Anvil Value: Price Per Pound, Makers and Weight Stamps

A used forged anvil is worth roughly $3-6 per pound as of October 2026, so a sound 100 lb Peter Wright, Hay-Budden or Trenton sells for about $300-600 and a 150 lb one for about $450-900. Clean, flat-faced anvils from the best makers can reach $6-8 per pound, while swaybacked, chipped or cast iron anvils sell for about $1-3 per pound.

Anvils are bought by people who will use them, mostly hobby blacksmiths and knifemakers, so the price follows weight, the condition of the face and how the anvil performs, more than age or rarity. A maker's name matters because it tells a buyer how the anvil was built: a forged anvil with a hardened steel face is a working tool for life, and a soft cast iron one is a doorstop.

Quick answer

• Typical used forged anvil: roughly $3-6 per pound; a 100 lb anvil is worth about $300-600.
• Top makers in clean condition (Hay-Budden, Peter Wright, Trenton, Mousehole Forge): up to about $6-8 per pound.
• Fisher (cast iron body, steel face): good working anvils, usually about $3-5 per pound.
• Cast iron hardware store anvils and anvil-shaped objects: about $1-2 per pound.
• Weight stamps on English anvils use hundredweight: 1-1-10 means 112 + 28 + 10 = 150 lb.

How much is an anvil worth per pound?

Most used anvils trade at about $3-6 per pound, and region matters. In a 2021 Garage Journal forum thread on fair anvil prices, one experienced buyer called about $5.70 per pound for a 220 lb Hay-Budden more than fair, one reported he could not get more than $3 per pound for any anvil in upstate New York, and another noted that even a new Harbor Freight cast anvil runs about $1.50 per pound. Prices have firmed since, as blacksmithing has grown as a hobby, and anvils in the West and in big metro areas tend to sell at the top of the range. Small anvils under 75 lb often bring more per pound than large ones, because more people can use and move them; anvils over 300 lb sell to fewer buyers and can bring less per pound.

The fastest way to price yours is to weigh it, work out the per-pound band from the table below, and then adjust for the face and edges.

How to identify and value an anvil, step by step

1. Weigh it. Use a bathroom scale and weigh yourself with and without it, or use a hanging scale. Weight is the base of every price.
2. Find the stamps on the side. Clean the side under the horn and the body with a wire brush, then rub chalk across it. The maker's name, a logo and the weight usually appear on one side of the body. Many American anvils also carry a serial number on the front foot, under the horn.
3. Read the weight stamp. Three numbers in a row on an English or older American anvil are a hundredweight stamp, explained below. A single number on an American anvil is usually the weight in pounds.
4. Do the rebound test. Drop a 1-inch steel ball bearing from about 10 inches onto the center of the face. A good hardened face sends it back up roughly 7 to 9 inches. A soft or cast iron face sends it back an inch or two with a dull sound. A hammer dropped flat should bounce back hard on a good anvil.
5. Listen to the ring. Tap the face with a hammer. A forged wrought iron or steel anvil rings. A Fisher, built on a cast iron body, is quiet by design but still rebounds well, so do not fail a Fisher on sound alone. A dull dead spot on a forged anvil can mean the steel face plate has separated from the body.
6. Check the face. Lay a straightedge across the face lengthwise. A dip in the middle is called sway. Look for chipped and rounded edges, deep dents, cracks and weld repairs.
7. Check the horn and heel. Look for a broken horn tip, a cracked heel, and a hardy hole (the square hole) that has been hammered out of shape.
8. Price it. Weight times the per-pound band for the maker and condition is the market.

How do you read the weight stamp on an anvil?

English anvils, and many early American ones, were stamped in the old hundredweight system with three numbers. Wikipedia's anvil article sets it out: the first number is hundredweights of 112 lb, the second is quarters of 28 lb, and the third is single pounds. A stamp of 1-1-10 is 112 + 28 + 10 = 150 lb. A stamp of 3-1-5 is 336 + 28 + 5 = 369 lb. The middle number never goes above 3, and the last never above 27. American makers such as Hay-Budden and Trenton usually stamped the weight in plain pounds. Stamped weights are close but not exact, and a worn or ground anvil weighs less than its stamp, so a buyer will weigh it.

Which anvil makers are worth the most?

Richard Postman's book Anvils in America is the standard reference for American and imported anvils, and the Hay-Budden history site quotes his description of them as the "Rolls Royce of anvils". The book explains the serial number systems used by Hay-Budden, Trenton and others, so the year of an anvil can often be found to within a year or two.

Note the Trenton trap: anvils marked TRENTON were made in Columbus, Ohio, by Columbus Forge & Iron (the earliest ones were imported), while Fisher anvils were made in the city of Trenton, New Jersey. Mixing them up changes how a seller describes construction, because a Trenton is forged and a Fisher has a cast iron body with a steel face fused to it during casting.

What is an ASO, and are cast iron anvils worth anything?

An ASO, or anvil-shaped object, is the collectors' name for a cast iron anvil sold in hardware stores and catalogs, from small bench anvils to large imported castings. They look right but have no hardened face, so a ball bearing barely bounces and the edges chip and dent under a hammer. The anvil article on Wikipedia puts it plainly: cast iron anvils are not suitable for forging because they crack and dent. They sell for about $1-2 per pound, the same as new ones. The tells are a rough sand-cast surface everywhere including the face, raised cast numbers or "made in" lettering instead of stamped marks, a dull thud when struck, and a heavy, blunt horn. Fisher anvils are the important exception: their bodies are cast iron, but the steel face makes them good working anvils.

Condition and what changes the price

Do not grind or mill the face to make it look new. Collectors and smiths prefer an honest worn face to one with its hardened steel ground away, and a thin face can be ruined permanently.

A worked example

Say you inherit an anvil from a farm shop. It weighs 128 lb on a bathroom scale. Chalk on the side brings up PETER WRIGHT, PATENT and the numbers 1 0 16, which is 112 + 0 + 16 = 128 lb, matching the scale. A ball bearing dropped from 10 inches rebounds about 8 inches. The face has a slight dip and small chips along one edge, and the horn is intact. That is a sound Peter Wright user in fair condition, worth roughly $4-5 per pound, or about $500-650. If the same anvil had a deep sway and chewed edges, it would sit closer to $2-3 per pound, about $250-400. If the scale said 128 lb but the side read only "made in" in raised cast letters with a dead rebound, it would be a cast iron ASO worth about $130-250.

How to sell an anvil

Anvils sell one at a time, locally, to the people who will use them. Weight sets the price, so weigh it before you write a word and list it at the per-pound band for its maker and condition: roughly $3-6 per pound for a sound forged anvil, $6-8 for a clean Hay-Budden, Peter Wright, Trenton or Mousehole, $3-5 for a Fisher, and $1-2 for a cast iron anvil, sold as exactly that. The buyers are at the local blacksmithing guild or club, which many states have, and on general marketplaces with pickup, since a 150 lb anvil is not something to ship. A collection, an early hand-forged Mousehole or a rare American maker with a serial number worth dating can go to an auction house that holds tool and blacksmithing sales.

A smith reading the listing wants the weight on a scale, both sides of the body with the stamps chalked, the front foot under the horn for a serial number, the face in raking light, a straightedge along the face to show any sway, and the horn and heel with the hardy and pritchel holes. Give the rebound: how far a ball bearing dropped from about 10 inches comes back. Declare chips, sway, a broken horn tip, weld repairs, and whether the face has ever been milled or ground, because that removes the hardened steel the buyer is paying for.

Do not price by age; a 1850 English anvil and a 1920 American one of the same weight and condition sell for about the same. Do not call a cast iron ASO forged, and do not read a hundredweight stamp as pounds.

Common mistakes

• Pricing by age. A 1850 English anvil and a 1920 American one of the same weight and condition sell for about the same. Users buy performance.
• Grinding or milling the face. It removes the hardened steel that makes the anvil worth having.
• Reading a hundredweight stamp as pounds. "1 1 10" is 150 lb, not 1,110 or 11 lb.
• Failing a Fisher on the ring test. Fishers are quiet by design and work well.
• Paying forged-anvil prices for a cast iron ASO. Always do the ball bearing test before buying.
• Moving it alone. Anvils are heavy and awkward. Use a hand truck and two people, and never lift by the horn.

How WorthPic reads anvil photos

WorthPic runs on the newest and most capable AI model available, tuned for exactly this kind of identification. From a side photo it reads the anvil's pattern, the shape of the horn, heel and feet, and any chalked maker's name, logo and weight stamp, which places most anvils by maker and era. It reads the face and edges for sway, chips and repairs, and it looks for the rough surface and raised cast lettering of a cast iron anvil. It then gives an honest value range from the weight, maker and condition, with a most likely figure. What it cannot know from a photo is how the face performs: rebound and a separated face plate only show up when you test the anvil, so it asks for the ball bearing result and the actual weight. It identifies and estimates. It does not test hardness, authenticate, grade or appraise.

What to photograph

• Both sides of the body, with the stamps chalked so the letters stand out.
• The front foot under the horn, close up, for a serial number.
• The face from above, in raking light, to show sway, chips and dents.
• A straightedge laid along the face, from the side, to show any sway.
• The horn and heel, including the hardy and pritchel holes.
• The scale reading, and a note of how high a ball bearing rebounds.

When to get it looked at in person

Most anvils do not need an appraisal. A local blacksmithing guild or club, which many states have, will usually read a stamp, run a rebound test and tell you what anvils sell for nearby, and its members are often the buyers. A collection of anvils, a very large or very small anvil, an early hand-forged Mousehole or a rare American maker with a serial number worth dating is worth showing to an experienced smith who owns Anvils in America, or to an auction house that holds tool and blacksmithing sales. If your anvil came from a shop full of old tools, our guides to antique tools, Stanley planes and grinding stones cover the rest of the bench, and old cast iron skillets covers the kitchen iron that tends to come from the same barn. Our guide to collectibles value covers the other heavy, odd and hard-to-ship pieces that come out of barns and workshops.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Anvil: the hundredweight marking system with the 3-1-5 example, why cast iron anvils crack, dent and lack rebound, and Postman's Anvils in America in its reading list.
• Garage Journal forum: Fair price for anvil?: buyers' reports of per-pound prices, including the 220 lb Hay-Budden at about $5.70 per pound and cast iron anvils at about $1.50 per pound.
• Hay Budden Anvil Manufacturing Company history site: Hay-Budden's Brooklyn years, from the late 1880s to 1925, and Postman's "Rolls Royce of anvils" description.
• Wikipedia: Harriet White Fisher: the Fisher & Norris Anvil Works in Trenton, New Jersey.
• Wikipedia: River Rivelin: Mousehole Forge's anvil making and the end of production in 1933.