platform.

Price for this almost pristine extremely high quality anvil was $1.50 a pound, $750. That is an abosolute steal of a deal for this anvil. I showed this to an anvil collector I know, and he instantly offered to triple my money, and then even more...... Nope, this one is going nowhere.

 

[Canoe50]

I use/buy/sell a lot of anvils, and having a Wesco hydraulic toe lift is worth its weight in gold. Can handle up to 750# and go from ground level up to 54" I think.... I throw it in the back of the truck and can handle most anything. The lift is the orange thing in the first pic. Having a way to easily load big anvils is sometimes a good bargaining chip. I loaded/unloaded this anvil by myself fairly easily. I love this lift, use it all the time and wouldn't be without one. I have the one on the right, the platform goes right down to the ground and you can slide really heavy stuff on fairly easily. The one on the left will not go fully down to the ground due to having four wheels, but that one is easier to maneauver the load once it is on the platform.

Price for this almost pristine extremely high quality anvil was $1.50 a pound, $750. That is an abosolute steal of a deal for this anvil. I showed this to an anvil collector I know, and he instantly offered to triple my money, and then even more...... Nope, this one is going nowhere.

That's a nice lift & no doubt worth it's weight in gold, given what you do.
Ya done good at that price.....but you already know that. Great find.

 

[Black Frog]

Oh this is not going to sit pretty somewhere, this is my new main shop anvil!
I wondered if I would ever find a better rebounding anvil than the one I had been using for several years now, a 362# A&H. This Sisco is a better anvil, and in better condition.

That price doesn't disgust me a bit. Think about how much time/energy/effort went into making a 495# cast tool steel anvil. Then the hardening, tempering, finishing work, etc... You can still buy new anvils of this quality, but they are huge dollars. Just look up Refflinghaus, great great anvils, but anywhere from $8-$10 a pound new (up to 1200#!!).

Anvil prices are only going one direction. They were silly low prices years ago when blacksmithing was almost a dying craft. Almost no one wanted them, and many were turned in for scrap. That has all changed with the resurgence of blacksmithing and ironwork, and also with the wide availbility and access that the internet provides to anvil collectors.

Look at the prices anvils WERE selling for when they were being manufactured back in the late 1800's and early 1900's, and compare that with the average wage of a worker. They were not cheap. They were tools that were required, and you could make money with them and pay them off fairly quickly with some talent and hard work. Not any different than buying a big new fancy Miller welder today. It ain't cheap, but the things you can do with it allow you to make money using that tool.

We were just spoiled in the 1970's-1990's with rock bottom (or free) anvil prices when no one seemed to want them.

 

[zkling]

As much as the prices disgust me and as much as I do not like the doorstop collectors;
I would have certainly done the same as you. I would try my best to get it to someone who could use it instead of hold a door open with it or polish it.

That was a good deal and you are perfect intermediary on its trip to once again becoming a valuable TOOL.

As a door stop it's just too heavy. As a working tool it's perfect.

A older couple a few blocks over has one as a centerpiece for their gnome collection, real nice shape, minus the rust. It just sits in the yard, wasting away. Back when I was heavy into forging I tried to buy it a number of times. They wanted an obscure ammount of money for it. Occasionally I drive by to glance at it

 

[Bryan Burns]

Good for you!

You mentioned it's all "cast steel". Could you tell that just by looking at it? Before it was cleaned up? Is that what I should be looking for in an anvil?

 

[Black Frog]

Good for you!

You mentioned it's all "cast steel". Could you tell that just by looking at it? Before it was cleaned up? Is that what I should be looking for in an anvil?

I could not tell what make it was with 5 layers of thick paint on it. I couldn't even tell it was a cast anvil at that point. I didn't care. After doing a quick face rebound check, I knew it was in fantastic shape and it was coming home with me.

You don't need a cast steel anvil to have a good/great anvil. Many of the forged anvils with steel faceplate are fantastic quality as well. Hay Budden, Trenton, Arm & Hammer, Peter Wright just to name a few. All quality makes anvils. The Swedish anvils like this Sisco (and Soderfors/Paragon/Kohlswa) are all cast steel. Columbian anvils were made here in the U.S. and were cast steel as well.

Some of the cast iron anvils were not the best, except for Fisher anvils. Fishers are quality anvils. But some of the other cast iron anvils had very thin steel face (Vulcan), or even no steel fact at all. Like the **** so-called "anvil" sold at Harbor Freight. Complete junk.

The best thing to do when buying an anvil (besides checking obvious visual condition and make) is to check the rebound of the face in several locations with a hardened ball bearing. The better the rebound, the better it will reflect the energy of your hammer blows into the work.

 

[Black Frog]

A older couple a few blocks over has one as a centerpiece for their gnome collection, real nice shape, minus the rust. It just sits in the yard, wasting away. Back when I was heavy into forging I tried to buy it a number of times. They wanted an obscure ammount of money for it. Occasionally I drive by to glance at it

I know where there is a 800# Hay Budden anvil that is painted bright yellow sitting in someone's flower garden. They will not sell it at any price.

 

[CNGsaves]

Nice score on the monster anvil. Good to hear it will be put to use !

 

[Lassen Forge]

I know where there is a 800# Hay Budden anvil that is painted bright yellow sitting in someone's flower garden. They will not sell it at any price.

Ouch. That hurts.

I just don't get this thrill at good, usable gear left out to rust or decompose as "yard art". Seen more than one tractor (one a '19 Fordson I would love to grab) or lineshaft-driven beam saw or lathe left out to the elements... makes me want to cry.

At 1.50 a pound I don't know if it qualifies as true suckage, but I will grant you a severe low pressure system... my envy runneth over!

 

[kazlx]

That is so awesome. Are there even anvils that big that wouldn't be worth buying for the price you paid? Seems like a lot of time and effort to make something like that for something that would be considered junk (other than something that's obviously broken or cracked). There are some things you can tell are quality by looking at them, even not knowing much about the trade specifically...

 

[Black Frog]

The prices disgust me because of the two cases mentioned.

They read the prices a craftsman pays and think their yard art is worth the money.

A 800# Hay Budden IS worth huge money. The value of any given item is only what someone is willing to pay for it. Someone would pay a lot of money for that anvil. Their yard art anvil is worth a lot, whether we like it or not.

Unless the people with the eight hundred know grandpa made his way across country earning a living with it, they're only keeping a craftsperson from exercising their craft.

I disagree somewhat. No craftsperson needs a huge anvil to do phenomenal work. There are very few things that you would do on a 800# anvil that couldn't be done just as well on a firmly-mounted 200# anvil. Those huge anvils were mostly used in massive shipyards or railroad factories.

Some damn collector will see the u **** and pay three times normal price for an anvil that could otherwise have been put to work.

"Normal price" is not a set-in-stone amount. Just like some firearms that are desireable. They have intrinsic value that can go up (or down) depending on the demand for that item.

The thing about anvil collectors, they are not immortal. I have never seen a trailerload of anvils follow the hurse to the cemetery. On the other hand I have been to many auctions where anvil collections have been broken up after the collector passed away. The vast majority of anvil collections will mostly all go back into circulation at some point.

If you had said "I paid every penny it was worth and then some"..

It was worth far more than I paid. The reality of the market says so. We can discuss all we want about what things should be priced at, but supply and demand and market prices trumps any conversation we're gonna have about the subject.

 

[Black Frog]

That is so awesome. Are there even anvils that big that wouldn't be worth buying for the price you paid? Seems like a lot of time and effort to make something like that for something that would be considered junk (other than something that's obviously broken or cracked). There are some things you can tell are quality by looking at them, even not knowing much about the trade specifically...

I haven't seen a large (over 350#) anvil that was of poor quality make. I have seen several 300# Vulcans, and while I don't consider them junk, they are far better than something without a steel face, they are not in the class of quality of the better known names.