LEGO Historian Posted April 21, 2013 Today when you build a house or other construction, you often have to scramble to find the right parts that will do for LEGO windows. Not all modern windows are available in all colors unfortunately. And sometimes you have to use the backside of those headlight bricks in order to produce windows. TLG wasn't always so frugal in the windows/doors department... back in the mid 1950s the LEGO kids in Scandinavia were almost spoiled for colors... Here is a very rare retailer windows/door box (parts sold from these boxes as individual parts) from 1954-55. There are only 2 known of this box... both in the LEGO Archives in Billund Denmark. The folks at TLG let me have an image of this never before seen box. This shows the large LEGO windows/doors in 3 colors... red, blue and white... which were common to Denmark, Norway and Sweden... the only LEGO countries at that time... There was a large classic windows/door type with glass, and a smaller classic windows/door type without glass. These windows/doors were for use with the slotted LEGO bricks of 1949-56.... TLG also made the large classic windows/doors in a few other colors.... white for all 3 countries... green for Norway, yellow and orange for Sweden, and dark blue for Denmark.... And even the blue windows/doors came in a variety of colors... Then... in 1956 TLG switched from slotted bricks to non-slotted ones... and a whole new series of windows/doors were introduced... the ones we know of as the 1956-86 classic LEGO windows/doors with studs on top.... but sadly only in 2 colors for the first 10 years... red and white. Here is a (1957 introduced) Danish retailer windows/doors box... with individual parts for sale to customers... Images from Chapter 44 - LEGO Windows/Doors 1949-99 of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide... on DVD/download for easy desktop use... http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=73780 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Electricsteam Posted April 24, 2013 I really wish Lego sold these types of house building sets like Lego Windows and Doors! or Lego Roofs and walls! Its gona to be hard to find a good recent lego set with a nice big stock pile of roofs and windows. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted April 25, 2013 (edited) I agree with you 1000% Electricsteam!!! The fact that TLG has not had a "Window System" in nearly 40 years is really a pity for the world's leading construction toy!! Ironically it was a huge assortment of 750 classic windows and doors that brought me out of my Dark Ages unexpectedly waaaaaay back in 1979, while visiting relatives in Germany! I was at my great aunts house for lunch with my mother and sister, after which I was so full of food I went for a walk for a few blocks from my great aunts house.... and came across a book and stationary store. Inside I found a pair of circa 1958-62 Retailer windows/doors boxes (back from 1957-67 LEGO windows/doors were sold as individual parts from LEGO retailers, but only in continental Europe). It was a red and a white FILLED retailer box (375 windows in each)... that I discovered had been sitting in this store for over 20 years on a dusty shelf... and purchased for $30 per box. This was what brought me back to collecting LEGO... (and plundering the small town toy stores across Germany on subsequent visits)... here are examples of the kind of retailer boxes I found... although mine were full boxes... Imagine my amazement after finding these 2 treasure chests full of LEGO windows/doors!! The best LEGO finds of my life!! Incidentally, there are now all the continental European windows/doors retailer boxes shown here in these posts... they are: 700 b/c Retailer WIndows/Doors Box (160 windows/doors, in red, white, blue)... 1954-56. 1231 1-10 Retailer Windows/Doors Box (160 windows/doors, in red)... 1957-58. 214 1-10 Retailer Windows.Doors Box (375 windows/doors, in either red or white)... 1958-65. 261 Retailer Windows/Doors Box (375 windows/doors, in either red or white)... 1966-67. These are discussed at length in Chapter 43 - LEGO Service Packs & Individual Parts Sales (1950-1990) of my LEGO DVD/download. Gary Edited April 25, 2013 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Electricsteam Posted April 25, 2013 The last good set with a lot of roofs and windows was set 4956. Too bad it costs and arm and a leg now. Maybe we could Lego Cuuso a Supplementle set for Windows,Door,Roofs, and walls? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted April 25, 2013 The last good set with a lot of roofs and windows was set 4956. Too bad it costs and arm and a leg now. Maybe we could Lego Cuuso a Supplementle set for Windows,Door,Roofs, and walls? Electricsteam... I remember back about 1983 when I came across a toy clearance store called J. Kay Sales... there were several outlet stores here in metro-Detroit. And they had the mid 1970s USA version of the London Bus on clearance... the 760 Set (the 384 was sold elsewhere).... I picked up 35 of these sets on clearance at several of these outlet stores @ $7.35 ea... mainly because this was probably the most "window intensive" LEGO model set... with 24 classic LEGO windows in each set (10 1x4x2, 11 1x3x2, 1 1x2x2 all in red... and 2 1x1x1 in white for the headlights). so those 35 sets had 840 classic LEGO windows!!! They also had a good assortment of red 45 degree slopes! But yes... a Cussoo set of something similar to this would be great! P.S. Ironically the London Bus sets had two 1x1x1 white windows... used as headlights... a refreshing reversal of the pathetic use of the back of headlight bricks as windows today!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jonwil Posted April 25, 2013 Set 6117 from 2008 was the most recent set to contain anything like a reasonable number of windows. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted April 25, 2013 Set 6117 from 2008 was the most recent set to contain anything like a reasonable number of windows. Yes... but sadly... using trans-clear, trans-light blue, and trans-black glass... no uniformity... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Electricsteam Posted April 26, 2013 Lego does have the sets we want but they are so small! http://shop.lego.com/en-AU/LEGO-Roof-Tiles-6119 for roofs http://shop.lego.com/en-AU/LEGO-Doors-Windows-6117 for doors and windows! They are so small!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted April 27, 2013 (edited) The modern windows and roof bricks packs are absolutely HUGE... when compared to those of the 1955-65 era. Here are some of the continental European small parts packs. The 214 windows pack contained one each of the 9 classic windows and 1 classic door. The really small 214/10 pack that shows just a classic door is a UK pack where just one style of window or door is sold in boxes of just a few. There were 4 sloped bricks parts packs during this era... 2x4 slopes/peaks (280), 1x2 & 2x3 slopes/peaks (281), 2x2 slopes/peaks (282), and the miscellaneous valley and other bricks (283). The windows/doors came in either all red or all white. The slopes came in all red or all blue. Also... these spare parts packs with the black inner box were priced differently. The box that surrounds the pack number is color coordinated based on the price of the pack. A black box is a normal price. A yellow box is a double price box. A green box is more than the double price. And between the black box (single) price, and the yellow box (double price)... there are blue and red boxes. Red is about 1 1/2 black box price. Blue is about 1 3/4 black box price. What really gets confusing is that in some European countries... different boxes are more or less expensive... so in one country a blue box price... may be a red box price in another country. Here's an example of this (and it also shows the older 1950s boxes with white inner box)... My LEGO DVD/download chapter on LEGO spare parts pack sets of the 1950-65 is the largest of the 73 chapters in my DVD/download... at 61 pages. These parts pack boxes come in a mind boggling number of different variations! Edited April 27, 2013 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted May 3, 2013 My friend Richard Bintanja from the Netherlands recently got some very rare MINT tall classic windows in blue. These 1954-56 windows are very rare to find in this condition, and really have a nice color to them.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Darkdragon Posted May 3, 2013 Very cool. These are my favorite windows that LEGO has ever made. I sadly only have some "white" ones (more than a lot of people that are new to the hobby like myself) I think I have a couple red ones but not really enough to use in much. One day I hope to get some more, but now look at those colors I didn't even know about. Beautiful stuff there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted May 9, 2013 (edited) One nice thing about those old 1956-86 classic LEGO windows/doors is that they all matched each other. One of my favorite LEGO display models was this 1960-62 Cotswold Cottage LEGO house... all with white windows/doors... Edited May 9, 2013 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Electricsteam Posted May 9, 2013 I wish we could start some sort of pettion to bring back the classic windows! They seem to fit so much better that the flat windows we have today! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted May 9, 2013 Electricsteam... I would take the petition around myself, if it would do any good... One of my favorite things about the old classic windows... was that they were so versatile when used in groupings. Such as this large window using 4 types of classic windows... 1x1x1, 1x2x1, 1x1x2 and 1x2x2.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Electricsteam Posted May 10, 2013 Electricsteam... I would take the petition around myself, if it would do any good... One of my favorite things about the old classic windows... was that they were so versatile when used in groupings. Such as this large window using 4 types of classic windows... 1x1x1, 1x2x1, 1x1x2 and 1x2x2.... That right there is one of the reason why we need the old windows back! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted May 13, 2013 Here's an early 1960s LEGO glued display model... a rare survivor from 50 years ago that was recently restored by my Dutch LEGO collector friend Henk. It uses a vast number of the versatile small classic LEGO windows... all in white... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted May 26, 2013 (edited) Sigh... just got wind of some very rare 1953-55 Norwegian LEGO windows/doors in colors no one has likely ever dreamed about.... sky blue, pink and light green!! Images pending... Edited May 26, 2013 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jonwil Posted May 26, 2013 I doubt there is anyone that has a complete record of the various colors LEGO used in those early years. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted May 28, 2013 (edited) I doubt there is anyone that has a complete record of the various colors LEGO used in those early years. This is very true... because Norway and Sweden were producing parts back in the 1950s (when in addition to Denmark, those were the only LEGO countries until 1956)... and TLG was not aware of what they were producing... and therefore the TLG Archives are incomplete. However, I have several collectors who are scouring the secondary LEGO market of both Norway and Sweden, and the tally of colors are fast becoming known. So far 24 colors of bricks have been found (in sizes 2x2 and 2x4 only)... and the number of windows/doors is also a limited number of designs... so it shouldn't be too much longer before a pretty good stab at a final list of colors is known for windows/doors as well. I am very fortunate to have a group of collector friends who always report back about new finds! Edited May 28, 2013 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted June 5, 2013 Here are some very rare early Norwegian Automatic Binding Bricks LEGO windows from 1953-54. These colors are amazing! With Norwegian/Swedish classic windows/doors coming in unique colors such as green, orange, dark blue, yellow and blue... it could be that the classic LEGO windows may have been produced in some of these colors as well (maybe sky blue, light green and pink!).... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted July 5, 2013 (edited) LEGO Windows and Doors weren't the only LEGO items that came in a wide assortment of colors and variations. The very rare and collectible 1:87 (HO Scale) series of LEGO cars and trucks (1955-70) also came in an endless series of colors... as did LEGO bricks. Here is a "teaser" from my next version of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (free to current owners, will be coming out in a few months as a download)... the number of colors available in LEGO are not really a modern phenomenon... but have been that way in many ages.... http://www.youblisher.com/p/659767-Please-Add-a-Title/ Still waiting for Pink and sky blue classic windows/doors to be found in Norway!! Edited July 5, 2013 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pinioncorp Posted July 6, 2013 Please contact me regarding those windows you still are yet to send me. If you've got time to write these posts than you can at least reply to my emails or private message to tell me what is going on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
