LEGO Historian Posted April 13, 2013 (edited) Posted something simiar in Town for all the nice printed MOCs... Back in the early years of Town... from 1955 when the first Town Plan accessories were introduced by TLG until 1975 TLG produced an almost endless number of printed 1x6 and 1x8 white bricks with printing in local languages, and sometimes international words... such as GARAGE, KIOSK, HOTEL, RESTAURANT and ESSO SERVICE. These printed bricks came in an endless assortment of printed colors in the late 1950s, and came with a more streamlined printing in the 1960s and 1970s. Most of these bricks came in a parts pack of 8 bricks (until 1957, and 7 bricks thereafter in pack 226 and sold in all countries from 1956-66. Here are some sample printed bricks.. or named beams as they are also called... Theatre & Cinema (Kino, Theater, Grand Theater)... Fire Station... In German, Danish, Swedish, Dutch/Flemish, English... These are just 16 of a vast number of different bricks. Here is chapter 48 of my 2800 page Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD/Download... the chapter on LEGO Printed and Painted Parts... hundreds of printed bricks are shown here in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, German, Dutch, Flemish, French, Italian, French, English (UK, Ireland and Australia), and American English (USA/'Canada).... http://www.youblishe...Parts-Stickers/ Enjoy! Gary Istok P.S. My Collectors Guide as an instant computer desktop download (688MB) is available in Eurobricks Bazaar.. Edited April 13, 2013 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted April 14, 2013 (edited) When the printed bricks with names were first introduce in Denmark, Norway and Sweden in 1955, Norway was producing their own LEGO in Oslo, due to a toy import restriction. And for the first year or so, Norway produced printed bricks in a very unique way. They didn't have them embossed, but used decals for the printed bricks. These decals were very delicate, and soon started flaking off of the bricks. Intact old decaled Norwegian bricks are very difficult to find.. but here are some from my friend Lothar in Germany... very interesting... "DROSGE" bricks are "TAXI" in Norwegian. However the 2 printed bricks with this decal look different. One is a normal Drosge brick... the other had the decal too long for the end of the brick, so it was folded over, thus almost covering up the last "E". Gary Edited April 14, 2013 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1974 Posted April 14, 2013 Since you're the wizard on such bricks, I have a question. A brick like this : Does not seem to have only printing, but the LEGO logo feels somewhat engraved. How did TLG do that? Printing seems easy enough, the brick is picked up and painted. But engraving (if it is?) much be a more laborious process, no? Some time ago I got some bricks with my own name made by an TLG employee with his own engraving machine (nothing to with TLG at all, btw) and they have the same feel as that brick in the picture. The brick was first engraved, then the letters was filled with ink, pretty neat Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted April 15, 2013 Thanks for your inquiry 1974... manual engraving machines have been around for some time. I have never seen how TLG engraved their bricks back in the 1955-75 era... never found any footage of this process, so I cannot begin to understand it. But the machine that did the engraving likely required some manual skills to run. This engraving process was likely tied into the "infill coloring" process. As I mentioned this wasn't an exact science, and errors were relatively frequent. Reason I know that, the engraving machine often went off kilter and produced printed and engrave bricks that were not centered correctly. Here are some 1955-65 era errors. These were sold to LEGO employees very cleaply as factory seconds. These seconds were used by the children of LEGO employees, and are often quite worn. This image also shows a lot of worn factory firsts as well... These parts can be found in flea markets in towns around Billund. Today engraving is a process more likely done by precision lasers. Gary Istok Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted April 15, 2013 Here are some more named beams... MEJERI is a 1950s Danish brick for Dairy. The other bricks are all 1960s style sans serif. The GROCERY and STORE bricks are USA/Canada Samsonite LEGO bricks. The CAFE, STATION, CINEMA and DEALER are international named beams, and could have originated from many countries... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted April 19, 2013 These printed bricks are Dutch and German... Posterijen and P.T.T are earlier Post Office names for the Dutch Telephone/Telegrap & Postal company of that country. The POST Brick is the German version of their Post Office.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haz Posted April 14, 2015 Hi all! Can i resurrect a two year old thread? :) I found this brick in amongst a small bulk lot of modern (Friends, etc) bricks. When i tried to check against BrickLink as to what it was and what set/s it came from, i only turned up two similar, yet different results. One brick has a thin font, the other a bold font, but neither of them match mine. :/ Does anyone have any idea where mine originated from or how it came to be? Thanks in advance. :) http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?q=brick%201%20x%208%20grand Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted April 14, 2015 (edited) Hi all! Can i resurrect a two year old thread? :) I found this brick in amongst a small bulk lot of modern (Friends, etc) bricks. When i tried to check against BrickLink as to what it was and what set/s it came from, i only turned up two similar, yet different results. One brick has a thin font, the other a bold font, but neither of them match mine. :/ Does anyone have any idea where mine originated from or how it came to be? Thanks in advance. :) http://www.bricklink...ick 1 x 8 grand Well that's an easy one to answer..... The "Grand Theatre"/"GRAND THEATER" brick was sold in the Netherlands from 1957 until 1966. It was found in 2 places... either the #700 "with contents" wooden box set (along with 6 other printed bricks), or more commonly in the Dutch #226 Printed Brick Spare parts pack (7 different bricks). All of the 1955-72 era printed bricks came in several variations, depending on how old they were... the older the brick the less "streamlined" the text looked. Your GRAND THEATRE brick dates to about 1963-65, as the most modern looking of the 3 varieties. Here is a chapter from my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (a 2800 page collectors guide as a Computer Desktop download).... this is Chapter 48 - Printed and Painted LEGO. Page 2 shows a Dutch model (including a Grand Theatre) with printed bricks from the 1950s. Page 6 shows an example of some of the printed bricks that could be found in a typical Dutch #226 parts packs. But because after Denmark and Germany there were more Dutch language beams than anywhere in Europe, the 7 beams that came in a Dutch #226 pack (or earlier #700 wooden box set) could vary quite a bit. If you scroll down to page 9, you will see the list of the 17 Dutch language bricks that were produced in that era. http://www.1000stein...ter 48 Vol2.pdf Since you only have 1 post, I cannot Private Message you, but if you like what's in this chapter, check out my page here in the Eurobricks Bazaar... 1/2 off price... http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=73780 Edited April 14, 2015 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DuckBricks Posted April 15, 2015 These parts can be found in flea markets in towns around Billund. Any chance of giving the names or locations of such flea markets? I'm traveling to Billund this summer on the excuse of a business trip, and I may have a few days free... Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paul B Technic Posted April 15, 2015 That is really interesting... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted April 15, 2015 Sorry no clue on an European flea markets.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewH7 Posted January 2, 2023 I've set of 7 English & extra GARAGE faded that I guess is from a set. & older 1 no pillars of KIOSK, so looking for instructions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Posted January 11, 2023 Hi Andrew, Please don't revive a ten year old topic. Topic bumping or necro posting is considered bad practice. Thanks for understanding. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
