LEGO Historian

Here's another LEGO model (it appears to be a platform of sorts, perhaps for displaying other models on top)... and this model also dates to the mid 1960s... with lots of discoloration of parts...

Pretty much... but there are also some Cellulose Acetate parts mixed in... for some reason I do believe that the light gray parts on the roofline are CA... they even have the warping. I am not convinced that they were originally CA... there may have been a restoral of the model using CA parts in those areas. And the rightmost 2 small 1x1x1 windows on the 4th floor are CA as well. They're lighter than all the other 1x1x1 red windows.

Hehehe... looks like I'm getting some attention elsewhere... As are threads on Eurobricks! http://questforbricks.wordpress.com/2013/09/09/the-unofficial-lego-setsparts-collectors-guide-1949-1990/ A 1966 era glued LEGO display model... with several different shades of white and old gray plates! (from my collectors guide!)

Thanks Stuart! I'm going to contact my French-Canadian LEGO friend Francois-Xavier... and show him your images, and ask him if he's seen that Kraft promotion in Canada... USA and Canada had the same LEGO licensee when sales first started here in (1961) the USA and (1962) Canada. That licensee was Samsonite... since TLG was still too small of a company to deal with the large North American market. Note: even your Britain, as well as Ireland and Australia, had a licensee called the Courtauld's Corp., a UK chemical/textile maker that started British LEGO Ltd. of Wrexham Wales. Here is a copy of the front of the first (1961) USA LEGO Catalog... And here is the 1962 Canadian catalog front... notice how the prices for the same sets are higher than for the USA... Images from my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide - Chapter 61 - Early LEGO Catalogs.

Sorry Rick...I must have missed that discussion the first time around... I guess we can write off the original building in Turkey as ever being a LEGO Architectural model...

This one is easy.... All LEGO models built by Model Shops are glued.... there is no 2nd time for their usage... or storage... ... and eventually all glued models are either given away or destroyed. The ones that are given away were done so by counteracting the instructions for their destruction.... I once saw a heartbreaking image of a large number of "weathered" LEGOLAND Miniland models that were on a scrap heap 6 ft. high... awaiting their destruction...

Faefrost... very true about the Hagia Sophia... except once the Turks conqueored the Byzantine capital in 1453... they were so impressed with the Hagia Sophia... that they built copies of it all over their empire... such as the Blue Mosque... https://www.google.com/search?q=Blue+mosque+istanbul&espv=210&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=R8DJUsS7B4TJygHWpoDICw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=678 So that's why it offended a few people...

That 1x4 masonry brick is a nice addition... but like the 1x2 and 1x4 log bricks... it doesn't complete a "system"... a corner brick and a 1x1 brick would be a nice addition for both modified brick types. Also... since I never saw the back side of the masonry brick type... a nice surprise... a "rusticated" brick type... Rusticated bricks can also create some nice historic looks... http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Palazzo_Pitti,_cortile_1.JPG

I just spent 15 minutes looking for the existing topic... no luck... ' So here's a new part...

Hehehe... it took me a while to compile the images.... Welcome to Eurobricks Stuart9!!! OK, I looked at the Bricklink images, and that is indeed the Canadian Kraft Velveeta box promotion for LEGO. Here are 2 variations on the 2 versions of the USA Kraft Velveeta box.... The upper box is from the USA 1968-69 and 1969-70 Kraft Velveeta promotion set. The lower box is from the USA 1971 Kraft Velveeta promotion set. The 1968-70 sets #1 for the USA had 74 pieces. However, Canadian LEGO sets of that era usually had either a smaller piece count at the Canadian dollar price, or the same piece count at a higher Canadian dollar price. Since the Canadian Kraft Velveeta set also is for $1.00, then the Canadian Kraft Velveeta set would naturally have a smaller piece count... hence 57 pieces for set #1 versus 74 pieces for the USA set #1. And the model on the Canadian #1 Velveeta box matches one of the images (but in a different color arrangement) on the USA #1 model. I don't have a Canadian Samsonite Kraft Velveeta mini-catalog image... but here are the USA ones.... 1968-69.... (with set #7)... 1969-70.... (without set #7)... 1971 Kraft Velveeta mini-catalog (with new Mini-Wheel sets). The #1 set (74 pieces) in the 1968-69 and 1969-70 brochure became the #6 (77 pieces) set in the 1971 brochure (similar models)... All of these sets were mail order sets, and found in plain brown cardboard shipping boxes. Here is an example of one of these sets with the shipping box and instructions/brochures inside... If anyone has the Canadian versions of any of these catalogs, I would love to see a scan of these. So far the Canadian versions of these mini-catalogs has not shown up. A Canadian version of these Kraft promotions would likely have many of the same sets.... but either with fewer part counts, or in the case of a model set... at a higher price in Canadian dollars. All images and information from my 2800 page Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide, Chapter 17 - LEGO Promotional Sets (1955-1999).

Not necessarily... there may just have been one more Architectural set than TLG originally thought...

OK... first of all, I would love to see an image of this set... I've checked the number range... and there are no LEGO sets of any kind in the 9400-9439 range, so that would tell me that this is likely not the number to this value pack. Then I did some investigating... and it seems that value packs seem to run in several variations... 1) where all the sets are in a single box... and all sets have the same number... such as the #1974 set of 1989... 2) where all the sets are in a single box... and all sets have separate numbers... such as the #1476 set of 1991... (containing the #1477, #1478, #1479, #1480, and #1481).... 3) where several different numbered sets are separately packed in 1 value pack with 1 unique set number... such as #1616 (contains #1620 and #1621). 4) where several different numbered sets are separeately packed in 1 value pack WITHOUT a unique set number... such as this 1985 Canadian set consisting of #6604, #6621, #6630... If the set in question WAS produced (with a #6811 and #6833 M-Tron sets)... then it could fall into this last category. Now I am curious to see what this set looked like... Sometimes a set image will become available... to a set that was not released... such as this 1526 set... which just exists as a mock-up!

Oh... and there's one other reason why I think that this was an underwritten project... it's a GAMBLING resort.... Gambling is not something that TLG would find as a natural fit with its' building toy... unless someone with deep pockets was willing to pay...

Sheldon Adelson... with a net worth of $37.5 billion (world's 11th richest man), and owner of the worldwide Sands gaming and hotel empire... probably was in either the Willis (Sears) Tower in Chicago... or Rockefeller Center in NYC... and saw the Architectural sets of those landmark buildings sold there. Mr. Adelson probably picked up the phone... called LEGO president Jørgen Vig Knudstrop and said... "hey Jørgen... just saw your LEGO model of the Willis Tower.... can I commission you to produce an architectural set for my new Marina Sands Hotel in Singapore? Money is no object... I'll underwrite the cost..." This scenario (or something remotely similar) could have been how this relative obscure (to the west) building came to be a LEGO Architectural model. I had never heard of this building... unlike every other LEGO Architectural set building, which were all familiar to me. So the reason for this model may very likely have strayed from the usual Architectural sets... in that it could have been a private commission, which may have been relegated to only being sold in Asia. Problem for worldwide LEGO Architectural collectors? Well, yes, if you collect them all. Stupid decision by TLG? Not sure...

Someone contacted me... I'll get onto this tomorrow... going out before our big USA snowstorm.. coming Saturday... need to get the house ready for being snowed in... But just a heads up on many of these value packs... some have a group value pack set number... others are in a value pack with just individual set numbers. The 9401 number sounds outside the "special set" number range which is usually in the 1400-1999 range. But I have to do some more checking about this one. Stay tuned!

Go to the the top right corner of your screen where it mentions your name... click on it... and it will give a toolbar.. then click on "Personal Messenger"... and then on the new menu page click on the large black "Compose New" button.... enter the person that you wish to contact... their Alias.. add a Subject field... and your message...

Thanks for a good chuckle Faefrost... now I have to wipe down the coffee I sprayed all over my keyboard.... The 1999 Ultimate LEGO Book does have its' share of discrepancies... it mentions that LEGO windows were introduced in 1957... kept me wondering what TLG did for years 1949-56!

Probably the most amazing auction of 2013 was this Norwegian lot of LEGO... dating to 1955-57. This sold for over $4000 !!!! And it wasn't even an Ebay auction... but a Norwegian one... This auction may not look like much but just about everything here sets off alarm bells for old time collectors. 1) very rare 1956-57 Norwegian road signs with red bases. 2) very rare 1956-57 Norwegian printed bricks with decals. 3) very rare 1955-56 red waffle bottom plates (and early white waffle bottom plates). 4) very rare 1955-56 tall classic windows in dark blue or yellow. 5) rare 1956-58 red solid stud classic windows/doors. 6) all bricks of the rare 1949-56 slotted type. Many of the non-brick parts here go for $50-$100 each.

Back in the 1960s you could buy parts packs available by specific parts.... Then in the 1970s the more modern spare parts packs became available... where all different red bricks were available in one pack, ditto for blue and other colors...

Thanks for the info Blondie-Wan! I think that TLG first attempted that type of "multi-national" sticker sheet back in 1978 for the 164 Passenger Wagon for the 4.5V trains... http://www.bricklink...tem.asp?S=164-1 That set had a sticker sheet that had covered 8 train systems of central European nations (several of which are Swiss)...

Interestingly enough the very first male hair piece.... the 3901... is shown in some 1979 set images as a different hair piece. Apparently the hairpiece shown in the images was a prototype hairpiece... the actually produced hairpiece was slightly different. Unfortunately... both the Bricklink and Peeron images are LDRAW images and do not show the actual hair to compare this prototype with. Here set 361 of 1979 shows the prototype hairpiece in the instructions... From my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide - Chapter 15 - Prototype LEGO Sets/Parts.

All of these LEGO family images are just a fraction of the images I'm using in a new chapter of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD download... on the "LEGO Founding Family".

<p>Here's a famous old image from 1951.... 3 generational LEGO leaders of the family... at LEGO founder Olke Kirk Christiansen's 60th Birthday. Shown here are 60 year old Ole Kirk, 41 year old Godtfred Kirk, and 3 1/2 year old Kjeld Kirk...

Well did some more research on the Christiansen's (Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen's parents).... Godtfred Kirk Christiansen.... Born: July 8, 1920 ....in Billund Died: July 13, 1995 ....in Billund Edith Nørregaard Knudsen (Christiansen).... Born: May 29, 1924 ....in Vindblaes Godtfred and Edith were married on Oct. 29, 1944. Gunhild was born in 1946, and Kjeld in 1947. So Edith will be 90 years old in 5 months... I'm sure there will be a big celebration in Billund on May 29!! Here are Kjeld, his wife Camilla and his mother Edith seen from the back, facing Denmark's Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik on a royal visit to Billund on Sept. 3, 2012...

.... actually 62Bricks... Bricklink tries to stay to the W x L x H nomenclature... but not all items have all 3 dimensions listed. Therein lies part of the confusion. The 4x2 (x1) slope has a width of 4, a length of 2 and an implied height of 1. A 45 degree sloped brick with 2x4 follows this same design... thus making the 4x2 slope with a width of 2, a length of 4, and an implied height of 1. The problem here gets to be when you have plates and tiles that are only 1/3 (or other) heights. So they would be 2x4 (x 1/3). Getting a universal measurement becomes problematic due to this (and other) reasons. But yes... first time users of Bricklink, and Peeron, do have a learning curve to overcome when using LEGO measurements. However... I'm not sure that there's a better way to overcome this problem....