LEGO Historian

I think that the LEGO minifig scale gradually introduced between 1973-78 has improved LEGO building in some ways (more opportunity for details, the ability to add interior details for the minifigs, etc.). But in doing that it lost the possibility of building a townscape... after all it requires deep pockets (and a lot of room) to build an entire town. For example... in the 1955-67 era TLG created the Town Plan System... this allowed for a lot of specialty parts, and some really nice building opportunities.... I have always been fond of the Town Plan System... mostly because I grew up with it, and enjoyed the specialty parts... but also because I could build multistory buildings without a huge outlay of cash. When the Minifig scale doubled the scale of the Town Plan (doors = 5 or 6 bricks tall vs. door = 3 bricks tall)... it increased the amount of bricks needed by 2 to the 3rd power (well not quite 8, but close)... therefore needing about 6 times as many bricks to build multistory houses. Here's an example I built using the old Town Plan board... with more of a downtown feel.... This was accomplised with just a fraction of the number of LEGO elements that are used today. So yes... I see the micro scale as a way to build large scale projects without a lot of room and a lot of money. Images from my 3000 page DVD/download LEGO Collectors Guide. Gary Istok

TLG does NOT do anything with any "rhyme or reason"... that's why I always call it "LEGO Mayhem". For example... here's a cut/paste from my LEGO DVD/download... (I had to scrunch it together to fit on 1 page)... the chapter on large LEGO sets of the 1980s... why something was sold in a particular location is a mystery only to TLG...

LMAO... yes CopMike... Maxx would trade one of his 3 children for that one.... lol....

The LEGO trans colored pieces were only produced as bricks and plates in sizes 2x4 and smaller. However from 1968-70 USA Samsonite LEGO made a very rare shortlived spare parts pack Trans-clear set 045... that had 2 very rare parts in Trans-clear. Those are the 2x8 and 2x10 bricks (one of each in the parts pack). USA Samsonite LEGO was therefore the only known source of the 2x8 and 2x10 bricks in this color. These are known in either Cellulose Acetate (yellowed and slightly warped), and also in Polycarbonate (clearer color). Here is a set in Polycarbonate....

I don't have a dog in this fight... but I will say that Bricklink has always stated that they are a BUSINESS database (for use by their sellers to sell)... and NOT a REFERENCE database. That distinction has caused some problems for old time collectors.

TheLazyChicken (I've never called anyone that before! )... Thanks, my friend Maxx from the Netherlands has arguably the world's largest collection of different 2x4 bricks... and with 3001 being the official LEGO mold number for the 2x4 bricks... that's why he's known as Maxx3001 on Bricklink! He as an AMAZING collection of rare Bayer and BASF (both German chemical giants)... test and pattern bricks. Probably all of these colorful ones above are from Bayer. And most of them date to the early 1960s The only one that is likely of more recent vintage is the trans-neon-green. Also here are the very first LEGO trans-clear bricks... the one on the right is an early slotted LEGO bricks (dates to about 1951-56, 1949-50 slotted bricks didn't have the LEGO logo on the bottom). The one on the right dates to 1956-58, and is known as the hollow bottom brick. In January 1958 the new LEGO tube bottom patent was submitted (and was pending for quite some time apparently)... so the hollow bottom 1956-58 brick was a shortlived brick. And here is the bottom of the bricks... this slotted brick has what is known as the "block letter font".... These bricks are rare in that they are in such nice condition. The large number of different trans colored bricks are a new feature of the LEGO DVD/download.... Gary Istok And here is my all time favorite clear bricks spare parts pack... the 045 pack.... produced only by USA Samsonite LEGO from 1968-70. This is the only known source of the 2x8 and 2x10 trans-clear bricks (some of these are known in Cellulose Acetate, others are in Poly Carbonate). This pack was only sold from 1968-70.

Sorry caperberry... but all I know (so far) is that it has only been found in Japan up until now... when I find out more... I'll let everyone know! But it is such a beauty!! Polycarbonate has a similar "flammability" to ABS plastic, so the answer would be an educated "yes".

One footnote on the first LEGO Minifig heads. The first heads were actually produced in 1975... for the 1975-78 Minifig "Stiffs" that had a 2 piece torso (no arms or legs) and a faceless head. These stiffs did use the minifig hairpieces that later regular minifigs used (such as the pigtails hairpiece that is so rare in white). These first faceless Minifig heads are known in yellow, red, black, trans-clear and trans-yellow.

One of the things going into my next DVD/download (free to folks who already own the first version)... are many of the very interesting 2x4 bricks known as Bayer test LEGO bricks... These belong to my friend Michel (known to many of you as Maxx3001 on Bricklink). Check out these Bayer beauties in trans colors.... (wish TLG made all of these!! ) How about Trans-neon-green!! Or Trans-Black!! Or how about Trans-pink?? Or my favorite... Trans-glitter-red!! Just a few of hundreds of new images of rare LEGO items in my next LEGO DVD/download... Gary Istok

One of the nicest "speckle" LEGO bricks I've ever seen are this 1960s LEGO brick... "glitter trans-red"....

The 310 Esso Service Station is really not an expensive build... even though the boxed set can cost up to $1000. The costly parts are the extras.... the 1:87 Esso Tanker, the Esso gas pumps (when decals are intact and red lamps are in place), as well as the freestanding Esso sign. But these should all be in the $15-$40 price range, except when the truck is near mint. Here's my version of the build (from spare parts).... The garage had either a white (1956-62) or red (1963-66) garage door... with the red one being quite inexpensive. Here's a scan of the instructions (back then you didn't get spoon fed instructions like today)... http://www.peeron.com/scans/310-5/2 The garage kit.... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?P=820&colorID=1 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?P=821&colorID=1 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?P=822bc01&colorID=5 Esso truck/pumps Accessories... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?catType=P&catString=424 Freestanding sign... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=bb108pb01 Rather inexpensive white classic windows and doors... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?P=453bc01&colorID=1 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?P=31bc01&colorID=1 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?P=33bc01&colorID=1 The bricks can be all modern (for just a build)... and you already have the curved plates. Cheers, Gary Istok

They didn't come out and say that... but with "medium azure" being the color of the hull... an educated guess would be "NO". Also if Maersk has retired the use of their trademark Maersk blue color... it can only mean that Maersk blue parts for sale online (such as Bricklink) will likely start rising once again (as they did when the 2006 version of 10152 sort of announced the premature end of Maersk LEGO products). Funny thing about the 2006 version of the 101052 ship... TLG was so sure that the production of that color would cease, they called on all the model shops for extra 2x4 bricks in that color (to include in the set), since another production run was not going to happen. That's when it was discovered that many of the 2006 versions of that set had very old (pre 1983) 3001old (no cross-supports) 2x4 bricks... a part that was never found in that size/color in any previous LEGO set... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?P=3001old&colorID=72

Going off on a tangent about the real Maersk EEE Class Ships... This is specifically designed.... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303759604579093173058403920.html Not to let this happen... We shall see...

I see that Medium Azure came out in 2012... http://www.bricklink...talogColors.asp The relationship between TLG and Maersk goes back farther than the 1650 Maersk Line container Ship of 1974. The first LEGO Maersk model was the 0751 glued retailer display model of 1959-60 (with regular blue bricks) of the first REGINA MAERSK ship (1954-70). The first of 3 Regina Maersk ships was the first ship (christened 1955) that contained the Maersk blue hull (in real life). Here's part of the story on the first 2 Maersk ships from my next version of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide available as a DVD/download.... (all future versions are free to current owners)... http://www.youblishe...LY-LEGO-MODELS/ Gary Istok P.S. Sadly the real Maersk ships are no longer made in the Odense Denmark shipyards... but in South Korea...

This is almost spooky.... I've had that image of a European LEGO Display Stand for 3 years now... and now that I've posted it... a day later my UK LEGO friend Chris Bull (without ever seeing this image) sent me this "Retailer Installation Instructions" for filling such a display stand.... Deja Vu!! The display stand shown is a German 1958-59 model. These installation instructions are for a slightly different UK 1960-61 model, with one extra shelf, and a different shelf configuration. I am definitely planning on adding these instructions to my LEGO Retailer Chapter of my LEGO DVD/download!! Gary Istok

When I mentioned that a lot of early American LEGO has found its' way to Europe, I forgot about my good fellow Michigan friend John P. from Bricklink. John and I both grew up on the east side of Detroit in the good old days (we never knew each other of course).... and John happens to have been quite the collector. Almost to the point of OCD... but in the nicest way.... John was an avid collector of American Samsonite sets... and to this day I still have to laugh that he once owned 39 copies of the Christmas 1965 introduced (sold until 1973) Samsonite LEGO Gear Set 001... Of course just like so much of Samsonite LEGO... things end up just a little peculiar... The 001 set was also included (same inserts and all) as parts of LEGO sets 003, 004, 005 and 704... And then there were several other versions of the 001 Gear Set... The 001 Mail Order Set for Department Stores (shipped in this box)... The 001 Gear Set as an Educational Set.... The Gear Set plus LEGO bricks known as the 322 Educational Gear Set.... Samsonite never did things the normal way for LEGO... and these unusual 1965-73 Gears were the precursor to the 1970-76 European Gears with axles and axle bricks (sets 800-814)... which later became the the precursor to LEGO Technic (1977-Present). These images are from my LEGO DVD/download chapters on Basic sets (1965-72), Samsonite Department Store Catalog Set (1962-75), LEGO Educational Sets (1961-90), and LEGO Gears, Motors and Technic Sets (1965-90). Gary Istok

Herky.... the 306-307-308-309-310-311-312 sets all from the 1956-65 era are among the most expensive sets to be found... especially since these have cardboard cutout inlays for holding all the parts in place. These type of inlay model and basic sets were discontinued in 1965 in favor of sets of loose parts in boxes. Ironically one can get all the parts (including the rare 1:87 cars) generally for about $50-$150... while the sets with boxes run $500-$1200 with boxes and inserts. Here's a history of just the 310/1310 set including all the box types... this is included in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide, where I have been collecting over 10,000 historic images for about a dozen years... (this is in German)... in my guide it's in English.... Just the gas pumps alone come in over a dozen different variations. Also... there has been a big uptick in fake boxes and fake inserts. In my 3000 page collectors guide (as a DVD/download)... I have a separate chapter that includes showing the production and telltale signs of fake collectible items... Gary Istok

ProfessorChaos... I am very impressed with your church... as well as the original cathedral that inspired it. The great Imperial Cathedral (Kaiserdom) of Speyer was the largest church in the world when it was started in 1030AD. Today it is the largest Romanesque Cathedral in the world.... here is a historic model of it... I've been there on 2 pilgrimages, the last in 1989. The day I went was a dreary summer rainy day, and I was the only person in the cathedral at the time... a remarkable moment. If you ever visit the neary 1000 year old Speyer Cathedral... the enormity of the place is inescapable, even in the crypt (final resting place of 8 Holy Roman Emperors)... the largest crypt in Europe. https://secure.flickr.com/search/?q=Speyer%20cathedral Brilliant model choice!! Gary Istok

I've been noticing a trend for a number of years... while so many American collectors are preoccupied with all the new LEGO sets that have been coming out in the last decade or two... many European and some Australian collectors have been buying up a lot of the old Samsonite LEGO sets (USA/Canada) of the 1960s and 1970s. Generally American collectors have not been all that interested in the older LEGO sets, but Europeans have always been so... since LEGO collecting does go back to 1949 for the Europeans. Of all the old time LEGO collectors I know (and there are a lot)... more of them come from Europe (with some from Australia) than from the USA. The Dutch and Germans seem to be especially prolific in buying old American sets. Part of the reason is that USA/Canada had LEGO sets that were different from 1961-72, than the rest of the world... which basically all sold the same LEGO sets. And in the USA specifically there was never more than $5 million in LEGO sales annually during the entire time Samsonite had the USA LEGO license... which was one of the reasons that TLG litigated to get the USA LEGO license back (which it did by 1972). After TLG did get the license back, the USA LEGO production in Loveland Colorado ceased, and production in Brookfield and 2 years later Enfield started up. Whereas the USA LEGO production was only a fraction of what it was in West Germany, LEGOs largest worldwide market at the time... by 1977 USA had overtaken West Germany for the #1 spot. So while many USA collectors are focusing on all the licensee and modular sets... many of the truly rare stuff has been slowly making its' way to Europe and Australia... and has been doing so for many years... First USA/Canada catalog sets... Very rare 1963 USA/Canada 7100 Educational Set in wooden box... with regular Samsonite sets... 1971-72 last of the line of USA Samsonite sets... 1970-711 USA Sear's Mail Order Catalog exclusive Samsonite LEGO set.. 1962 USA Department Store Samsonite LEGO sets and display models.... All images from my DVD/download... Gary Istok

The 1959 LEGO Retailer Display Stand shows many of these sets. (Image from my Retailer Items LEGO DVD chapter)....

Thank you so much Lasse!! Yesterday a German collector showed me a picture of the 1307 box with SALG (Danish/Norwegian), and now you find VW GARAGE!! Since the 1306 was only sold in Denmark, Sweden and Norway... and since the word "GARAGE" would be "GARASJE" in Norwegian... and since I already found a VW SERVICE box... I think that the VW SERVICE box top may be of Norway, and VW GARAGE would be Denmark and Sweden. Also, Lasse, I'm still trying to find out about your large wooden box with Automatic Binding Bricks on top... the folks at the LEGO Archives have never seen that one... but that doesn't mean that it's not real! Still looking around...

It was this topic of the LEGO Fire Station that got me off on another tangent... the first LEGO Town model sets that were introduced in 1956-57. These 5 sets use the very highly collectible LEGO 1:87 vehicles. I posted these set images and history in Eurobricks General Discussions... http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=83307&st=25

The 307/1307 LEGO VW Showroom set came out in a few different country box top languages. Since Denmark and Norway both use the same spelling... the "VW SALG" box top would be the same. Just finally saw one for the first time in this variation just yesterday.... in this 1957-58 #1307 box...

Old LEGO is a lot like Alzheimers... you meet new sets every day... Just came across some new items on the first 5 LEGO model sets ever... Those were the 310/1310 Esso Service Station set (first produced 1956), and the 306/1306 (VW Repair), 307/1307 (VW Showroom), 308/1308 Fire Station and 309/1309 Church set. Each of these sets came with a printed 1x6 or 1x8 brick, usually in a local language. These sets only sold in Europe and (starting in 1962) Australia. The 3 versus 4 digit set numbers for the same sets (such as 310/1310) had to do with location sold. From 1955-58 all non basic sets sold in Scandinavia had 4 digits (starting with "13"). In the rest of Europe (1956-64) and in Scandinavia (1958-64) these sets all only had a 3 digit number (starting with a "3"). However Germany had an oddity in a 1957 catalog when 2 of these sets were produced with 4 digits for 1 year. At first I had thought that this was a catalog error... but now it appears it may have been a set production error... because 2 of the sets with 4 digit numbers were actually sold in Germany... because they had a German printed brick on the box top. This gets all rather complex, so I won't go into any further detail... excep that these sets have either 3 or 4 digits set numbers for the same set model. Here's the first one... the 310/1310 Esso Service Station. It is known i 6 different box designs... but from 1957-59 these 3 were produced... The German box was a 310 model number, but the Danish and Swedish were 1310 models. Most of these had ESSO SERVICE... but the German version had ESSO WAGENPFLEGE, the German writing for this. Then there's the 306/1306 set... the VW Repair Set. The Danish/Swedish/Norwegian version (1306) had VW SERVICE on the box top, while the 306 set sold in other countries showed VW LEGO on the box top, although the contents always had the printed brick in the local language.... This shows the 306 (left) and 1306 (right). The 307/1307 VW Showroom set is much more complex than just 2 box types (one for each). This shows 3 out of 4 types... Swedish 1307 (upper left), German 1307 (upper right), and international 307 (lower left). For some reason, the German box was accidentally marked 1307 by accident likely, when it should have been 307 (since Germany is NOT in Scandinavia). But the sets were produced, and the 1957 price list mentions 1307... which I had always thought was a mistake, but it is not a mistake... When I posted this image yesterday in 1000steine... I got a quick surprise from my German LEGO collector friend Lothar... who came up with what I knew to be a missing box with 1307... namely one that had the Danish/Norwegian spelling on the box top (they were VW SALG... the same word). Well Lothar came thru today... so now this is the 4th box type to this set... This makes 4 differnt box top variations to this design. Next comes the 308 Fire Station Set.... This set is only known as a 1308 set with "FALCK"... and a 308 set with "LEGO" on the box top. However it too is shown in the 1957 German pricelist as 1308. So there very likely is a yet to be discovered German box version of the 1308 set.... I do believe that this set as a 1308 box number may indeed exist with the German FEUERWEHR (Fire Station) sign on the box top. This would coincide with the 1308 set as found in the German 1957 pricelist (instead of 308). It is also possible that this set may exist as a 1308 set with the Swedish BRANDSTATION and Norwegian BRANNSTASJON. But the 308 set shows only "LEGO" on the box top, and would contain the printed brick in the local language of each country inside the box. The last set of this group was the 309/1309 Church Set. Apparently both versions of this set (309/1309) both had the same printed brick on the box top. And that one is international... since it was only a "1762" printed brick. So both the 309/1309 have the same box top.... And of course the sides of the 3xx and 13xx boxes. Surprisingly, not just the numbers are different... the 3xx sets have the words LEGO System in the different languages of LEGO countries of continental Europe, while the 13xx sets just say LEGO System on the sides. Also interesting is the fact that this box type was sold in Portugal, but didn't have Portuguese writing on the sides... but it did have English writing... but this box design version of this set was never sold in Britain/Ireland/Australia! Very Strange. Well I've done enough talking on this subject... all of these different box designs and box sides will not be found in any online database... I'm just now getting them into my LEGO DVD/download... for the next version (to be free to all current version owners). Always something old that's new with LEGO....

One of the more interesting photos from that 1957 25th Anniversary LEGO book is from this page on the right.... This image in the upper right is a reverse negative image of a LEGO artist designing a set box image. The set that he is designing is the 1957-59 version of the 308/1308 Fire Station Set, as seen here (image from my friend Rohnny from Belgium).... Here is a blow up of the correction of the reverse negative image of the box design and artist, showing the 308/1308... OK... as I'm posting these images, I had another revelation (and this gets pretty complex).... This image shows the first design of this boxed set. However... this image is a mirror image of the finally produced box. If this was a image reversal error... then this above image should have the word "LEGO" spelled backwards! So what it appears to have happened is that they took a reverse image of this box as the final box design (with the word "LEGO" spelled the correct way around). Anybody still following me??