LEGO Historian

When the LEGO plastic bricks were first introduced in 1949 as Automatic Binding Bricks in Denmark, TLG started a tradition that continues today. I just (images thanks to Jim Hughes, Lothar Gasteiger, Jan Katanek, Rohnny Sweenen and Richard Bintanja)... compiled the complete group of these earliest Danish catalogs for the first 10 years. To expect a monotonous collection of similar catalogs, that was not the TLG way of doing things. In fact TLG rarely made even similar catalogs in the early years. So for the first time ever seen (as a group) in public.... here they are.... Note: these were often just labeled as brochures... The oldest known LEGO catalog, and oldest known image of LEGO buildings.... the 1949-50 Automatic Binding Bricks 4 page Danish catalog.... The backside with the earliest known LEGO building images... showing the Autmatic Binding Bricks (slotted bricks and windows/doors that fit into the slots).... Shown here are the 3 basic sets and 2 spare parts packs of that era. Note... all items back then that were related to plastic bricks had the 700 number prefix... In 1950 TLG came out with an 8 sided (4 front, 4 back) brochure that showed the building models that could be built with the sets... From 1952-53 TLG produced basically the same catalog and sets... but the addition of 2 smaller sets 700/4 and 700/5 were included.... Then in mid 1953 TLG eliminated the Automatic Binding Bricks names from the boxes and catalogs.... however there was no actual LEGO catalog produced from mid 1953 until November 1954. Instead TLG produced a 4 page ideas brochure that only showed models that could be built with many extra sets (no exact set models). So here is the 1953-54 (one page) Danish Retailer catalog that showed retailers what LEGO sets were available from 1953-54. In November 1954 TLG produced this Danish brochure (like earlier ones, it had 8 panels, 4 on each side).... In March 1955 TLG produced a Danish catalog that showed the first of the Town Plan accessories introduced that year.... In early 1956 this colorful catalog was introduced, showing many scenes of the Town Plan, even showing HO Scale Märklin Trains.... This was the first time that the grandchildren (Gunhild, Hanne and Kjeld) of LEGO founder Ole Kirk Christiansen were shown on LEGO catalogs. Then in late 1956 this large colorful 2 sided LEGO catalog was introduced. This shows the positioning of the basic and model sets on a Town Plan board.... Backside shows the different sets, and scenarios for combining certain sets... The 1957 Danish catalog gives us a better itemized listing of all the sets and spare parts packs available that year.... And finally the 1958 Danish LEGO catalog... in a design that would be used for a few years by all continental European countries. It appears that many of the prices were changed before the catalog was finally released.... These and dozens of other catalogs are in my 2800 page LEGO collectors guide as DVD download....

Yes.... I don't have much time today... but tomorrow I'll post some info on Classic Space in Canada.... they created items not found anywhere else for early classic Space. Also have a few other items about space sets never put into production....

Although the term doesn't quite fit here... but in a sense he's had a 95 year "dark ages".... I got my first set in 1960.... when my uncle in Germany sent me a LEGO set at age 6 (a 700/1 basic set... I still have the gray 10x20 baseplate). That would be a year before the first LEGO sets came to the USA in 1961.... so I've got 54 years on this 96 year old newbie~! And although I'm "Older than ABS" as my Avatar mentions.... this guy's almost "older than plastic"!!

Hi Fabulandlover! Unfortunately I don't have any anecdotes about Fabuland... although the decade long series (1979-89) does seem to have a following. It must not have been real popular, what it being between Duplo and LEGO early ages. But I do have a Fabuland mystery that I've never been able to solve... this Fabuland tree. No one has been able to shed any light on it, so it was likely just a prototype that was never put into production....

Very astute WoutR.... The early wooden LEGO trucks were later produced as 1:43 scale Chevrolet Trucks (1952-57). Those were mostly made of plastic... but the trucks with tankers had the tanker portions made of wood. And in 1955, with the introduction of the Town Plan, the 1:87 (HO Scale) trucks were introduced that were totally made of plastic. So yes, there was a steady evolution of LEGO items that started out in wood, and evolved into plastic, although at a diminutive scale!

Before (and during) the time that LEGO bricks were first produced in the 1950s, TLG was producing a large number of toys. One day I'll create a separate collectors guide just for those, but now I'm happy to just bring my existing 3000 guide into the 20th century. Here are some of the LEGO items produced in the 1940s and 1950s...

I can answer this one.... the wavy LEGO flags (introduced in the fall of 1957) were discontinued in 1972. So the flags used in the sets of that time didn't always match with what was expected, or what showed up on a box top or inside a box, or even in a catalog. The USA 570 set (sold as 357 in Canada, Europe, Australia) had whatever flags were available in inventory. The 939/940 spare parts packs introduced in 1973 had the new straight stickered flags, so all the leftover old wavy flags were relegated to several model sets that had flags. So the USA flag was among the leftovers that TLG used for American sets. In Europe some countries used the LEGO flag for the 357 set. In Germany and the Netherlands a new supply of old flags was created... these were the wavy flags with ridged poles. So the 570/357 sets had whatever leftover flags were still in inventory.

Thanks for the feedback WoutR.... I do plan on getting a better description of the 2x2 and 2x4 brick varieties. There's just such an overwhelming variety of molds that were used in producing all the old bricks... that coming up with a comprehensive list becomes difficult. I'm working on expanding my collectors guide (no worry... future additions and upgrades are a free download to current owners) and have added about 200 pages (5 additional chapters) so far... with another 5 chapters to go for a later 2014 release. The nice thing is that with a desktop download... no future purchase will ever be necessary!

The LEGO Vault does NOT have one of every LEGO set ever produced. Part of the problem was that TLG didn't always save a copy of each early LEGO set. So there are probably at least 50 sets that are not in the LEGO collections. When putting together my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide as a DVD/download, the folks at TLG were very gracious in giving me copies of images of many sets that I didn't have an image for. However, there are many sets that they still don't have, but have been attempting to buy them on the secondary market. Many of the sets were produced by licensees in Norway, USA/Canada and Britain/Australia, so part of the problem is that the existence of these sets is not known to the folks at TLG. I've shown them images of many sets that were unfamiliar to them.... and gave them a copy of the image to add to their Archives. Here's a pic taken a few years ago of the vault... and yes.... they needed to do a better job of stacking sets....

I was having problems posting the other day... so I never was able to finish the early sets of 700/3A. Here are the same boxes, but for Norway and Sweden. Both of these countries switched to the international LEGO SYSTEM in 1958, while Denmark kept the local language "System i lek". The box designs are (upper left) the 1953-55 LEGO MURSTEN, (upper right) 1955-57 LEGO System i lek, (lower left) 1957-58 LEGO System i lek, and (lower right) LEGO System... I was having problems posting the other day... so I never was able to finish the early sets of 700/3A. Here are the same boxes, but for Norway and Sweden. Both of these countries switched to the international LEGO SYSTEM in 1958, while Denmark kept the local language "System i lek". The box designs are (upper left) the 1953-55 LEGO MURSTEN, (upper right) 1955-57 LEGO System i lek, (lower left) 1957-58 LEGO System i lek, and (lower right) LEGO System...

The Dowager LEGO lady Edith Kirk Christiansen (born 29 May 1924) turned 90 years old today. Happy birthday Edith!!! I'm sure that Billund is in a party mood today with this milestone event. Edith was the daughter-in-law of LEGO founder Ole Kirk Christiansen, and the widow of LEGO chief Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, as well as the mother of current LEGO owners Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen and Gunhild Kirk Johansen. Here is the Lady Edith seen at a wedding in 2012 with her daughter Gunhild and son-in-law Mogans....

Well this isn't exactly the best place to post this, but it will do! The LEGO basic set 700/3A, a set that was introduced in 1953 as a size between the larger 700/1, 700/.2 and 700/3 sets, and smaller 700/4, 700/5 and 700/6 sets. This set was sold in 15 different variations, both box design/language, and contents. Here’s the Danish versions (1953-55 Scandinavian - top, Danish language box 1955-57 - middle, Danish language box 1957-60 - bottom).

Hey WoutR, the slotted bricks from Norway and Sweden are different from those of Denmark, since the slotted bricks of both those countries were made in Oslo Norway by LEGO licensee Sven Strømberg & Co. (A/S Norske LEGIO). The bricks of Iceland would also likely be different in color variations and mold numbers... but the basic bricks would be the same. Here's an image from my Swedish LEGO collector friend Vonboden... these are some very nice pleasing colors that he got from bricks found in Sweden...

Hey WoutR!! Unfortunately the fellow who had the image and the set owner are no longer in contact! But that set would have had the slotted LEGO bricks that were used in Denmark/Norway/Sweden in the early-to-mid 1950s... so they would not have been different from those sold in the other countries.

Alright Cristina.... I'll contact him (and about a dozen other collectors).... and see who is interested in that stamp. That 140 set is quite a quirky set, so I think someone will be interested in it.

Pbaptist.... sorry to take so long.... Here is a metallic blue Karman Ghia... I've not yet seen an image of a metallic green one... Here's a nice image of the bottom of all the LEGO 1:87 cars. These all show the mention of "LEGO" underneath. In my new upgraded Collectors Guide, I show these individually.......

Hiya! That "1550" guy is me.... Christina08 and I have already become acquainted brickpicker! Christine, did you want me to contact Henk (the owner of the other ink stamps) again? He's been real busy as of late... but a friendly reminder won't hurt....

Thanks for the nice images pbaptist!! The colors of the 1:87 cars do not correspond to specific official LEGO colors. In some instances they differ due to die lots, such as the 3 shades of gray that you mentioned. But your image certainly adds to the list of known colors... which I love when it increases!! Thanks for sharing!!

I finally was able to locate a LEGO Set from the first years of Iceland. These sets were made starting in 1955 in the old Automatic Binding Bricks style using the old slotted bricks, and the windows/doors that were used along with them. These sets were put together by Tuberculosis patients at a Sanitarium called Reykjalundur. In 1960 the sets started with the LEGO name, but continued having the Tuberculosis patients assemble them...

The 2800 page download will be upgrade later this year to include all the years 1990-2000.... free to current owners.... and will be at over 3500 pages!

Hehehe... he found my Email... and I already told him the good new... the sets worth at least 500 Euros!!

The earliest of Duplo sets back in 1969 came with regular LEGO bricks to show that the 2 systems were indeed complementary.... Here's the 511 Duplo set of 1969 that shows this...

There have always been (for the most part) differences between USA and European sets.. often even between USA/Canada and Europe. I just posted a batch on my Unofficial Sets/Parts Collectors Guide FB page 3 days ago... so they bear repeating.... The 2009 Star Wars Set... Battle of Endor 8038.... The 384/760 Europe/Canada/USA London Bus Set of the mid 1970s.... The 1979/1981 Yellow Castle Set 375/6075.... The 6090 Knights Royal Castle... Even an old very rare set, such as the #2 LEGO set of 1977-80, which was only ever sold in Italy and Japan... shows quite a bit of differences between the two....

I borrowed Buttons original image.... The 1960-65 British LEGO Ltd. 232 spare parts pack boxes showed old style road signs with black stripes... The lower right roadsigns with white bases were those actually sold in the UK, Ireland and Australia. Those in the lower left were sold in all other locations. The irony is that the roadsigns shown on the box were never sold that way, and are unknown in any collection...

Well that was a short week... Dorayaki... there is one other Norwegian (and Swedish) set yet to be discovered. But this time at least he have an exact idea of what the model looks like.... That would be the 1237 "Garage Side Building Set".... This set is shown in 1956-57 Norwegian and Swedish catalogs... and nowhere else. This set box/model would look like this.... The 1236 Garage Set does exist, and is known in Denmark, Norway and Sweden... but the 1237 has not been found in either Norway and Sweden... and the Danish Archives have no record of this set having been produced in Denmark. Unlike the flat box 1309 set, which originally had a partition to hold all the parts nicely in place, the 1237 set would have been a loose parts box set, like the early 1236 Garage Set. If one was discovered and came up for auction... it would easily top 1000 Euros!!