LEGO Historian

Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide 1949-90s

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Well it's been about 2 years since I last posted here... I spent the last 2 years doing a LOT of research about LEGO... got a lot of research info from the Billund Archives, and with my network of LEGO friends from around the world (especially Europe!), I had compiled another Encyclopedic volume on the history of LEGO sets and parts... labeled THE UNOFFICIAL LEGO SETS/PARTS COLLECTORS GUIDE (1949-1990s) on DVD (it got too big at 700MB to be a CD!).

There are 2,800 pages with an excess of 6000 images, many historic, many never before seen. This includes everything from green classic windows/doors of Norway (1954), to the very rare GEAS LEGO sets of Sweden (1950), to a brown box Town Plan set that was a Sears Department Store exclusive in the USA (1969). There are chapters on everything imaginable from Promotional sets for the Scandinavian Ferry Lines, to the Weetabix and Kellogg's Cereal sets of Britain/Ireland... there are Italian Minitalia style sets sold in Japan... a wavy flag of the Faroe Islands (looks similar to the other 5 Scandinavian flags), wooden box sets in 80 different flavors... Continental European retailer individual parts boxes... a French/Norwegian/Danish #800 set so unusual (1965-66) that no instructions were included, and we are left without any model ideas to build. There are the variations to the gray 12V train track era sets that came in different boxes, with different contents... all the Scala Necklace/Jewelry sets, Paradisa in all its' pink glory, every Fabuland set ever made, the legendary 1:87 cars/trucks that can command up to $4000 per vehicle.

It's in there! Also there's a 400 page dollars and Euros pricelist for the older (1949-1980) sets, where the Bricklink database doesn't always have a recent price entry. And there's early LEGO road signs with bases in red, silver, blue, dark brown, light browk, light gray, medium gray, dark gray, and white... printed bricks with THEATRE/THEATER/TEATER/TEATRO in 5 different colors.

The Billund Archives have little information on early Norwegian, Swedish, USA and Canadian sets... since they let the licensee's do what they wanted without interference from Billund. So there are a lot of items that are unknown to the Billund Archives and Collections.

Anyway... 73 chapters, 4 appendices, 2 price lists, and one large table of contents... 1/3 of a million words... it's all there...

Here's an image and the list of chapters/subchapters...

http://www.brickset....rticle/?ID=3064

Note: Poster TSI of Germany had some criticism of the sample chapter... but I made modifications to address the issues he made.

Shipping to USA $2.00, Canada $3.00, rest of world... $3.50.

But the download is the best way to go... no shipping and no Customs!! default_classic.gif

Here's a direct link... you don't even need a Paypal account (even though you get their protection)...

http://legocollectorsguide.weebly.com/

If you have one of my old CDs... this new DVD has updates to all the old chapters (some were rewritten with dozens of new images)... as well as chapters covering the 1980s and early 1990s. My first CD (2006) started with 1000 pages... now the DVD has 2800 pages.

Cheers,

Gary Istok

P.S. If this belongs elsewhere in the Eurobricks Forum... my appologies... 2 years away... the brain gets pretty fried from all the LEGO detective work! :-)

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Edited by LEGO Historian

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Sounds amazing. Even though shipping is very reasonable, have you considered uploading the file/s to a Dropbox account or similar and then giving purchasers access to download? Would reduce your shipping costs and time packing, and let people get hold of the product more quickly.

Just a thought

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Sounds amazing. Even though shipping is very reasonable, have you considered uploading the file/s to a Dropbox account or similar and then giving purchasers access to download? Would reduce your shipping costs and time packing, and let people get hold of the product more quickly.

Just a thought

Yes, that is being worked on! Several folks have already asked about that, so as soon as that is available, I'll let folks know.

Unfortunately some items I cannot shrink down enough to show... Norwegian blue 1x1 letter bricks with gold Lettering (1957-58), 1x1 square and round bricks without studs on top (red, white and blue)... Norwegian (1955). Early tall classic windows/doors... in 5 shades of blue. 10x20 thick baseplates in red, dark red, orange yellow, yellow, off-white, white, 3 shades of green, 5 shades of medium blue, powder blue, black, gray. Etc....

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Sounds amazing. Even though shipping is very reasonable, have you considered uploading the file/s to a Dropbox account or similar and then giving purchasers access to download? Would reduce your shipping costs and time packing, and let people get hold of the product more quickly.

Just a thought

You can order a downloadable version of the LEGO DVD without paying any shipping, and no customs! Just choose the first option...

http://legocollectorsguide.weebly.com/

Once ordered, you will get a private EMAIL with install instructions that should only take about 6-10 minutes to have the entire DVD contents on your Computer Desktop!

Also, it will make free future updates (I'm always finding something new!) easy to install!

Edited by LEGO Historian

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These parts are very interesting. I have a couple of rare misprinted or regular bricks in a variety of colors.

The only difference is this is gold. The windows are great, and I can only imagine all the other rare parts that some of us have never seen.

This is very interesting and intriguing. Do you mind showing us some more pictures, maybe some never before seen sets. :grin:

I also thank you for all of the effort and research you put into this. I'm sure it will be enjoyed by many people. :classic:

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OK will do... here's some items from the LEGO DVD...

1) The 1300 and 1301 Mosaik sets were produced in 1955. These were only sold in Denmark, Norway and Sweden (the only LEGO countries in 1955). These were very poor sellers, and by the next year (1956) they were gone from the LEGO catalogs. This set is VERY rare. Only about 1/2 dozen are known. TLG never saved one of these sets back in the 1950s... so they had to buy one from the secondary market, and it's now on display in the Billund Collections.... a 1300...

1955_mosaic_set_1300.jpg

The LEGO Basic Sets of 1955-60. TLG started using local language boxes in 1955. The first ones were in Danish (LEGO Mursten - System i leg), Swedish/Norwegian (LEGO Mursten - System i lek), German (LEGO Bausteine - System im Spiel) and Dutch (LEGO Bouwstenen - Systeem bij het Spel). Starting in late 1957 the international "LEGO System" was introduced because more countries came online to LEGO, and it was becoming too complex having all the local languages in different boxes. So from 1958-60 Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands slowly switched over to the "LEGO System" box type (although the boxes all had "LEGO System in Play" in all the local languages on the box sides). The last country to do so was Denmark... which had "LEGO Mursten - System i leg" until 1960...

1955_to_1958_basic_sets.jpg

Besides the LEGO basic sets having writing in the local languages, the spare parts packs did also. Here is a very rare 1955-56 Norwegian spare parts pack for LEGO road signs. These rare road signs had red bases for the first 2 years, but eventually switched over to the standard "gray base" road signs by 1957. These red road signs are very rare and collectible on the secondary market... and command very steep prices today.

norway_red_base_road_signs_1955.jpg

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More from the LEGO DVD...

This is the continental European version of the 810 Town Plan set. This set came in 2 box top versions... a UK/Ireland/Australia box with the Town Plan scene as a left driving scene, and a continental European version (below) that was sold in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal and Japan (not sold in Germany, Sweden, Netherlands or Austria). Although the continental 810 Town Plan set was sold in 9 countries (as opposed to 3 countries for the UK version), this continental version is very rare compared to the UK version. I would say that there are about 20 of the UK versions for every 1 of the continental versions. So this continental version was sold in very small quantities.

810_box_top.jpg

There is an entire chapter (Appendix A) devoted to this unique LEGO item... the USA/Canada "prototype" 717 Junior Constructor set. This set was seen in all 1961-63 Samsonite USA/Canada LEGO catalogs, and as a child in the 1960s, I wanted this "Cotswold Cottage" type set. However, I was never able to find this in any toy store back then. 40 years later, I found out why... they created a mockup box to photograph... and later decided to make a smaller house (with only 4 instead of 9 10x20 thick baseplates). The actually produced 717 Junior Constructor house is of a modern design, with a flat roof.

I contacted the Billund Archives about this prototype... and they had no information in the archives, nor was there an example of this Samsonite LEGO box or set in the Billund Vault. It wasn't until the 1963-64 USA Samsonite LEGO catalog that this incorrect image was corrected with the actually produced set. However, the 1963-64 Canadian Samsonite LEGO catalog still showed this incorrect box top... so that this error was allowed to continue for over 4 years!!! Not a good way to keep kids happy back then... showing sets in the LEGO catalogs that were never actually produced!! :-(

prototype_717_junior_constructor.jpg

These are just a few of the 6000+ historic images in the LEGO DVD... and I've put a story to just about each one! :)

Cheers,

Gary Istok

P.S. More to come....

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In regards to my previous post....

The 810 Town Plan set came with a Town Plan fold up board made out of cardboard. The first 1960s style (cardboard) board had this image on the cover (below). It shows Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen (current majority owner of TLG) as a young child of 11 years old (the blond girl was likely a young model). This Town Plan board was introduced in late 1959. Within a year KKK had a growth spurt, and TLG decided that they wanted an updated design for both the Town Plan board, as well as the (new in 1961) 810 Town Plan set. So a year or so after the first image was taken of KKK and that blond girl... both KKK and the girl had to wear the same clothes, and try to get their hair style the same... and even position themselves the same in front of the cameral... (see the after image in the previous post)... when you compare the 2 images... you can see that KKK looks older on the Town Plan top... even his hair is not as curly. When you look at the 2 children's hand positioning, you can also see some differences.

continental_european_prototype_town_plan_board.jpg

Also, the prototype 717 Junior Constructor set seen in the previous post, it was never sold like that. The actually sold (1961-65) 717 set is seen here in this box image. The house model only uses 4 baseplates (instead of 9 in the prototype)... but ironically the same number of white windows/doors was used in both models!! Note: the prototype and actually produced models were the largest LEGO building models of the 20th century!

actually_produced_junior_constructor_717.jpg

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The only known source of 2x8 and 2x10 trans-clear bricks... the 045 USA Samsonite LEGO spare parts pack of 1968-70.

045_extra_parts_36_assorted_clear_bricks.jpg

The 1964 Canadian Samsonite #610 Super Wheel Toy Set. The USA version comes in a tall box. The Canadian version comes in a long box. I've seen the USA version sell for as cheap as $18... and seen the Canadian version sell for as much as $383, both on Ebay. This set was never sold elsewhere.

610_super_wheel_toy_canada.jpg

The 367 Airport Set of 1970-71, was a USA only Samsonite LEGO set. This set had the very first unique road plate... a 1970 50x50 stud green plate with gray roadway surface (no lane markings), which also sold briefly as the standalone #078 Road Plate.

367_model_maker_mini-airport_and_vehicles.jpg

The 080 Basic set of 1968-70 was only sold in continental Europe (not Britain or Australia). It was also not sold in North America... EXCEPT... by the USA luxury toy store by the name of FAO SCHWARZ (their flagship toy store is on 5th Ave. in Manhattan) from 1969-70. FAO SCHWARZ sold the 080 set as THE AMBASSADOR SET... only available in their store, or from their retailer catalog. There is an entire chapter of my LEGO DVD devoted to over 100 unique USA/Canada Department Store Exclusive Sets of 1961-75.

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The 066 Basic Set of 1969-72 (sold in continental Europe, Britain and Australia) was not sold in North America... except as another FAO SCHWARZ exclusive set (1969-70)... known as THE GOVERNORS SET.

066_governor_set.jpg

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One additional feature of the Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (1949-90s) on DVD is that it gives over 10,000 prices for grades Very Good, Excellent, Mint In Box, and Mint In Sealed Box for LEGO sets.

Why would a person need this information? Well a few reasons... 1) to compare prices on Ebay and other auctions, 2) if your old LEGO collection was stolen or lost in a fire... there is NO OTHER SOURCE of price guide information that an Insurance Company will accept (they won't accept the sales guide in Bricklink... not specific enough). One buyer of my LEGO DVD got the US Postal Service to accept my price guide for his insurance valuation claim.

Here's an example of 1 page of the EURO guide (there's a duplicate Dollar guide)... each has 400 pages, with 10,156 values listed for LEGO sets)...

#376 - HOUSE W/ GARDEN SET (1978)

_________________________________________________________________

VG---------------------EX-------------------------MIB--------------------------------MISB

_________________________________________________________________

#376- House w/ Garden set (EU/UK/AUS/CAN)

EU45-EU60------------EU60-EU75-------------EU100-EU125--------------EU150+

_________________________________________________________________

#377 - TRUCK W/ TRAILER & CRANE SET(1971)

_________________________________________________________________

VG------------------------EX------------------------MIB-------------------------------MISB

_________________________________________________________________

#377- Truck w/ Trailer & Crane set (EU/UK/AUS)

EU50-EU75--------------EU75-EU100-----------EU125-EU150--------------EU200+

_________________________________________________________________

#377 - SHELL STATION SET (1978)

_________________________________________________________________

VG--------------------------EX-----------------------MIB-------------------------------MISB

_________________________________________________________________

#377- Shell Station set (EU/UK/AUS/CAN)

EU60-EU80---------------EU80-EU110----------EU135-EU160--------------EU200+

_________________________________________________________________

#379 - BUS STATION SET (1979)

_________________________________________________________________

VG-----------------------EX---------------------------MIB-------------------------------MISB

_________________________________________________________________

#379- Bus Station set (EU/UK/AUS/CAN)

EU75-EU100-----------EU125-EU150-------------EU175-EU225------------EU300+

_________________________________________________________________

#380 - VILLAGE SET (1969-71)

_________________________________________________________________

VG-------------------------EX----------------------------MIB-------------------------MISB

_________________________________________________________________

#380- Village set (UK/AUS)

EU200-EU225----------EU250-EU275---------------EU400-EU600--------EU800+

_________________________________________________________________

If you ever plan on insuring your LEGO collection, and you have any older sets, then there is NO OTHER SOURCE of a price/insurance guide out there. A rarity of "6 Bricks" on the other LEGO guide doesn't mean ANYTHING to an insurance claims adjuster!

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Here's some free sample chapters to view, but of my older Volume 1 (CD), which was 1000 pages. The combined Vol. 1 & 2 (DVD) has 2,800 pages.

In all of these chapters I give a very detailed historic perspective of LEGO from the earliest of times (1949) until the present. Enjoy!

Here's Chapter 1 - LEGO Timeline... as Vol. 1 with 26 pages... which is now still Chapter 1 (DVD) and has has 52 pages...

http://www.brickshel...er-1-part-1.pdf

Here's Chapter 2 - LEGO Display Models, Model Shops & Toy Fairs... as Vol. 1 with 15 pages... which is now Chapter 70 (DVD) and has 22 pages...

http://www.geminisys.../chapter2v2.pdf

Here's Chapter 13 - LEGO Sets/Parts Not Put Into Productionn... as Vol 1. with 11 pages... which is now Chapter 18 (DVD) and has 26 pages...

http://www.brickshel...-chapter-13.pdf

Here's Chapter 26 - LEGO Service Packs & Individual Parts Sales... with 18 pages... which is now Chapter 43 (DVD) and has 49 pages...

http://www.brickshel...-chapter-28.pdf

Here's Chapter 32 - LEGO Town Accessories 1955-96... with 39 pages... which is now Chapter 47 (DVD) and has 49 pages...

http://www.geminisys...chapter32v2.pdf

Here's Chapter 49 - LEGO Instructions, Content Lists and Brochures... with 18 pages... which is now Chapter 64 (DVD) and has 22 pages...

http://www.geminisys...chapter49v2.pdf

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The LEGO DVD chapter of 1:87 Cars/Trucks (1955-70) has the most valuable of all LEGO parts.... promotional and rare color vehicles. A 1957-58 Opel Kapitän car (only 8 known, 5 yellow, 2 red, 1 orange) can fetch up to $3000-$5000. A Fiat 1800 in black was spotted on Ebay selling for $3235 (only 1/2 dozen known in black.

And among the 1:87 trucks... the #257 Bedford Delivery Truck with promotional writing can easily top $2000. This version shows the Danny Dairy company, and dates to circa 1963. This truck is printed in 4 languages. On the side not showing it says "Milk DANNY Lait" (English/French). On the side showing it shows "Leche DANNY Leite" (Spanish/Portuguese). This is a very rare truck!

257_promotional_delivery_truck.jpg

The LEGO DVD chapter on Promotional items also shows this rare Weetabix cereal ad from the UK (1978) showing the very rare #1589 Weetabix Town Square Set...

lego_ad_1978_weetabix_promo.jpg

This 1963 #710 Wooden Box Set was sold only in France, and shows a sliding top to the box, with many Town Plan era parts.... from the Wooden Box Chapter...

1963_france_710_wooden_box.jpg

And getting back to the 1:87 LEGO trucks of 1955-70... the (new in 1964) Mercedes Delivery Vans were produced in 17 different types (some 6 and some 8 axle trucks). Some of the rarer colors have sold for over 1000 Euros! The rarest of all are the white ones with stickers instead of decals....

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Notice the red truck with the meat/poultry/fish emblems on the red trailer? There are only about 10 of those known... the rarest of all these trailers... and well worth over $1000.

One of the rarer LEGO model sets is the #685 truck set of 1972. Rare late 1971 versions of this truck have no sticker sheet... and no stickers showing on the box or instructions....

rare_685_variation.jpg

Edited by LEGO Historian

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And lastly... some Nuremberg Toy Fair and glued model images....

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1961_toy_fair_display.jpg

Glued model images.....

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Ulm Cathedral... LEGO model of church with world's tallest church tower...

1962-detroit_samsonite_model_shop2.jpg

LEGO owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen as a young boy building with a LEGO river and bridge (a postcard scene)...

kkk_building_bridge_1958.jpg

Well that's all... there are another 5,960 images in my LEGO DVD, mostly of LEGO sets and parts going back to day one of LEGO histoyr...

If anyone wants a copy of the DVD (or just an online download... then I'm offering the first 5 Eurobricks folks $5 off the retail price of $29.95... just EMAIL me at istokg@earthlink.net

Cheers,

Gary istok

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From the 1970s until 2000 TLG produced many ferry ships for several Scandinavian ferry lines. These unique (and pricey) sets contained some very rare printed LEGO parts that were not found in regular LEGO sets. This table (from German collector Jan Katanek) is used in my LEGO DVD chapter on LEGO Promotional sets, to help identify the unique part types and quantities found in the different ferry models....

ferrywindows.jpg

The legendary #1650 Maersk Line Container Set of 1974 is arguably the most highly priced LEGO set ever. MISB examples have sold for up to $3000 on Ebay. Here is the promotional model set, contents, instructions, sticker sheet, red weighted keels, and a brochure on A. P. Moller, the parent company of MAERSK Corp.

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For folks who asked me why I didn't make a book out of this... a couple of reasons....

1) there are 4 websites on LEGO brick types, LEGO prototypes, LEGO TV Commercials, and LEGO company history that a book cannot link to.

2) it would cost over $100 to publish a set of 4 700 page books with 6000 pictures (mostly color).

Here's 2 images that shows the 4 volumes of work that is on the DVD....

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Wow... I didn't know there were pieces that rare until now! I knew some pieces were more or less common than others, but these are crazy! I love the Maersk boat, and that town for $6.95 was such a deal, I'm jealous of everyone who bought it.

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Yes some LEGO pieces can sell for thousands... but those are mainly the 1:87 cars/trucks of 1955-70, which have a strong following among non-LEGO cast vehicle collectors, as well as LEGO collectors. Those cars/trucks were HO train scale, which is highly collectible on secondary markets.

Other rare parts command lower prices. For example, here's a newly highlighted one of my LEGO DVD chapters... Chapter 48 - Printed & Painted LEGO Elements....

http://www.1000stein...2048%20Vol2.pdf

There are many old LEGO printed bricks that can easily sell for up to and over $100 on the secondary market. And as you can see in this chapter, there are printed 1x6 and 1x8 bricks (mainly) that come in a mind boggling array of colors and designs!

The #1308 and #308 Church Sets of 1958-62 have an especially rare printed 1x6 white beam, that comes in 6 known variations (it's used as a founding date over the church door).... some of the rarer ones of these (such as the variety in red) can command over $100 on the secondary market!

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Your posts are very interesting and I go through all your links - so please don't think that people are ignoring your work just because there aren't all that many answers!

I'm very puzzled by a couple of the Norwegian bricks - the writing on one of them is "DROSJ" - which doesn't make sense. There's an E missing: "DROSJE" means 'taxi', "DROSJ" doesn't mean anything. Strange! The choice of the word "BANKEN" is also weird - it means 'the bank' - logically, it should be "BANK", both in Norwegian and Swedish... Interesting nevertheless :)

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Your posts are very interesting and I go through all your links - so please don't think that people are ignoring your work just because there aren't all that many answers!

I'm very puzzled by a couple of the Norwegian bricks - the writing on one of them is "DROSJ" - which doesn't make sense. There's an E missing: "DROSJE" means 'taxi', "DROSJ" doesn't mean anything. Strange! The choice of the word "BANKEN" is also weird - it means 'the bank' - logically, it should be "BANK", both in Norwegian and Swedish... Interesting nevertheless :)

Thanks so much for your "Norwegian" insight! default_classic.gif

When LEGO sales started in Norway in late 1953, there was a toy import restriction, so the LEGO company could not export LEGO to Norway. But that was not a problem for LEGO founder Ole Kirk Christiansen, who did his carpentry apprenticeship in Norway (Oslo), and later married a Norwegian woman. So Ole Kirk had contacts in Norway, and he licensed the first LEGO sets from a Norwegian plastics maker named Svein Strømberg & Co. The LEGO subsidiary was called A/S Norske LEGO (changed to A/S Norke LEGIO in 1955, because they were selling non-LEGO toys, such as MECLINE, under the LEGO name).

A/S Norske LEGIO produced LEGO sets and parts for the Norway market, and also some for Sweden, until 1962... when the import restrictions were lifted, and LEGO production was only done from Billund Denmark. (This info is covered in Chapter 73 LEGO Sales/History by Country).

In doing my research, I received a lot of pictures and information from the LEGO Billund Archives and Collections. They also told me that both the Archives and Collections were missing a lot of information from the 1950s for Norway and Sweden, and from the USA/Canada in the 1960s. This was due to the fact that TLG Denmark didn't always know what was going on in those countries as far as LEGO sets and parts were concerned.

So I am sending the folks in Billund a couple copies of my LEGO DVDs so they can help fill in a lot of information in their archives, and (if they can find the parts on the secondary market) add to their collections.

There were green classic windows/doors produced for Norway (selling for 100 Euros each in European auctions), yellow ones produced for Sweden (and in both cases nowhere else). There were also old road signs produced for Norway with red bases, and ones for Sweden with brown bases (gray is the normal color).

But one of my favorite items (found in Chapter 49 that you saw)... was the Norwegian alphabet bricks in blue with gold lettering. In all of these instances I just mentioned, the LEGO archives had no information on these.

That DROSJ decal brick that you mentioned... the decals were likely produced in Denmark and shipped to Norway, which may explain the spelling error. Those decal bricks were likely only produced in Norway from 1955-56, before being replaced by printed bricks (the GARASJE brick dates to a 1957 VW Service set #1306).

The LEGO DVD chapter on LEGO trees/bushes also shows Norwegian painted trees that are different than those produced for Denmark. Another Norwegian item were 10x20 thick baseplates in black.

One of the best things about the LEGO DVD is that I have identified many LEGO items that are unique to certain countries... with Norway and Sweden being my favorite!

Also, my DVD is available as a download.... with the 688MB of data taking only about 10 minutes to download. That saves on the shipping charge (of $3.00).

I must say that the amount of research you've done is remarkable. Thank you for this valuable contribution to the Lego community.

Thanks!

What I have found out from many collectibles experts is that many of the most knowledgeable people about the history of collectibles do not work for the particular company. It seems to be pretty common for new companies to spend so much time surviving and trying to sell their product, that keeping archival records becomes an afterthought many years later. This is not unique to LEGO.

That's why (plus my 52 years of collecting) no other database or reference guide gives you all the info from DAY 1. When the Fantasia folks put together the Official LEGO Collectors Guide (the one with the set rarity levels set at 1-to-6 bricks), the Fantasia folks of Germany had a lot of trouble getting accurate information from the folks at TLG. It was that prior to 1970 the TLG Archives are skimpy and ambiguous in a lot of their information. That's when the Fantasia folks contacted me, and asked me questions that they couldn't get the right answers for (I'm mentioned as a reference in their book). Ironically about 1/4 of all the info that I got from the TLG folks... I had to discard, because I had proof to the contrary.

Cheers,

Gary Istok

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Ah, very nice to see an update to this, Gary. I bought the 2 previous versions from you on BL and will have to consider doing so again. Are you planning to offer a special price for previous owners who wouldn't mind just downloading this update?

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Ah, very nice to see an update to this, Gary. I bought the 2 previous versions from you on BL and will have to consider doing so again. Are you planning to offer a special price for previous owners who wouldn't mind just downloading this update?

Well you won't have to worry about another version... this is the last one! :)

There was no point into taking it to the new millenium, since so many online databases have it covered.

And the answer is yes. Some previous owners have opted for "freebies"... others have been given other "perks"... drop me a line....

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Ironically about 1/4 of all the info that I got from the TLG folks... I had to discard, because I had proof to the contrary.

You're welcome! And wow... I wouldn't have expected that. They do seem to have poor records regarding keychains and gear, by the way.

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I hope I'm not breaking any rules here... but since it takes so long to get images approved... I thought I'd just link to a Brickset thread I started today... on the only LEGO set image that has KKK's father Godtfred Kirk Christiansen was on the box top of (from my LEGO DVD chapter on LEGO set arwork and Christiansen family images on LEGO sets/brochures. Also I have a rare image of the 1955 prototype gray garage doors.... unknown in any collection... even TLGs own...

http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/4870/only-known-lego-box-image-of-godtfred-kirk-christiansen#latest

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