Kettle Values

[landgraftj]

Guys need a favor from the WKC...please stop telling new joiners that their grills are worth a fortune. Too many new folks come in, post a handful of times, and are never heard from again after they sell them at rape prices. It only hurts us true kettleheads in the long run because of the inflated pricing people think they will get. I have no problem with folks buying cheap and flipping because we have all done it at one time. But, after the meetup Saturday it's clear why most of us are here...our love for the Weber kettles (although Brian seems to dig happy cookers a bit more) and our willingness to help other members when we can. Everyone at that meetup and those that followed it closely know exactly what I'm talking about. If I offended you then you probably needed to be offended, and for that I do not apologize. End of rant, thanks for reading.

Terry

[pbe gummi bear]

Guys need a favor from the WKC...please stop telling new joiners that their grills are worth a fortune. Too many new folks come in, post a handful of times, and are never heard from again after they sell them at rape prices. It only hurts us true kettleheads in the long run because of the inflated pricing people think they will get. I have no problem with folks buying cheap and flipping because we have all done it at one time. But, after the meetup Saturday it's clear why most of us are here...our love for the Weber kettles (although Brian seems to dig happy cookers a bit more) and our willingness to help other members when we can. Everyone at that meetup and those that followed it closely know exactly what I'm talking about. If I offended you then you probably needed to be offended, and for that I do not apologize. End of rant, thanks for reading.

Terry

I agree with you that this site and the other bbq forums are driving up collectible Weber prices. It kinda sucks, but I think that it should be the current members' responsibility to be transparent and honest. We don't need to hype up prices or collectibility in a response as long as it's truthful. You never know if that person will stay but everyone should be treated with the same respect that we would like ourselves when approaching a new community. If someone will pay a few hundred or $1000 for the kettle so be it. There is enough information out there that a few minutes of Google search should give them a good idea already. The WKC should be the best repository of Weber information, from age, model changes, and even values.

However this shouldn't mean that we should become an open and unregulated forum that tolerates new members whose first post is:

"BNIB YELLOW WEBER BBQ KETTLE FOR SALE. RARE WOOD DALE MODEL WITH METAL HANDLES. BEST OFFER!!!!!!!!!"

New members should have manners too.

I first joined TVWBB after I bought my 1880 wsm, I knew it was rare from lurking, but noone knew how much it was worth because one never went up for auction. It led to some good discussion and friendships that continue here on WKC. The community there was welcoming and now BBQ and Webers are one of my main hobbies. At the end of the day, we should be about fostering the bbq hobby and Weber tradition.

[Bman]

Not offended here.  I love the thrill-of-the-hunt and the history of the score.  This is kinda like the forum version of Pawn Stars, American Pickers, etc...  People get the idea their stuff is worth waaaay more than the average (or below) enthusiast is willing (able) to pay.  I know my place on the financial totem pole.  And that's one where the little dogs can still hit when they lift a leg.   

[Jeff]

Not offended here.  I love the thrill-of-the-hunt and the history of the score.  This is kinda like the forum version of Pawn Stars, American Pickers, etc...  People get the idea their stuff is worth waaaay more than the average (or below) enthusiast is willing (able) to pay.  I know my place on the financial totem pole.  And that's one where the little dogs can still hit when they lift a leg.   

Nice...I may have to use that line! 

[landgraftj]

And you shouldn't be offended Bman...you are constantly helping others. And I'm pretty sure I'm on the same financial totem pole level as you!

[pbe gummi bear]

Not offended here.  I love the thrill-of-the-hunt and the history of the score.  This is kinda like the forum version of Pawn Stars, American Pickers, etc...  People get the idea their stuff is worth waaaay more than the average (or below) enthusiast is willing (able) to pay.  I know my place on the financial totem pole.  And that's one where the little dogs can still hit when they lift a leg.   

Nice...I may have to use that line! 

"Lift a leg..... I dare ya....." -Anonymous Grillfella.

[Chasing_smoke]

I agree with everything stated here, and it does make sense to not put a value on something rather rare. I honestly wouldn't know a proce anyway lol but my personal limit is $50 unless we are talking something that sets in the higher range naturally (performer, OTP etc). But even then I risk getting banished to the couch for spending that much. I would love a new blue OTG but I don't see that happening because of the price. That unopened smokey joe on eBay that went for over $300 is really cool but I couldn't justify that in anyway to my wife.

There is something really cool and special about bringing a grill back up to par and using it again. In the end that's what I'm chasing..

I've been apart of a bunch of forums but there is a really good vibe here that I hope never changes.


"my kettle is more powerful it will do almost anything."

[zavod44]

I agree, we all need to remember that they are still just BBQ grills at the end of the day....I'm not sure why they have become so valuable lately.   Most of the grills I got, I paid like $35 dollars for....I guess if you have to have something you will pay...

[1buckie]

  A part of it is folks out there in the world that think differently than most all of us that percieve things, as it was stated above:
"Too many new folks come in, post a handful of times, and are never heard from again after they sell them at rape prices."

This will happen some, just as a result of E-Bay, Craig'sList, etc....and folks find something in their uncle's garage that MIGHT be worth something......
I've also seen other places outside of here where the sale price of a kettle makes me cringe a bit
( in reguard to what say, most of us would say is about right ) & a few times in threads here, where the above happened & I get that queasy feeling, also.......


Think about when everybody became a real estate agent all on their own a few years back.....second homes "as an investment"....... buy & flip....TV shows about it........it's a thing that happened & a lot of folks got on that bandwagon......
My own personal opinion is this activity had a lot to do with the unrealistic price inflations that eventually occured.....it wasn't just Wall Street..................no hard feelings about it, a large percentage are just folks tryin' to get along......

there's a great little book called "The Hundredth Monkey Theory", about where if enough people (or kettle monkeys) think about something hard enough, see other people do it enough, continue a behavior enough, the conciousness will change.....even for people (or kettle monkeys) that aren't in direct contact with the information.....the conciousness  just evolves........

I, for one, do not want to see an ordinary Redhead going for $500

[Idahawk]

   The vast majority of people out there wouldnt know one grill fom another

[zorknards2]

I agree I started here because I already had a small collection of webers and people always thought I was weird for having so many bbqs then I scored my 56 and was just looking for I fo on it to make it a collector because I new it was old and havnt had luck finding another. this site has been a life saver now in process of sof restore and my family and friends keep asking me how much its worth and telling me to sell it.

my answer no I love this americana like people love coke I will make it shiny again and keep it inside.

so I say thank you wkc for being an outlet for my odd hobby as the family says

[Craig]

I agree with everything stated above! I love this hobby, it is (still) a fairly cheap hobby and most important of all, its fun. I love the hunt, I love the anticipation of a pending score, I love bringing a kettle back to life and putting it back into service for hopefully a few more decades of cooking and memories. Sure, my neighbors probably think I'm weird when they always see me in the garage with one of my kettles either being cleaned or serviced or whatever.... My own father was trying to talk me into how gas is "where its at"  on Father's Day... and he owns a OTG as a second grill.....    WTH, DAD!? Anyway, its nice to find a kettle of any size your looking for at a fair price.....to quote Inspector Harry Callahan..." A man's got to know his limitations!"  I would love to find an old 26" redhead someday, but at a reasonable price otherwise deal me out.

[Duke]

Vintage Weber grills were a piece of Americana just waiting to be tapped for their collectability. We recognized it and created the WKC to bring them to the forefront when the other sites couldn't see what we saw which was one quality brand with so many different models. All of these great old grills needed a website to call their own. If you are a member here you are a part of Weber history and part of the second round that George built them for. There's not a doubt in my mind George Stephen would be a member here teaching and helping us if he was still around. He didn't create these as throwaways, but as something that would stand the test of time and get better with age. Thanks to his hindsight and creative genius people will be enjoying these for years to come. 

[G$]

Interesting subject, and also interesting because I was thinking of broaching the topic also, probably spurred on by the same reasons as the OP.

Here are some of my thoughts, many of which have already been said by others. Some new.

When someone asks what an item like a vintage weber kettle is worth, there is only one answer: What the market will pay.  The interesting thing about the market is ... it is tiny. Very very small.  Probably over half the market for vintage weber grills is right here.  As such, the answer received here is often NOT consistent with the reality of what a person selling local might even see.  The most true way to market a kettle is probably (and I do not say this lightly) eBay.  eBay will capture most of the folks here, as well as most of the other collectors.  The "easiest" way (and I can not believe I am saying this is "easy") is through craigslist, but the general market for a grill on cl is really a different population than a ebay or wkc audience.  You have to 'hope' a collecter is in the audience.

Personally, the most I have paid for a kettle is I think $30. (that doesn't count new handles of course  )  And frankly....that is what almost any weber kettle is "worth", except the outlying kettle to the outlying collector.   It is mostly like any other used piece of durable equipment.  25 to 50% of new depending on condition.   In fact, I will go further and say a BNIB OTG is not "worth" $159.  I would never pay retail for a new weber kettle.  My scale for a vintage kettle generally tops out at 50% of comparable new.

So the next time someone asks, I think I will say, "ask your insurance adjuster what a 33 year old charcoal grill from the hardware store should be insured for".

But then there are the "graills".  And the thing with the "graills" is they are not the same for all of us, and further we do not attach the same value to them.  This  is where we have to be careful.  There are 3 or 4 certain specific kettles that I would pay "inordinate" money for.  However, I would never consider these their value, since it is likely that there is literally no 'market' for them beyond 3 or 4 people.     I would also never use my figures to guide somebody as to their value.  If they take the time, effort and money to  market the grill and get that price by finding the perfect buyer,  more power to them, but it is not what the general market would pay.

Just one last semi related thought.  Because we are that singular targetted collector group, that collection of enthusiasts in one spot, I am seeing some issues with inadvertant/unintentional/perceived stepping on toes in terms of things like auction identification, bidding, etc.  Nobody wants to steal someone else's find.  But in the end, If you want it, and you know about it, bid on it.  You are the market.  You can not simultaneously try to acquire something you want as well as manipulate it's value and availibility.  If it is posted, go for it.

[LightningBoldtz]

OK, since here are all the collectors

Let's start the bidding



J/K as of now I am keeping this guy but may change my mind down the road.  I am more of a consumer/flipper than a collector.