1959 Weber Ranch Kettle

Featured here is what quite possibly may be one of the oldest complete Ranch grills we have.  This kettle is documented from 1959 and recently sold at a local auction in Ohio for the incredible amount of $4200.00.

The story behind this kettle is most interesting in that the original owner won this grill on her second visit to the game show The Price is Right! in 1959.   Even more amazing is the fact that this grill was never used.  The auctioneer found this grill taken apart,  stored in the owner’s home crawl space.   At first they didn’t realize what it was.  They found the bottom of the kettle and thought it was a large trough or metal bowl for some type of storage use.  Then they found the lid, and then the grates.  At this point it was realized that all these parts had something in common…the size.  After all the parts were brought out, it was assembled and made perfect sense.

While the kettle itself appears to be identical to the Ranch that appeared as late as the 1972 catalog, it does have some unique parts that sets itself aside from any other Ranch we’ve seen to date.  Some of those parts include the following:

– thin rubber tread tires and steel hubs painted white

– early example of the Gourmet Grate system

– a metal utility tray/shelf that is possibly made of copper or brass

– an original metal foiled Weber sticker located on the utility tray/shelf reading  “The Original Weber Covered Bar-B-Q Kettle”