When dropping a Slight damaged or Very damaged anvil from a height they lose their broken texture when falling in mid air. This can be duplicated by placing a stack of blocks about five high and then let the anvil fall.
The image attached is a slightly broke anvil in mid-air.
Linked issues
is duplicated by 8
relates to 2
Attachments
Comments

I actually think the problem is caused because falling entities use the item render, in the case of the anvil. That render is always that of an unbroken anvil, for all three states obtainable without commands.
Still in 13w24a

Is this still a concern in the current Minecraft version 1.6.4 / Launcher version 1.2.5 ? If so, please update the affected versions in order to best aid Mojang ensuring bugs are still valid in the latest releases/pre-releases.
Still a bug in 1.6.4.
Confirmed in 1.7.1.
Confirmed in 14w04b.
Confirmed in 14w06b.
Still a concern in 1.7.5, 14w08a and 14w10c
Confirmed for 14w11b
Confirmed for 14w17a
Confirmed for 14w18a
Confirmed for 14w18b.
Confirmed for 14w20a and b.
Fixed in 14w25b.
A problem caused by the falling anvil being an entity.