The Golden Era of LEGO spare parts packs...

[LEGO Historian]

Note I added "packs".... because one would have to agree that today is the Golden Era of LEGO spare parts... but not of spare parts packs... that would be the years 1960-65... with 144 different parts packs giving folks an AMAZING assortment of parts.

This is especially true when one looks at the very dull availability of LEGO basic sets... they all had only red and white bricks (mainly) with gray baseplates and red windows/doors.

But the spare parts packs were the crown jewel of the early 1960s... these little boxes were like little treasure chests available for DM 1,- in Germany... 3/6 in old British measurements.... and 50 cents in USA/Canada.

Here's a mind boggling image (from my friend Rohnny of Belgium) of the mindboggling assortment of small parts packs available in the 1960s...

This image, from my LEGO collector friend Rohnny from Belgium... is one of the latest images included in my 65 page 1950-1965 Spare Parts Pack chapter... in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD/download. I go into (as one acquaintance described it)... "mind boggling detail of all the variations of parts, parts counts, parts box designs... sort of a LEGO Genome of detail... that puts nearly 11,000 possible set variations all in one chapter.

What makes this mind boggling collection of 144 different packs even more variable... is that they came in 11 different sliding sleeve outer box designs!!

More images to follow...

[pinioncorp]

It's amazing to see the assortment of parts packs available back then; There's as many there as there are SKUs (individual products) on shelves now. I understand that there's duplicates there but it's still staggering that they'd all been individually boxed and marketed to retailers as such.

[Kivi]

For me it's more amazing to see such a vast number of 50 years old packs all in one place. Even the boxes don't show too much deterioration at first glance. I agree these packs were a perfect complement to the sets available at the time.

Eagerly awaiting more images.

[LEGO Historian]

_{Those spare parts packs date from 1960-65.}

_{Here are earlier spare parts packs... from 1955-56... (and of course there were fewer of them)...}

_{And here are ones from 1957-60.....}

_{These last 2 images are from my German collector friend Lothar. He's a big collectors on 1950s LEGO... and has a mind boggling assortment...}

_{FYI... the 1210 packs with a B, K and S within a circle... that stands for the printed 1x8 brick and which store name comes in that box... B stand for "Bager" (baker), K stands for Købmand" (grocer) and S stands for "Slagter" (butcher).}

_{All of these images are going into my next version of my LEGO DVD/download chapter on LEGO spare parts packs (1950-65).}

Edited June 5, 2013 by LEGO Historian

[___]

this is very rare and interesting...wonder if there were also some "space theme" bricks?

[LEGO Historian]

this is very rare and interesting...wonder if there were also some "space theme" bricks?

No... not a single one... the first space set was the USA only 801 Space Rocket set of 1964.... and that just consisted of regular parts... such as bricks, macaroni bricks, and 1x1 round bricks.

[Kivi]

Having compared the sheer number of these packs and the limited number of sets that were released in this period one might begin to think that Lego was focused more on individual parts than sets at the time. Though it would be rather impractical to construct a proper house or anything if you had to separately gather bricks, doors, windows, roof elements etc. than simply getting a set which contained all of these in a lesser amount.

All in all it was an interesting concept that probably won't reappear, at least not in such extent.

[LEGO Historian]

Kivi.... you must be psychic!!

The dozen or so model sets they made back then could build what was on the box top. But NOT the basic sets! You could not build any of the models on the basic set box tops back then.... they were just to entice you.... most of the basic sets had only red and white bricks, and a few red windows/doors plus a baseplate. But in order to build what was on the box top... you had to buy from TLGs extensive spare parts pack network.

Here's a 1962-65 UK/Australia (only) basic set 600/1. This strayed from the normal red/white bricks with red windows... and gave you blue/yellow bricks with white windows.... but you could not build what was on the box top.... (and notice that the parts available in spare parts packs was prominently displayed on the inside box top)...

Here's a new image I received from the LEGO Archives (for my LEGO DVD/download updates)... and this is an extremely rare 1955 Mosaik set from Denmark. There are only 2 sets known... this one in the LEGO Collections, and a MISB one owned by a Dutch LEGO collector.

I've often wondered why this set was never more plentiful... and I think I got my answer when I saw the contents of this set for the first time. There were hardly any parts inside!! I have an image of the instructions... and between the instructions and the box top... there were not enough parts to build any of the Mosaik images!! TLG put this out with very few parts (but with a cardboard partition that could be turned upside down and used to hold additionally purchased spare parts pack parts) and a baseplate.

However... when people got this 1300 set home for their kids.... and then found that they couldn't build anything on the instructions with the contents... they were returned to the retailer... and (unlike today)... the retailers were able to return these unpopular sets to TLG.

So this very unpopular practice of putting too few parts into the LEGO set backfired on TLG!! They thought that they could persuade customers to buy additional spare parts packs for their children... but instead they just returned the sets.... and that explains why so very few of these were sold!

So when we hear that LEGO sets were not very popular in the early days.... we have to take into consideration that TLG was not doing a good job of keeping their customers satisfied.

NOTE: this very rare set image is just one out of over 200 new (old) images that I got from TLG Archves/Collections, and collectors from around the world... for my new download version (free to all current owners) of my 2800 page collectors guide. People just love to send me images!

Edited June 7, 2013 by LEGO Historian

[homemade sciencefiction]

that's a lot of lego

[Kooberz]

I didn't know they did this?!

[LEGO Historian]

I didn't know they did this?!

Yes... the irony about LEGO basic sets and parts packs of 1949-65 was this... "what was on the box top had nothing to do with what was inside the box!!

All the spare parts packs had colorful boxes and all the sets had beautiful scenes on the box tops... but none of it was an accurate description of what was inside!!

Here's an example... the 1960-65 spare parts boxes... the outer box shows many colorful scenes... but not what was inside... that's found on the inner sliding drawer...

[whl]

Woo! Antique sets and parts!

[LEGO Historian]

Woo! Antique sets and parts!

Presented to you by "antique people".... 43 years of collecting.... lol....

[pbat]

Where is the museum where this stuff is exhibited? I mean, this is something you'll share with others, you won't keep it in your hobby cellar, will you?

It sure needs some of these badges:

By the way: Is it true that the bricks back then weren't made of plastic but consisted mainly of clay and sawdust?

[Lasse]

Where is the museum where this stuff is exhibited?

The photo in the first post is from the museum at LEGO Fan Welt in Cologne in November 2012:

Edited June 22, 2013 by Lasse

[LEGO Historian]

Yes! Lasse is correct... 5 LEGO acquaintances of mine Rohnny S. from Belgium, Jeroen D. from the Netherlands, Sven K., Jan. K and Olaf B. from Germany put together this very large display of early LEGO items, including the wooden toys (1932-60). They had LEGO owner KJeld Kirk Kristiansen to stop by at their exhibit and have photos taken with some sets that bear his likeness as a child. This exhibit was glassed in and protected by locked doors during off exhibition hours. That wall of spare parts packs that I show above... belongs to my good Belgian friend Rohnny S.

[LEGO Historian]

Here's a "mystery question"... what were the origins of these 5 1960-68 LEGO spare parts pack boxes... each size serves a specific purpose... and each comes from a specific country(s)... most of these were sold in different continents... I'll give the answer in a few days... unless someone comes up with it first....

[AndrewH7]

I've Ideas Book N°3, guess I drew pencil ticks on it, meaning I've 215 [2×8's], 217 [4×4 corners], 218 [2×4's], 219 [2×3's]  &c. to 1×1's.

[Jim]

Hi Andrew,

Please don't revive old topics. Topic bumping or necro posting is considered bad practice.

Thanks for understanding.