Anvil question

Found a guy that has a pretty good selection on tools and in this he has 2 anvils among other smithing tools. My question is. What size anvil is the smallest you would want for forging small blades and general use? He has one around 100 and the other he thinks is around 150. I have to go have a look but he says the surface of both as well as the horns are good. My buddy and I are splitting the stuff and I may take the smaller of the 2 if its big enough. Any help would be appreciated.

I've got a bunch of different anvils from 25lbs all the way up to 350lbs. I've never found a need for my 25 or 50 lbs anvils and have only used my 75lb anvil for shoeing horses. I've got a 125lb anvil that I keep in the truck. It's about perfect for forge work and having a nice horn that tapers to a fine point I can do intricate work with it or lock it down and do heavy forging. My 350lbs anvil is at the shop and gets the nod for pretty much everything every time. With all things equal I'll use the bigger anvil every time. You're probably going to want to make sure whatever you buy has a true round horn and not one designed for horseshoeing but other than that if they're both the same there won't be a huge difference between the usability of the 100 and 150 and either one will be fine for general use. I would be careful about the price though as most people these days think their anvil is a rare priceless artifact. I'd buy a new anvil before I would pay top dollar for beat up junk, I don't care what brand of anvil it is. There's some really good anvils that can be bought for what people pay for worn out abused anvils.

I pretty much agree with GF. Rule of thumb - all other things being equal always opt for the larger one. It's more about the mass below the point of impact and the skill of the smith. For blades a big waist and minimal or no horn is preferred.
There are ways to "quick test" and anvil for quality (too much to cover here) and not with a stupid-making ball bearing.

I also agree on the "antique" pricing issue - simple, one that works well is worth more than one that does not.

Biggest thing to remember is the anvil doesn't make the blade, the smith does. You can spend $2000+ for a brand new Nimbus, but if you cannot control your hammer or your heats (temp), you just have an expensive doorstop.

My very first anvil was a large chunk of granite headstone (reject). It still works quite well. I've also used RxR coupler knuckles, track (least favored without modification), large steel "drops" (cutoff scrap), and forklift tines (excellent for finesse work).

If the larger one and the smaller one are equal in all aspects, you won't regret getting the larger one. Either way if the price is right get one or both. There are always those "better deals" out there, but it doesn't pay to wait on the "good deal".
Get one of them, get familiar with it, then bring it to Trackrock next spring and I'll show you how to make it sing.