Kettle Values

[1buckie]

That's all sounds great but if they don't get information here they'll go elsewhere and so will those kettles if anything this site and others in the field are the ones driving prices . Being a collector and restorer of cast iron I've seen pans I'd get at yard sales for $5.00 suddenly turn into $ 20.00 dollar pans after word spread about collect-ability, the same will happen with Weber products this is the tip

I like this.....and, personally, think it's my response-ability to keep a level head & not wig out & say "It's Gold !!!....You'll sell for hundreds !!!"

[landgraftj]

Lets settle on $175 Bman!

[Troy]

Guys

We are in a very unique situations. One that most people will never get to witness, let alone experience.

It is the 'collectors phenomenon'

While the grills and kettles we drool over DO have value as simply "a grill" - the nostalgia, history, and rarity of certain variants are sought after. The supply is mysterious and limited, and the demand is growing.
It's natural for the average price of them to go up. Most things that people collect are already accepted as such. Stamps, baseball cards, antiques, first edition books, old china - all of these things in their simple 'product form' hold very little value. However their rarity and demand drive their collectors value sky high. I wouldn't walk into a baseball card shop and balk at the ultra high price of a Babe Ruth rookie card simply because it was originally bought for 5 cents.

It is certainly unfortunate that we've grown accustom to low garage sale and flea market prices on old Weber kettles. As more and more people learn of the potential value - the prices will keep going up.
Prices go up, it gets attention, and more collectors will be seeking old grills. It will be a snowball affect - and us original collectors are the literally the ones who started it all!

In my opinion, that's pretty fucking rad!!!

[Bman]

Lets settle on $175 Bman!

Great!  Now that we have the value out of the way....  Who's going to pay it?
Griswold #6, while nice and something you don't see everyday, wouldn't fetch that kinda coin from my pocket. 
But the internet says that's what it's worth?!?  And that's the part where one-size-doesn't-fit-all.
When I toss my $.02 into a value comment, it's always phrased with "My deal was ______" or "Locally a similar one was listed for ______"    YMMV

[Bman]

I wouldn't walk into a baseball card shop and balk at the ultra high price of a Babe Ruth rookie card simply because it was originally bought for 5 cents.

That's a pretty poor example as a Babe Ruth rookie card would be the equivalent of an original Weber.  Take a Cal Ripken mid career card --- what's that worth?  Clearly not as much as a Babe Ruth rookie card. 

Has anyone here actually paid $200 for a used 22.5" kettle? (not a performer)

[pbe gummi bear]

That's a pretty poor example as a Babe Ruth rookie card would be the equivalent of an original Weber.  Take a Cal Ripken mid career card --- what's that worth?  Clearly not as much as a Babe Ruth rookie card. 

Has anyone here actually paid $200 for a used 22.5" kettle? (not a performer)

I wouldn't walk into a baseball card shop and balk at the ultra high price of a Babe Ruth rookie card simply because it was originally bought for 5 cents.

That's a pretty poor example as a Babe Ruth rookie card would be the equivalent of an original Weber.  Take a Cal Ripken mid career card --- what's that worth?  Clearly not as much as a Babe Ruth rookie card. 

Has anyone here actually paid $200 for a used 22.5" kettle? (not a performer)

The Robin's Egg on eBay went for 350 or something. The jury is still out if they lurk on forums or not.

[landgraftj]

And how many robins egg blues have you seen? None too many...never mind one in good shape.

[pbe gummi bear]

And how many robins egg blues have you seen? None too many...never mind one in good shape.

I am happy to have seen 3 in person on Saturday!

[1buckie]

 From Troy ~~>

"The supply is mysterious and limited, and the demand is growing."

"It is certainly unfortunate that we've grown accustom to low garage sale and flea market prices on old Weber kettles. As more and more people learn of the potential value - the prices will keep going up.
Prices go up, it gets attention, and more collectors will be seeking old grills"

I'm going to stop collecting kettles right now.....I like flea marklet prices & was around in the 60's when Eldridge Cleaver said: "You're either part of the problem or part of the solution......"

Boy, is the wife ever gonna be happy when I tell her of my new found realization !!!

[landgraftj]

From Troy ~~>

"The supply is mysterious and limited, and the demand is growing."

"It is certainly unfortunate that we've grown accustom to low garage sale and flea market prices on old Weber kettles. As more and more people learn of the potential value - the prices will keep going up.
Prices go up, it gets attention, and more collectors will be seeking old grills"

I'm going to stop collecting kettles right now.....I like flea marklet prices & was around in the 60's when Eldridge Cleaver said: "You're either part of the problem or part of the solution......"



Boy, is the wife ever gonna be happy when I tell her of my new found realization !!!

Well in that case I want all of your grills buckie         And I'll give you flea market prices for all of them! Lol...

[Idahawk]

Guys

We are in a very unique situations. One that most people will never get to witness, let alone experience.

It is the 'collectors phenomenon'

While the grills and kettles we drool over DO have value as simply "a grill" - the nostalgia, history, and rarity of certain variants are sought after. The supply is mysterious and limited, and the demand is growing.
It's natural for the average price of them to go up. Most things that people collect are already accepted as such. Stamps, baseball cards, antiques, first edition books, old china - all of these things in their simple 'product form' hold very little value. However their rarity and demand drive their collectors value sky high. I wouldn't walk into a baseball card shop and balk at the ultra high price of a Babe Ruth rookie card simply because it was originally bought for 5 cents.

It is certainly unfortunate that we've grown accustom to low garage sale and flea market prices on old Weber kettles. As more and more people learn of the potential value - the prices will keep going up.
Prices go up, it gets attention, and more collectors will be seeking old grills. It will be a snowball affect - and us original collectors are the literally the ones who started it all!

In my opinion, that's pretty fucking rad!!!

Well said and spot on , I'd rather put a gag order on giving up all the secrets of finding them , but I'm a selfish cheap bastard also

[Troy]

I wouldn't walk into a baseball card shop and balk at the ultra high price of a Babe Ruth rookie card simply because it was originally bought for 5 cents.

That's a pretty poor example as a Babe Ruth rookie card would be the equivalent of an original Weber.  Take a Cal Ripken mid career card --- what's that worth?  Clearly not as much as a Babe Ruth rookie card. 

Has anyone here actually paid $200 for a used 22.5" kettle? (not a performer)

the scale of value isn't really relevant.
the fact is, a piece of shitty cardboard with some sports players picture and stats printed on it is suddenly worth more than the fractions of a penny it cost to produce or even purchase originally.

[Bman]

I agree with ya on the printed cardboard part, but the scale-of-value is exactly what this thread is about.  How does one actually place a 'value' on a kettle someone picked up on a whim and came here for info about it?  Yes, the market dictates this, that, and the other thing. 
But, I ask again - Has anyone here paid $200 for a 22.5" kettle? 

A robins egg blue should hold more 'value' than a red, brown, yellow, 'cado, etc simply because of it's rarity.  As gummi said - he saw 3 on Saturday.  I wonder if any of them came with a two hunnert price tag to acquire?  Even if they did, where does that leave the other colors on the pecking order...  I've only been on the WKC for a handful of months, but I haven't seen a single robins egg blue on the Trading Post.  But, I've seen a handful of yellows & 'cados, a good number of browns, and countless reds.

And this is where the scale-of-value comes into play.  Since the CAB yellow kettle has been brought up in this thread, lets use that one.  Yeah, it's a beautiful yellow grill in fantastic condition that any one of us would love to own.  A range of value by WKC posts places it in the 150-200 range.  Not by me - out of my league.  And I'm certain I'm not alone.  So who's out of line?  Me for thinking the value is artificial or the info stating said value.  That's where I agree with landgraftj about not posting values for semi-rare kettles.  It's different all over the board. (location & individuals)

Edit to add - I don't have any issue with the 10 posts by CAB all pertaining to her thread.  She came here asking for info about the grill, which she was supplied with, and well after the fact decided to sell it.  That's not the same as coming in trying to sell a kettle right out of the gate.  Actually, I think she did the perfect thing.  Posted up a semi-rare grill, provided pics, and even followed up with the desire to sell.  As Troy (?) said not too long ago, he'd rather see it posted here than ~not~ here.

[cbpeck]

The last thing I want is for this thread to be about me, and i appreciate the OP stating that his motivation to strike up this conversation was broader than the thread about the yellow kettle.

That having been said, nobody appraised her kettle at $200. I was the most outspoken (read: culpable), and here is what I said:

"Yellow kettles are some of the rarest. People on this forum (and eBay) have spent $100 or more on just the bowl & lid in pretty poor condition. If yours is in really good shape it is easily worth $100 or more. If it is really nice I could see it going for $200 or so. Of course, they only way to find the true value is to try to sell it. You'd have a pretty good customer pool here.   Most of us will tell you to keep and treasure it though.

Like others have said, please post photos of it. If you're not sure how to do that you can private message me and I will give you my personal email address. You can email the photos to me and I will post them in this thread for you."

At the time I wrote this she hadn't yet posted photos of the kettle. I offered a broad price range based upon my observatons without specifying a pricepoint. I even stated that the only way to determine its true value is to sell it. I'm not interested in buying her kettle, but the fact is that nice ones are few and far between (why are yellows always beat to hell?). After reviewing photos I estimated its value at $150, and like it or not I maintain that someone on this forum is willing to pay around $150 for that kettle. Its certainly not worth that to people only looking to spend $20-30, and that's fine, but they aren't the entire market. Its value is what someone is willing to pay. Similarly, if a 22" yellow was NIB it would probably fetch somewhere around $200. Not everyone would value it at that, but someone would, and it only takes one.

[zavod44]

Maybe the question is "what can I get for it"  versus "what's it worth?"  Just because someone is willing to overpay some incredible price, that may not be what someone should expect to pay.  I have seen someone here pay over $100 for a red head with metal side handles.  I paid $30 for mine....so what's it worth?  I would tell someone you prob won't pay more than $50 for a red grill.  What's it worth?,  $150 just because one person paid that?  I don't think that sounds right....I paid $25 for my yellow kettle, is that what it's worth?  Or did I get a great deal?  Or when someone shells out $200 for it, are they grossly overpaying?  Seriously would someone here pay me $200 for my yellow?  If so, who?   I paid $90 for my Seville, is that what Seville's are worth now?  So a yellow is worth $200 and a Seville is worth $90?