quiquinho

Dear Friend, The lovely young girl in the old Town plan was Hanne, the little sister of Kield and Gunhild. In a tragic car accident under severe rain on the 30th. October 1969, after returning home from a movie, Hanne (aged 18) died and Kjeld (aged 22) was so seriously injured that it took almost six months to heal. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen never talked about that tragedy since. This tragedy so shook their father, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, that he seriously considered selling the company. Indeed, even today, TLG staff avoid speeking about little Hanne. Warmest regards! Armando

Dear LEGO Friends, I am not sure if you know more details about the «mysterious» LEGO Mursten 1309 "Kirke med «lys-sten»", the 1309/309 Church set, but I may have some news. I will reproduce below the description I created in my Excel file of collectibles: «In September 1957 Lego presented in Norway, along the new item 245 Light Brick, the "Kirke med «lys-sten»" set 1309, with interior light. Only one exemplar of this "Kirke med «lys-sten»" (*) set is known, although it is mentioned in the 1957 Norwegian pricelist, for 18,50 NOK. This unique exemplar of the Lego 1309 "Kirke med «lys-sten»" was found by a Swedish collector, Mr. Daniel Johanssen, in the Danish toy museum "Nordsjællands Legetøjsmuseum". The model was «glued» for display, as usual in display LEGO models or prototypes. It appears that this VERY early 1309 set was not only produced in Norway (by A/S Norske LEGIO, the Norwegian licensee for Lego), but also in Denmark. It is believed that Lego discontinued this version "Kirke med «lys-sten»", both in Denmark and in Norway, soon after its presentation, for still unknown reasons. From the only known picture of this set in a 1957 Norwegian Lego black & white leaflet, in Norway the windows and front doors were RED, and not WHITE like the Danish display model recently found in the "Nordsjællands Legetøjsmuseum". The curator of the Museum, Mrs. Hilda Svanes, bought this incredibly rare Lego model in 1997, without knowing the extreme rarity and/or value of this Lego Church display model, in good/average complete «glued» condition (Lego display models have always been glued). Unfortunatly, the original box has been lost many years ago, and no surviving exemplars of the "Kirke med «lys-sten»" box seems to exist. On the 12th June 2014, this unique exemplar of the Lego"Kirke med «lys-sten»", ref. 1309, was sold at Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers, in København, Denmark, for 1,500,000 DKK (about 201,132 €, at 2014 exchange rate) !!!» Final note: I have a particular interest in the LEGO Church, because... ...it was my very first LEGO toy in 1960, when I was 4 years old. Please accept the most warm and friendly regards from your Portuguese friend! Armando Fernandes Post script: I forgot to include the following note to mu text above: (*) Translation to English of Norsk language "Kirke med «lys-sten»": - "Church with «light brick»".

Many, many thanks for your most kind answer to my question! I have just posted another note about LEGO H0 models, and somehow, I had not noticed your wonderful and so COMPLETE informations about the portuguese H0 models. So, I must apologize if I have unnecessary placed my today's comments... It was just wonderful to see your old portuguese LEGO catalogue!!! Can you imagine that the superb LEGO H0 models had the same price in Portugal as the much more rude and common Matchbox models??? After all, the LEGO models were not that expensive, in the 60's... Anyway, it has been for me a great pleasure to contribute to EUROBRICKS, a GREAT site for all LEGO fans! Thank you, LEGO Historian! Armando

Hello from Portugal, Dear Friends! Just some short notes about the extremely rare BLACK color variation of the Fiat 1800: TLG adopted very early a philosophy to reference their H0 models with three digits for Central European countries - including Portugal in 1957! - beeing the first digit 2 or 6. The 2xx references were sold with the plastic garage, the 6xx references were sold with the rare paper «presentation» box (with very few pre-59 exceptions, like the early Bedford truck series). The Fiat 1800 was available from 1965 until 1967, with the ref. 605... This means all Fiat models were never sold with a garage box, adversely as seen in the picture above. I strongly suspect that the seller of this auction «added» (on purpose?) the garage. FINAL NOTE: In 1955, when the “Lego System of Play” was created (as well as the always fascinating "TOWN PLAN" system), TLG sold their first H0 models with a FOUR digits (125x) reference for a short time. From 1955-58, only Denmark, Norway and Sweden used a 4 digit number that started with 12xx (for parts packs): 1250 - Bedford ESSO Tanker 1251 - Bedford Open Delivery ESSO Truck 1252 - Trailer ESSO 1253 - Bedford Flatbed Truck 1254 - Flatbed Trailer 1255 - Bedford Fire Ladder Truck 1256 - Bedford Tow Truck 1257 - Bedford LEGO Transport Truck All 125x Bedford series above were sold in closed card boxes. Tha-tha-tha-that's all, folks! Very warm and friendly regards from your portuguese friend, Armando Fernandes

Dear LEGO Friends, Just a short note about the amazing BLACK color ref. 605 Fiat 1800. As far as my poor knowledge goes, in 1965 all LEGO H0 models were sold without the Garage clear box. But the picture above showns this extremely rare black version... ...inside a garage, and with a LEGO leaflet! Am I saying something silly? I don't know, and perhaps someone could elucidate me about this matter. Warmest regards! Armando

Dear Friends, This is my very first contribution to EUROBRICKS, and I wish you all my very best regards from Portugal! Just a short note about the Lego Bedford Esso Tanker: There were two variations in this model cast, the first version with side indicators painted in silver, and a later version with front indicators/parking lights. Besides that, there is one small detail I have never seen discussed before: Most (but not all) Bedford Esso tankers had a reference number on the underside, near the rear axle. I confirm the existence of ref. numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8, but most probably there are more different ref. numbers (my Bedford tanker is nº 6, have the side indicators and body decals "Esso EXTRA MOTOR OIL"). Perhaps some Lego fan more expert could give me a hint of the meaning of these underside references? Please accept my most warm regards! Armando Fernandes