62Bricks

I do, too. Here's a complete Futuron set I filtered out. 6878 - Twin-Winged Spoiler:

I'm pulling lots of complete sets from this lot - here's one of them (the minifigs are from my own supply of vintage figs I keep for completing sets). 1497 Rally and Pitcrew:

That might be what they were talking about. I can't find the forum post now, but the person talking about the gab bags had bought one with a piece from the "building brick brand that shall not be named!"

I received the lot a few days ago and have been sorting it by color so I can more easily look for complete sets. As we suspected, the parts are mainly from 1980s space and city sets. There are some older pieces, however, including several waffle-bottom plates and some Samsonite bricks. I know most people don't care about these, but since they remind me of my own early days playing with LEGO, I don't mind finding them mixed in. Here's an oddball brick I found: What's so strange about it? Well first of all, it stands out from the other red 2x4s because it is shinier and has a slightly orange shade - this is because it's made from cellulose acetate plastic. That's not so unusual. It also has the "modern" font that came along in 1962, which means this CA brick must date to about that year, as the switch to ABS plastic started in 1963 (according to Gary's guide). It also has the mold pip on the side edge, and no cross supports underneath, like other bricks of this era: But it's missing something you usually see on bricks from this time - it has no Pat. Pend. mark on the inside. Neither does it have the little rough patches where the Pat. Pend. mark was obscured in the mold. According to leggodt.nl, the Pat. Pend. mark started appearing in 1962. In the extensive list of variations of the 2x4 brick at that site, this particular variation does not appear: CA, no cross-supports, side edge pip, modern font, no Pat. Pend. It would seem this brick was made at that specific time, probably in 1962, before LEGO switched to ABS but after they started using the modern font and before they started molding Pat. Pend. on the pieces.

I've never spilled one but someone else once made a mess with one of mine. I had filled it and left it on the counter behind me while I worked on a second one. The full one had a couple stacks of plant leaves, all connected, down the center, with some 1x2 brick stacks around the outer edges, and the rest filled in with clear round 1x1 plates. A kid saw the stack of plant leaves and thought it looked cool. He pulled it up out of the cup and it sent a fountain of 1x1s all over the floor. I read in another forum once where someone said his local LEGO store sold "mystery bags" made up of pieces they swept up off the floor and parts from opened returned sets. They put them in paper sacks so you didn't know what you were getting but the price was usually pretty good. Anyone else know about these?

Definitely the way to go. I have my own price I'm willing to pay per pound for big lots and I stick to it. I don't win every auction, but sometimes I win one for much less than my top price. It's hard to suppress the urge to win at any cost, but after doing this for several years (and collecting tens of thousands of pieces essentially for free) I know there will always be another auction to bid on. I understand what you are describing and it really sounds like you are looking at the default view and not the full view of all the bids including the automatic bids. If you look at the expanded view, you will probably see the winning bidder's name earlier in the bidding.

As has been explained, there is nothing unusual here. If you want to see the full bidding history you have to click the link to show the automatic bids - by default eBay only shows manual bids. If the first person to bid on an item enters an amount higher than the opening bid, then their first bid is an "automatic" bid and will not show on the default list.

I also spot some of these: but I can't tell if they're with or without the axle hole. If they have the axle hole, they're possibly from a Blacktron set and maybe worth a dollar each. If they are the older style without an axle hole, they are pretty scarce and probably worth $3-$4 each.

I don't know of any laws that require flame retardants in children's toys. In fact, the opposite is true regarding several types of flame retardant - many US states are banning their use in children's toys because of possible toxic exposure.

Definitely some of that in there, but I also spot some 1960s/70s parts - anybody else spot them?

Unfortunately, that piece was not included in the lot. Yes - but the battery box near it is black. I don't find any sets that have this combo! So either it's just mixed and matched from other sets, or maybe it was an alternate color in a set? Definitely some space pieces, and I think based on the various parts I can see, this set might be part of the lot: And yes - those 16x22 baseplates are desirable. These ones look a little grungy but hopefully will clean up.

I like to buy large, unsorted lots of pieces online. Once I receive them, I wash them, sort them, look for complete sets or rare pieces that can be re-sold online, and put the rest in my collection. I just bought this lot yesterday and it is now being shipped. This is the time when I'm like a kid at Christmas, excited to see what will be inside the box. I can hardly wait, so I spend the shipping time poring over the pictures trying to identify unusual or rare pieces and looking for hints about any sets that might be mixed in. I've already made a couple guesses - anybody else want to play I Spy? Tell me what sets you think make up this 17-pound lot. Click on the photo for a full-size image

The yellowing of parts is caused by a chemical LEGO formerly added to the plastic as a fire retardant (bromine) that reacted with ultraviolet light. They no longer use that chemical, although I'm not sure when they stopped. Modern sets shouldn't have the same problem with yellowing as those from the 70s and 80s when the chemical was used. All light bulbs emit some ultraviolet light. Incandescent bulbs emit very little UV light. Flourescent light bulbs do emit UV light and can yellow plastic that contains the bromine-based fire retardant. In the case of old-style flourescent tube lighting, there are commercially available clear plastic sleeves that will block the UV light (library supply catalogs will have them - they use them to reduce the UV effect of flourescent lights on paper). As for the newer compact flourescent bulbs, I'm not sure if there are types that are designed to reduce or block UV light.

I hit the LEGO store in Kansas City while there on a business trip. Got a hundred or so pink 1x4s, a couple hundred pink 1x2 tiles and a few hundred light gray 1x1 round tiles. Also a couple hundred 2x2 light gray tiles. Over 800 pieces for $14.95!

Except this deal actually means less competition, doesn't it? LEGO already competes with Mattel (not directly in the construction-toy business, but they are both toy companies and they compete for license deals). Now one of its competitors is buying another of its competitors, so there is one fewer large toy company out there.

The tone of the joke was definitely poking fun at the Fabuland series and the other ones they showed.

Yeah - that's not how they work.

Check out the design of the yellow 2x2 brick on the cover. Notice anything wrong?

I was just admiring those medium shades of blue on the classic European doors and windows. I'd love to have some modern ones in that color. They'd really look nice in a yellow wall.

While straight PLA plastic is clear, "impact modified" PLA is usually a milky white because of the the other additives, so it's not a candidate to replace the polycarbonate clear pieces, just ABS. As you say, there will almost certainly be a change in color. Even if they could match the colors exactly, different plastics have other characteristics that affect our perception of the color - they hold different amounts of gloss, have a different "depth" to the color, etc. Do you suppose they will follow past practice and start up production of the new pieces before they have exhausted their present supply? If so, we'll probably see pieces made from the new plastic gradually mixed into sets over a few years until all the pieces are of the new material.

Very interesting. There are different ways to look at what makes a product "sustainable" and environmentally friendly. When it comes to environmentally friendly plastics, the first thing that comes to mind for many people are plastics that are biodegradable. PLA, the type of plastic LEGO seems to be testing now, will degrade into harmless lactic acid over time. That's great for things like food packaging and cups that might end up in a landfill, but not good if you are making a product you want to last for 50 years or more. To make PLA more durable, LEGO is testing "impact modified" PLA, which has other additives that make the plastic more durable. These additives are not biodegradable. One of the features of impact modified PLA appears to be that it does shrink slightly after it comes from the mold but after that is fairly stable. This may be what causes the loss in clutching power the article mentions. The solution would maybe be to account for the shrinkage by molding the bricks slightly larger than they are now to allow them to shrink to the proper size. This would mean changing the molds, which would be very expensive, and might not allow for the precise consistency LEGO elements are famous for. The other approach to environmentally friendly plastic is on the production side. The idea is to reduce the amount of petroleum-based ingredients in the plastic, replacing them with renewable ingredients like cellulose and starch. These kinds of plastics are often called bioplastics because they are made primarily from biological materials that can be grown renewably. The original LEGO plastic, cellulose acetate, is a bioplastic. Another example of LEGO trying to return to its roots?

I have a bin of unremarkable old Pat Pend bricks from the Samsonite era in the US that are difficult to date precisely. Perhaps the oldest parts I can verify dates for (thanks to LEGO Historian's excellent guide) are these windows that were produced between 1958 (when the hollow studs arrived) and 1963 (when LEGO switched from cellulose acetate to ABS plastic). These are CA windows. I think the 1x2x2's would have had glass originally. You can see the tell-tale warpage that was a problem with the CA plastic in the window on the right. One of the side walls has warped and split from the front along the corner. The warpage is one clue to the plastic type, but also when you put these windows next to the more common ABS versions they stand out. The plastic has a different shine and feel to it.

What - no free shipping? Those red Vader helmets are currently offered on Bricklink for around $400 and the most recent ones that sold on eBay went for about $110 Euro (about $150 USD). Expensive for a single piece, yes, but not worth $9000!

Interesting that the Samsonite minifig sets were sold with assembled figures. Was this done anywhere else? Added: I do recall some recent blister-pack minifig and accessory sets with assembled figs, now.

Well my old eyes aren't as sharp as they once were; You're right. It's not a modern helmet at all. I have no problem with supply and demand driving up the price of the blue space figs - they are selling at auction, which means people are paying what they are willing to pay, so it's not exactly price gouging. It's just that the supply is higher than people realize.