LEGO Historian Posted June 9, 2013 This past week has been a bonanza for me in regards to piecing together the history behind LEGO sets and parts. I am never happier than when I find some obscure or previously unknown LEGO item... I just dug up an old magazine article that I forgot I had (duh!!)... with over 10,000 images saved on my computer, I feel like I have LEGO Alzheimers... I see new stuff every day! I just came across an old 1976 article about the tumultuous early 1970s... when aftet litigation (1970-72), TLG took the USA LEGO license back from USA Samsonite (while still permitting Samsonite of Canada to keep their license).... So Samsonite USA LEGO sales were never more than $5 million dollars. A 4th generation Shwayder (founding family of Samsonite) member said that Samsonite's failure was that they were selling LEGO like they did suitcases (with department store catalog sales), and thus never really saturating the USA market. The resut of this move (to take back the LEGO license) can be seen in this article... within 3 years USA sales exceeded those of West Germany... the previous LEGO top seller. One way for Samsonite to get rid of leftover parts was this FUNKY 1972 set... the #695 Bulk Pack... where no 2 boxes were packed with the same parts (this one will drive the Bricklink Catalog Admins crazy! ).... just to dump the remaining inventory of Samsonite LEGO parts before they had to halt USA sales in 1973... I've also been doing a lot of research on old 1950s LEGO... and it seems that 3 companies...TLG of Denmark, Geas Konstharts of Gislaved Sweden and Svein Strømberg of Oslo Norway... they dominated the LEGO market in the 1950s... but ironically... none of these 3 companies acknowledge having any record of dealing with each other... and Geas and Strømberg... don't even have any records saying that they sold LEGO or "LEGO type" parts/sets in Sweden and Norway. Here's a page from 4 different catalogs from 1950-55... all showing the same model... and yet they were produced by different companies... (go figure!)... And yet I can only find one company (TLG) that claims ownership of 1 of these 4 images!! Or I find an image of the collections in Billund... that has the wrong parts in the box!! The (1955-61) VW Buses that are in the B/W 1956 LEGO Retailer catalog image has no actual "glass" ... except on the box image... so the TLG folks are mistakenly putting 1965-67 Samba buses into the decade older box... When TLG Billund had their LEGO Idea House, they had this WONDERFUL display case that told the history of LEGO parts from DAY 1... except that maybe 25% of these were under the wrong year... but I had fun finding out which ones... Another AFOL who saw this image asked "why oh why would TLG destroy this case (they did and put all the parts back into the archive warehouse... Or finding old wooden boxes that TLG doesn't have examples of (or records of) in their Vault... these are from Australia... Or showing TLG Archives/Collections examples of red Norwegian roadsigns that they have no record of... ... or Swedish roadsigns that had brown bases... in 2 shades of brown... Or finding that TLG was unaware of the largest LEGO set of the 20th Century... this 1963-66 USA/Canada Samsonite LEGO Educational Set.... with 3,250 parts..... Of course... helping TLG Archives/Collections with filling in the many gaps of LEGO history is a 2 way street... they have given me MANY pieces of information that is unknown to the general public... Such as this 1965 very rare 800 set... only sold for a short time in France, Denmark and Norway... the set was constructed of leftover Town Plan board paper images... and actually "taped" to the box top (you can see the tape marks on the top perimeter) and inside top... Or the 1952 700/4 and 700/5 sets that were introduced to Danish retailers in these boxes.... except that there are no known examples of these sets in private hands... (must have driven the retailers crazy!! ).... Anyway... it's great fun playing LEGO Sherlock Holmes... thanks to the dozens of LEGO friends I have around the world that love to contribute images... they always love to surprise me... and often do! So anyway... I'm now working on my 2nd Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide... for the 1990s to the Present... ... and at the same time adding hundreds of additional images of old rare parts and sets to my first collectors guide (new updates are free to current owners!)... many sets and parts that have not been seen before! Also... folks who own my current DVD/download... will get the new one free next year... P.S. I was very disappointed with the lady (in the "Very First LEGO Set" thread) from Sweden who wanted info about the 3 very old Swedish sets... but never posted a second time... she missed out on this image... how old sets were packed back in the early days.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hey Joe Posted June 9, 2013 Hey, it's interesting, thanks! I went back to that thread with the Swedish woman you mentioned, I had missed that. Looks like her friend made quite a discovery. Too bad she never got back to you but I guess those sets will be turning up again somewhere. Joe Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted June 10, 2013 (edited) Thanks Hey Joe... Yes that Swedish woman has quite a treasure there. Those 1950-51 Geas Automatic Binding Bricks set are probably the only LEGO "clone" that is accepted as LEGO, since TLG authorized that company to make them. Only thing is that the bricks are made of Polystyrene... a plastic never used by TLG for LEGO sets. Edited June 10, 2013 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
legolijntje Posted June 11, 2013 I was thinking about this for a while now: how do you actually determine if something is really made by LEGO or if it is just some (very old) clone or maybe something that (in the case of the wooden boxes) someone made by himself? What are the criteria and the points you look at to determine if it's genuine? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alasdair Ryan Posted June 11, 2013 (edited) I was thinking about this for a while now: how do you actually determine if something is really made by LEGO or if it is just some (very old) clone or maybe something that (in the case of the wooden boxes) someone made by himself? What are the criteria and the points you look at to determine if it's genuine? Err... Lego logo stamped into ether the underside or on top of the piece. Edited June 11, 2013 by Alasdair Ryan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted June 12, 2013 Unfortunately... early LEGO doesn't even have the LEGO logo anywhere on the bricks... and windows/doors did not until 1956! The previous image shows a LEGO sanctioned producer (Geas Konsthart of Gislaved Sweden)... that didn't have the LEGO logo on it.. and it wasn't even made of Cellulose Acetate... but of Polystyrene... To someone unfamiliar with old Automatic Binding Bricks sets, it becomes difficult to determine if something is really LEGO or not. You almost would need my LEGO DVD/download (a shameless plug)... just to see some of the variations that early LEGO sets can have. Old LEGO collecting is not for novices... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aanchir Posted June 12, 2013 What amazes me most is the wooden box you show in the upper right... it has the modern LEGO logo! I would have thought that emerged after TLG stopped using wooden boxes, but apparently not! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted June 13, 2013 Aanchir... very perceptive! Although that is the 1973-98 version of the modern LEGO logo. In 1998 it was redesigned once again to not include yellow lines between the L and the E... and inside the O.... That red box with the more modern LEGO logo was the #90 Superset... a Britain/Ireland/Australia only set that had 2 layers of trays inside, and included a LEGO motor. This set was produced around 1975-78, and was the very last of the LEGO wooden box sets. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted June 14, 2013 Been doing a lot more LEGO research... just found that Norway did like Denmark... they only sold individual LEGO "bricks"... but other parts were sold in spare parts packs. Norway followed the rest of continental Europe in 1958 in selling bricks in spare parts packs... Denmark didn't follow suit until 1966. Also... just discovered that using ASIA as a descriptive for LEGO sales (some sets were only sold in continental Europe... some only in Britain/Ireland/Australia... some only in USA, some only in Canada... and then Japan sold the same sets as continental Europe (but no 12V trains)... and now I just discovered that Israel also followed the continental European sales of sets. So Asia is now added for early LEGO sales as a location. Morocco also sold LEGO as early as the 1960s... but it was the only African nation to do so for decades. I won't be adding Africa to the list just yet however. But Lebanon, Israel, Hong Kong and Japan make the need for Asia as a LEGO sales location going back to the early 1960s a necessity. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted June 17, 2013 The week is only 2 days old... and already I've found 2 more unkown LEGO sets... When I say unknown... I mean unknown to the general LEGO community... I have a bazillion LEGO catalogs, TLG retailer announcements, retailer catalogs, and other miscellaneous LEGO documentation... and by studying them closely I find new stuff all the time... especially the earlier (1950-70) documentation. For example... here's a 1953 LEGO retailer announcer sheet that dates to 1953... it announces the introduction of a 700/3a basic set... the 10x20 baseplate... and the introduction of the 2x8 and 2x10 bricks.... Or this November 1957 retailer announcement sheet that announces the introduction of many of the Town Plan era (1955-67) town spare parts packs... Here's the 2 new (old) unknown items I found in old catalogs.... #509 Duplo Jumbo Pack... a large plastic bag (unusual to find it this way) with 150 Duplo bricks and 2 Duplo trolleys. This was a Denmark only item from the mid 1970s. #501 empty wooden box... 1979... Switzerland. This box number is known in about 1/2 dozen variations (different boxes by continental European country)... and the Swiss 501 box is unique in that it is a box with a sliding white lid to it (with a white LEGO logo on a square red background. The one listed on Bricklink is a Dutch hinged lid lacquered wood finish box. The Belgian/French examples are similar to the Dutch one.... Always something new to discover... which is why my 2800 page DVD/download Unofficial Sets/Parts Collectors Guide will be 3000 page for the first update (free to owners)..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted June 18, 2013 Sometimes I have to read things a few times before I can really absorb what I'm reading.... that's the case with the 1976 Business Week magazine article on LEGO above... It really is a fascinating read... between what it says, and what had already happened under Samsonite LEGO in the 1960s and early 1970s... the USA LEGO market really did undergo an enormous change in the mid 1970s. Samsonite was the USA LEGO licensee from 1961-72 (TLG was not big enough at the time to start LEGO sales by themselves in the early 1960s). So Samsonite used their Samsonite factories to produce LEGO for the USA (and also Canada via a Canadian Samsonite subsidiary). From 1961 until April 1965... all USA and Canada LEGO production were from a Samsonite plant in Stratford Ontario Canada (note: specialty parts, such as road signs, street lights, Esso accessories, LEGO 1:87 vehicles and flags... were still produced in Denmark). Then in April 1965 a new Samsonite plant in a Denver Colorado suburb called Loveland... opened a new 50,000 sq. ft. USA LEGO plant. Samsonite was selling LEGO the same way they were selling suitcases (the exact words of a 4th generation Samsonite family owner... named Ken Shwayder). And therefore they sold LEGO in a lot of department stores and thru catalog mail order sales. However Samsonite never exceeded $5 million in LEGO sales... this is why TLG started litigation in 1970 to get the license back from the USA... due to "underperforming of sales". This litigation ended by 1972... and in 1973 LEGO sales were from TLG... with all LEGO imported from Denmark for a few years... while the Enfield Connecticut LEGO production plant was being put together. What this meant was that TLG had to slow the sales increase of LEGO in Europe to about 10% (from what would have been a higher figure). So the European LEGO plants were at full capacity to produce LEGO for the USA... which by 1976 exceeded $100 million in sales... an enormous increase. To put this all into perspective... in 1973 USA LEGO products numbered only 19... compared to 125 different in Germany. By 1976 USA LEGO sales finally surpassed Germany (the top sales country for LEGO for 2 decades). By 1977 the Enfield LEGO plant was online... and production was diverted from Europe to the USA... for more sales growth. The irony is that even though USA was the worlds leading LEGO country by 1977... the number of LEGO products in the USA never did catch up to the number of different sets and products available in Germany and other countries in central Europe (some systems, such as 12V trains were not sold in the USA or Canada). Even though TLG took over LEGO sales in 1973... Canada, which had toe'ed the LEGO line better than the USA Samsonite subsidiary... continued to sell LEGO until about 1985... when after a hostile takeover of the Samsonite parent company (called Beatrice) by a Wall Street brokerage firm... reverted to TLG. This was followed in 1993 by British LEGO Ltd., licensed to Courtauld's Corp. of Britain (which had LEGO sales for Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand)... ended production of LEGO... finally reverting all the world's LEGO sales and production to TLG (Japan had followed suit in 1977). But that's another long story.... One of my new upgrades to my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (on DVD/download)... is to add all the anecdotal history of LEGO countries, products and sets to what is already an extensive assortment of information. I'm also adding a long historic narrative to about 100 "special" LEGO sets... that warrant more information than just the normal statistical data. My latest version of the collectors guide (all future upgrades are free to current owners) will be out in a few months... with about 400 additional images, 30 new (old and rare) sets, 4 new chapters, and about 200-300 more pages. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted June 28, 2013 (edited) Well I found the image of that 501 Swiss wooden box with sliding white lid.... from 1969... There's about another 1/2 dozen LEGO items unknown to collectors that I'm still snooping around for... some mid 1950 Norwegian boxes, and a mid 1970s Danish Duplo Kindergarten institutional type set... So much to find... so little time.... Edited June 28, 2013 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted July 3, 2013 I just posted a "teaser" on Youblisher"... of some of the new stuff coming out in the next version of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (1949-1990s) as DVD/download... some items I discovered as recently as last week! http://www.youblisher.com/p/659767-Please-Add-a-Title/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
naf Posted July 3, 2013 I love ready your posts, since I'm both a Lego and history buff Thanks for doing all of this research, it's all very interesting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted July 8, 2013 (edited) Thanks NAF (and others). I've decided last week (when I had some internet issues at home and was cut off from the world)... to adding a slightly different approach to telling the story about LEGO sets and parts, and their evolution through the years. It seems that so much of the LEGO history has been lost by a convergence of several unfortunate incidents.... 1) not the best record keeping by TLG of their product (via the LEGO Archives), 2) the retirement and death of old time LEGO employees that know/knew so much about the reasons behind why there are so many quirky features about LEGO sets/parts, and 3) the fact that online LEGO databases may mention some of these quirky LEGO variations, but do not attempt to explain them. So I have decided to add a new feature to my current Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (in the next version due out in about 2 months... free to current owners)... and to the next volume (1990s-Present)... due out next year. This new feature will include a story behind the sets and parts that I feel need further clarification for answers about why they are so unusual, or have so many variations. Here is the first 2 of about 100 set or part "Anecdotes"... that will be made available in my future editions of the LEGO DVD/downloads.... http://www.youblishe...TATION-HISTORY/ http://www.youblishe...VERY-LEGO-SETS/ These are the first 2 sets that I have researched and given a history to. Another set was the 6661 MOBILE TV STATION Set with the German WDR rare variation... which I will add into this format. The first of these little history/anecdotes will be in my current LEGO DVD/download... with more to follow (for free) for future upgrades.... Gary Istok P.S. I just wanted to add one caveat... I am NOT criticizing the record keeping by the wonderful folks at the LEGO Archives.... 1) they have what they have been left to work with by an earlier generation that didn't maintain as meticulous a set of records as they do today.... 2) as with the case of the rare German TV Station (WDR) of the 6661 Mobile TV Studio Set of 1989... when special deals are made "under the table" between LEGO executives and executives of other companies... when the LEGO Archive/Collections folks are kept out of the loop... they should not be held responsible for the hushed dealings of higher ups at the company. Edited July 8, 2013 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted July 10, 2013 Another part of LEGO history that is very fascinating is the first "numbered" LEGO idea booklet... the #238... from 1960 until 1968. It came in at least 9 different box types, some coming in up to 10 different languages!! http://www.youblisher.com/p/664148-Building-Idea-Book-1-The-complex-238/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted July 10, 2013 (edited) And here are a couple of more forgotten pieces of LEGO history in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD/download... This one is on the USA/Canada Samsonite LEGO Junior Constructor Set 717... the prototype and actually produced set.... http://www.youblisher.com/p/664742-717-Junior-Constructor-House-Set-Prototype-and-Actual-Model/ And here is a promotional LEGO item. Just as Weetabix were a long standing promotion for TLG... so was the PHILIPS Electronics corporation... and all the TLG items that had the Philips emblem and signage... http://www.youblisher.com/p/664745-PHILIPS-Corporation-Promotional-LEGO-Items/ The Samsonite LEGO Junior Constructor is such an easy build (made with common red, yellow and blue bricks, with 22 white classic windows/doors)... that a copy of the complete building instructions for this prototype is included in my DVD/download. Edited July 10, 2013 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DPrime Posted July 11, 2013 Are there any price guides available for this stuff, or is this part of your project? Fascinating bits of history, here. :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted July 12, 2013 Are there any price guides available for this stuff, or is this part of your project? Fascinating bits of history, here. :) Thanks for comments! My 2,800 page collectors guide includes a 400 page "Insurance Price Guide" (in both dollars and Euros) for sets of the years 1950-80. For most modern sets, you can usually find Bricklink or EBAY prices for price guide... but with older sets, it becomes problematic. My price guide has 10,156 set prices... (in conditions VG, EX, MIB and MISB). These are often based on "comparables", as used by The Antiques Roadshow... for sets that have never actually been sold. The problems with any price guide is that prices for auction items can vary enormously. An example is the Canadian #610 Super Wheel Toy set. I've seen it sell in EX condition 3 times in the last 4 years... for $18, $343 and $380. It's crazy auction wins like that that makes an actual or accurate price guide very problematic. However, that's why I have my guide as an "Insurance Price Guide"... and not a "Sellers Guide". Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted July 12, 2013 DPrime... here's a sample of my LEGO price guide (this one is in Euro's I also have it in dollars)... this is for Homemaker sets... just one of many parts of the guide... http://www.youblisher.com/p/666171-Sample-DVD-Download-Price-Guide/ There are 400 pages for Euro prices and 400 pages for dollar prices in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide, for the years 1950-80. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jluck Posted July 12, 2013 Wow, it's amazing to see how far back this history actually spans! Thank you for your time in tracking this down. I've had fun reading some of these old articles too! Makes me wanna go track down some of my old stuff too... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted July 15, 2013 Here's a history of LEGO sales by country ... http://www.youblisher.com/p/599853-LEGO-DVD-Download-Chapter-73-LEGO-Sales-By-Country/ From my DVD... the last chapter... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DaisyDuq Posted July 16, 2013 Wow, is this your full time job because it seems like it must take up all your time! Well done on all the sleuthing. Very interesting read. D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blondie-Wan Posted July 17, 2013 It really is a fascinating read... between what it says, and what had already happened under Samsonite LEGO in the 1960s and early 1970s... the USA LEGO market really did undergo an enormous change in the mid 1970s. Samsonite was the USA LEGO licensee from 1961-72 (TLG was not big enough at the time to start LEGO sales by themselves in the early 1960s). So Samsonite used their Samsonite factories to produce LEGO for the USA (and also Canada via a Canadian Samsonite subsidiary). From 1961 until April 1965... all USA and Canada LEGO production were from a Samsonite plant in Stratford Ontario Canada (note: specialty parts, such as road signs, street lights, Esso accessories, LEGO 1:87 vehicles and flags... were still produced in Denmark). Then in April 1965 a new Samsonite plant in a Denver Colorado suburb called Loveland... opened a new 50,000 sq. ft. USA LEGO plant. Samsonite was selling LEGO the same way they were selling suitcases (the exact words of a 4th generation Samsonite family owner... named Ken Shwayder). And therefore they sold LEGO in a lot of department stores and thru catalog mail order sales. However Samsonite never exceeded $5 million in LEGO sales... this is why TLG started litigation in 1970 to get the license back from the USA... due to "underperforming of sales". This litigation ended by 1972... and in 1973 LEGO sales were from TLG... with all LEGO imported from Denmark for a few years... while the Enfield Connecticut LEGO production plant was being put together. What this meant was that TLG had to slow the sales increase of LEGO in Europe to about 10% (from what would have been a higher figure). So the European LEGO plants were at full capacity to produce LEGO for the USA... which by 1976 exceeded $100 million in sales... an enormous increase. To put this all into perspective... in 1973 USA LEGO products numbered only 19... compared to 125 different in Germany. By 1976 USA LEGO sales finally surpassed Germany (the top sales country for LEGO for 2 decades). This is really interesting to me, since it actually fits my own memories of my LEGO experience as a kid. I was born in June of 1968 (I just turned 45 a few weeks ago ), and I was an Air Force brat, so I moved around a lot with my family to wherever my dad was stationed. We lived at various places in the US up through the end of 1973, and I never saw LEGO anywhere before then, but then we moved to England in December '73 or January '74, and all of a sudden I started getting LEGO sets whenever my parents bought me toys; my memories of those early-to-mid-'70s sets that were the first ones I ever got are still quite vivid to this day. We stayed in England for about four and a half years, and returned to America in June of '78, and when I came back LEGO was as well-represented on US toy shelves as it had been in the UK. From my perspective, it always seemed like LEGO wasn't really around much in the US (if at all) until sometime while my family was overseas. For years I attributed this perception mainly to the fact I was such a young child when we left for England (that I didn't remember that many things from before then, didn't go on shopping outings much, etc.), but perhaps it's also because the product just wasn't nearly as prominent in the US market in the early '70s as it was just a few years later. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted September 22, 2013 (edited) I love it when i find exact specific dates for certain LEGO events... for example the first LEGO trains were introduced in August of 1966... we know that from LEGO brochures/catalogs that mention an August 1966 date. But some things are a bit more obscure... we know the year... but not exactly when that year. For example... LEGO wheels were introduced in 1962 for the first time. We do know that most 1962 LEGO catalogs (that came out before Christimas 1961) did not mention LEGO wheels, but 1962 Australian catalogs (LEGO was introduced there in mid 1962)... does show LEGO wheels. Well my friend Henk of the Netherlands had found an early 1962 German LEGO retailer notice that mentions an exact date for the delivery of the first LEGO wheels... which were first found in LEGO spare parts pack #400. On the bottom of the page it says "deliver beginning in March" in German. One of the nice things about these earliest of LEGO wheels in this image... is that they show as being white... which indeed the earliest of the LEGO wheels did have white rubber tires. Rubber is naturally a white material. Before the end of 1962 TLG started dying the white rubber a gray color... and it starts showing as gray tires in catalogs and brochures. The tires remained gray until they were replaced by black synthetic ones in 1968. And they've been synthetic ever since. Edited September 22, 2013 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
