LEGO Historian

The first year for true LEGO sales in Sweden was 1955. This 1955 Göteborg Sweden department store LEGO Mursten display shows the very first sets sold in Sweden... the 700/1 thru 700/6 basic sets (behind the young man and woman)... and the extremely rare 1300 (small) and 1301 (large) Mosaik sets (far left).... Those Mosaik sets are so rare, that there are only 2 known of the 1300 small basic sets, and none known of the large 1301 sets. Why so rare? Because very few of these sets were likely ever sold, and most unsold ones may have gone back to TLG... These Mosaik sets are so rare that even TLG didn't have one. They had to buy one at auction just to have it in their LEGO Collections in Billund. Here is their copy... (from my LEGO DVD/download)... The other known example is in a Dutch collection. The Mosaik sets were only produced in 1955 (and sold in 1955 in Denmark, and 1955-56 in Norway and Sweden). As I mentioned, no 1301 set has ever been found, and if one were to show up at auction... it could go into the thousands of Euros!

And the first LEGO Sales Agent in Sweden (in Lundby) was named Axel (Thomsen)... And all the VOLVO cars and trucks have.... Axles!!!! A coincidence??? I think NOT!!

Sadly... this old 1967 Bayer Corporation ad explains why LEGO has so many color issues, and possibly a few cracking issues... ... and the reason is... because Bayer Corporation for 10 years now, no longer produces all the ABS plastic in the specific colors that TLG used to order... pre-colored as pellets. And it wasn't just the colorization... but also issue such as the clutch power of the bricks (the specific mix of the ABS or Polycarbonate)... Here are many different Bayer test bricks that were used for specific colors (most not even in production back when these tests were done... but also many of these bricks had different levels of additives to make them more or less brittle or elastic.... Images from my Dutch collector friend Michel (Maxx3001) as found in my LEGO Collectors Guide DVD/download chapters on LEGO Ads and LEGO Bricks.

I love it when i find exact specific dates for certain LEGO events... for example the first LEGO trains were introduced in August of 1966... we know that from LEGO brochures/catalogs that mention an August 1966 date. But some things are a bit more obscure... we know the year... but not exactly when that year. For example... LEGO wheels were introduced in 1962 for the first time. We do know that most 1962 LEGO catalogs (that came out before Christimas 1961) did not mention LEGO wheels, but 1962 Australian catalogs (LEGO was introduced there in mid 1962)... does show LEGO wheels. Well my friend Henk of the Netherlands had found an early 1962 German LEGO retailer notice that mentions an exact date for the delivery of the first LEGO wheels... which were first found in LEGO spare parts pack #400. On the bottom of the page it says "deliver beginning in March" in German. One of the nice things about these earliest of LEGO wheels in this image... is that they show as being white... which indeed the earliest of the LEGO wheels did have white rubber tires. Rubber is naturally a white material. Before the end of 1962 TLG started dying the white rubber a gray color... and it starts showing as gray tires in catalogs and brochures. The tires remained gray until they were replaced by black synthetic ones in 1968. And they've been synthetic ever since.

Wow datune!! Those yellow bricks remind me of the old Cellulose Acetate bricks from 1950s and 1960s... even before they warped, they had this same type of non-exact fitting of the bricks. As for any clear elements... remember they are made of Polycarbonate (instead of ABS), and are more brittle. So cracking of parts is not that unusual. 1x1 round clear bricks always seem to have issues with their bases showing cracks... so 1x1 round plates sound like they have the same problem... only on a 1x1 round plate, there's less holding it together than on 1x1 round bricks.

Well after retailers, suppliers, and employees of TLG have been paid... the profit of TLG goes to KIRKBI/AS, the parent holding company of TLG. KIRKBI/AS is fully owned by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, his sister Gunhild Christiansen Johansen, all of their children, and also their elderly mother Edith Christiansen (widow of Godtfred Kirk Christiansen). The family (last time I checked) was worth $6.5 billion, richest in Denmark, and included in their investment holdings... a 50,000 acre horse farm in Scotland, and extensive Russian natural gas leases.

Yes, not sure if the Maersk blue bricks are stricktly Maersk related buildings/transport in LEGOLAND parts, but there are other Maersk blue parts that have not been found in any set, but have made it to Bricklink. For example, the 1x1 round bricks in Maersk blue have never been found in any set. The only known source of these was the Windsor England LEGOLAND model shop (the Bricklink supply is slowly drying up). A few years ago I purchased 200 of these NEW from a UK seller.

Sigh... I'm always grousing about what a poor selection of windows the worlds leading building toy system has... I was just updating the Modulex Chapter of my LEGO DVD/download... and my friend Michel from the Netherlands sends me this wonderful picture... Modulex windows in sizes with 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 studs!!! How much easier building wonderful LEGO structures if we had this type of selection...

Sigh... I'm always grousing about what a poor selection of windows the worlds leading building toy system has... I was just updating the Modulex Chapter of my LEGO DVD/download... and my friend Michel from the Netherlands sends me this wonderful picture... Modulex windows in sizes with 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 studs!!! How much easier building wonderful LEGO structures if we had this type of selection...

Yes Lasse, that's Clark Bakker's book images. He was very luck to find such a rare LEGO book! Hey Joe... here are some more LEGO logo images of the past...

One very interesting variation of this early 1955-1960 Town Plan board, was the development of a prototype LEGO Zoo... that was going to use this board. The LEGO Zoo and Farm Animal sets were introduced in 1954 (not part of the LEGO System of Play). In 1957-58 the hard Masonite Town Plan board as seen above was used as the framework for a LEGO zoo set that was developed those 2 years... but for whatever mysterious reason, was never put into production. All that is left of these interesting sets is the prototype models found in the LEGO Archives. In my LEGO DVD/download Chapter 18, I talk about these very interesting prototype sets (it's in German, but you'll understand the gist of it).... http://www.1000stein...291703#id291703 Gary Istok

Hey Joe... that book is the 1957 25th Anniversary LEGO Book of about 50 pages. This very rare book was only given to employees and a few business customers. By August 1957 when this book came out, there were only 140 LEGO employees. So the entire production could not have more than 200-300 copies... making this very rare indeed!! Wish I had a copy!! As to what the LEGO marking was on the wooden toys... From 1936-1944 the upper logo was used here. From 1944-1960 the lower colorful logo (with some variations over the years) was used for wooden LEGO toys... These 2 are among the 36 different LEGO logos used from 1936-present. Of these 36 logos, 34 were used from 1936-72.

Heres another Swedish item, that I have only ever seen this one example of... a 1956 (early) era Swedish Town Plan board made of Masonite. Normally these boards have white borders around each block, but for some unknown reason those of Sweden in the mid 1950s came with a yellow border. These are very rare.... The Masonite Town Plan boards of Norway, Denmark, (later) Sweden and Finland (1959 only) looked different than those early ones of Sweden... From Chapter 3 - Town Plan Sets & Boards... of my LEGO DVD/download... Gary Istok

1957 was the last of LEGO before the tube bottom brick patent was introduced in January 1958... it was also the last full year of LEGO founder Ole Kirk Christiansen's life, since he would die in the beginning of 1958. But 1957 was also the 25th Year Silver Anniversary of the 1932 founding of TLG. And this historic TLG image produced in the middle of 1957 (prior to the August 12 birthday.... showed the entire range of LEGO items produced that year... the items on the left side of the picture were the wooden toys that TLG made, the items on the right were the plastic toys (mainly the System of Play) that TLG made... As mentioned earlier in this thread, the February 4, 1960 the wooden toy warehouse and factory burned down, and all the toys on the left side of this image were discontinued to concentrate on the Plastic LEGO System of Play parts and sets seen on the right. This image from Chapter 73 - LEGO Sales/History by Country... of my LEGO DVD/download.

I've posted this elsewhere on Eurobricks, but it bears repeating... my LEGO DVD/download chapter on printed and painted LEGO bricks... on Youblisher (for some reason Youblisher is not always online... if you can't get it... try again the next day!).... lots of interesting printed bricks in colors people have never even seen! http://www.youblisher.com/p/603214-LEGO-DVD-Download-Chapter-48-LEGO-Printed-and-Painted-Parts-Stickers/

Blondie-Wan... to Americans it is rather appalling to think of TLG using tobacco or cigarette signage. In continental Europe many stores sold tobacco and candy together in the same store. So finding signage for tobacco is not that strange for Europeans. The printed bricks TLG used for Germany/Austria/Luxembourg were "TABAK", for France it was "TABAC", for Italy it was "TABACCHI", for Netherlands it was "SIGARETTEN", for Denmark it was either "TOBAK" or "CIGARETTEN". For bilingual Switzerland it was either "TABAK" or "TABAC", for bilingual Belgium it was either "SIGARETTEN" or "TABAC". For Britain/Ireland/Australia (British LEGO Ltd.), and USA/Canada (Samsonite LEGO)... there were no tobacco signs produced.

Just recently came across something very interesting... The first LEGO was produced starting in 1949 by TLG Denmark in 1949... and called Automatic Binding Bricks.... made of Cellulose Acetate. (I may be older than ABS, but NOT older than Cellulose Acetate!!) The following year... 1950... TLG licensed a company in Gislaved Sweden to produce LEGO for the Swedish market. TLG has no records of this... and the company in Gislaved... called Geas Konstharts... is no longer in business. Geas Konstharts was a plastics maker. Here is a circa 1950-51 Automatic Binding Bricks set made from Geas in Sweden... (images from my LEGO collector friend Joao Mimoso of Portugal).... I've been trying to find information on the Geas company and just kept hitting brick walls in Google. Finally I tried a Swedish language Google search, and it gave me a hit for a 1947 Swedish Business Directory... which is located in the lower right corner of this image... It seems that the Geas company made electrical components (sockets, plugs and electrical components)...and these were made of "bakelit"... which is a 1907 discovered plastic known as BAKELITE. Bakelite was usefull in much of the 20th century for electrical components, and game board pieces (such as chess and backgammon pieces). Bakelite was also used for making Art Deco era jewelry and old plastic radios. Bakelite is a plastic that many very highly collecible items were made from.... such as old radios... https://www.google.c...4&bih=655&dpr=1 In the above image is a closeup of the Geas Automatic Binding Bricks box from Sweden, and an EBAY 1930s era Bakelite napkin holder... notice the nearly identical colors and finishes? So from 1949 until 1953 the Danish Automatic Binding Bricks, and the subsequent LEGO bricks until the 1960s were made of Cellulose Acetate, and since 1963 of ABS plastic. But the 1950 until about 1953 Geas Automatic Binding Bricks were made of Bakelite.... a plastic that is rarely used today, since it is so expensive to make. The folks at TLG Archives have no information on the Geas sets, nor that Bakelite was used... very interesting.... Here is an image from a Swedish Museum of a Geas set (the lighting is subdued in the photo, so the parts look dull)... notice the Geas catalog.... And here are 3 Geas sets that were found in an attic in Sweden... all Bakelite bricks... And here are 4 different catalogs showing the same set... the 700/1 TLG and Geas Sets... with a PRIMA set box (also made by Geas once TLG disallowed them to switch to the "LEGO" name in 1953, once TLG Automatic Binding Bricks switched to TLG LEGO). So Geas sets later became PRIMA sets from about 1953-55. Then in 1955 TLG opened their own LEGO subsidiary called A/B Lundby in another Swedish town called Lerum... and the Geas company had to stop all Bakelite brick production that resembled LEGO. Geas and PRIMA... the "un-LEGO".... Chapter 2 of my LEGO DVD/download talks ad nauseum on Automatic Binding Bricks (both TLG and Geas), PRIMA, and also Norwegian Automatic Binding Bricks... info you won't find anywhere else... not even in the LEGO Archives.... Gary Istok

Now you're going to get a little more complicated lesson on LEGO "mayhem"... stuff you would not be able to glean out of an online LEGO database... Here are some 1956-59 Swedish LEGO Basic Sets and Spare parts packs. The boxes would be nearly identical to Norwegian ones, since "System i lek" is the same "System in Play" in both languages (it would be "System i leg" in Danish). The largest box is the 700/1 Basic Set, the one standing up (left) is the 700/2, the standing right is a 700/5, and the 2 lying down boxes on the right (dating later) are both 700/6 boxes. Oddly the higher the 700/x number, the smaller the box. There is a large (white) 1956 Swedish catalog shown here, an yellow/red 1958 Swedish catalog, and a red 1958 brochure that talks about "Cellidor" (Cellulose Acetate), the plastic that LEGO is made of back in the 1950s. The contents of the each of the basic set boxes should be laid out in a checkerboard fashion similar to this... By 1957 TLG decided that with the Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzlerland and Netherlands online... with Austria, Belgium and Portugal coming online in late 1957... that too many different language boxes was very impractical. So TLG decided to Switch from the local languages to the international "LEGO System" in 1957. That's why the Swedish boxes above are of both the earlier local language (Swedish) type and the international type. Here it shows (along with Danish and German boxes) the earlier box types in local languages, and the later type that started in the local language... but ended up as international... The sides of the boxes were blank from 1955-57... then starting in 1957 they had writing repeated on the sides in the local language. When the boxes were switched over to the international "LEGO System"... the started having the sides of the boxes in ALL the local languages, as seen here (somehow Portugal and Finland got shortchanged)... Now... you would think that this all makes sense, and TLG started LEGO boxes in the local languages, and then by 1958 or so they switched to new box designs in local languages... and afterwards switched to using the international "LEGO System". Makes sense, right?? Well not exactly... TLG never made anything about old LEGO easy. Just because the catalog was a 2 sided piece of paper, didn't mean that there was no complexity to these early sets...... And here's why.... this "smoking gun" picture of a LEGO display window at Christmas 1959 in a high end Copenhagen department store named Chrome & Goldschmidt... What this shows is that all the way to 1960 (when new set designs came out)... the Danish market continued to use the local Danish language LEGO boxes with "System i leg"... instead of switching over (like all other countries)... to "LEGO System" back in circa 1958. (note: when Portugal started sales at the end of 1957 they started with LEGO System... ditto for Finland in 1959). So there are so many exceptions to just about every rule for LEGO, that it makes interpreting the LEGO Archives virtually impossible... Again, most of these images are from my LEGO DVD/download... with a few new ones to be added in the next update.

And then there's my LEGO DVD download Chapter 48, one of my favorites... LEGO printed bricks... that came in spare parts packs (7-10 per pack, depending on year and country)... Printed bricks from Finland.... (the style is from the 1960s)... Printed Bricks from Sweden.... (the style is from the 1950s)... And the first printed bricks from Norway were water decals, not embossed bricks... the "DROSTE" brick is missing the last "E", because the decal folded back over itself, obscuring the "E"... these date to about 1955-57. And then there's the printed bricks of Germany/Austria/Luxembourg, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Britain/Ireland/Australia and USA/Canada. TLG never produced a separate unique set for Portugal (LEGO sales started in 1957), Spain (LEGO sales started in 1965) or Japan (LEGO sales started in 1962).... as found in my LEGO DVD chapter 48. However... the Italian TEATRO... also works for Portuguese and Spanish! With THEATER for Germany/Austria, USA and Canada, THEATRE for France and Switzerland, GRAND THEATER for Belgium and Netherlands, and TEATER for Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and TEATTERI for Finland. And finally some printed bricks are know as "International"... such as GARAGE, ESSO SERVICE, HOTEL, and KIOSK.

The first image is where the billionaire owner plans to build a new hockey arena for the Detroit Red Wings hockey team... and a $650 million entertainment district. He alread bought up most of the land... https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=208907661714252216854.00045daba4cad6b6d28a2&msa=0 The 3rd image is of the Michigan Central Station, where the last train left in 1988. This behemoth is 3 miles from downtown, making redevelopment difficult... but the current billionaire owner has started a slow restoration with a new roof, and started putting new windows in. This is the 2nd largest train station in the USA, after Grand Central Station in New York. This "Gotham City" sized structure is 100 years old (1913), and was the worlds tallest train station when it was completed. Here is an image from before the restoration work began... it is a gigantic, almost terrifying work... (several of the transformers movies were filmed here)....

Thanks Anders..... it was 4AM when I typed that... and it was a typo! But I went back and fixed it! Here's some interesting alphabet bricks... In all other countries... (such as the first one from Belgium in Flemish-French)... the 234 alphabet set (introduced November 1957)... the bricks were always white with blue lettering... But in Norway.... they (locally produced) also came out with blue bricks and gold lettering in the 1234 parts pack....

And then there is the SAS Scandinavian Airlines promotional set of the 1960s. This flat set contained smaller boxes with just LEGO bricks inside each smaller box. SAS Airlines was the major hub for Stockholm Sweden (the headquarters), Copenhagen Denmark, Oslo Norway, and Helsinki Finland. This small box of LEGO was given to children on SAS flights in the 1960s. The Box top.... The bottom of the box.... And the inside of the box, showing the SAS Airlines flight map of the 1960s... These last few images were from my LEGO DVD/download chapter on LEGO Promotional Sets (over 100 sets from 1955-99 shown in this chapter). More Scandinavian LEGO from my LEGO DVD/download coming over the next few days.

And lets get back to Sweden.......... In 1959 a Swedish magazine known as Hemmets Journal had a LEGO promotion. The promotion involved sending away for a LEGO promotional set, and being able to build the models shown in the Hemmets Journal. There were at least 3 models... with each model numbered on the side (#1, #2, #3, etc). We have a copy of 2 of the boxes, along with a late 1958 Swedish LEGO catalog, a LEGO brochure explaining the Hemmets Journal promotion, and a Yellow Leaflet... which were sold by TLG from LEGO retailers on a display counter.... Here is the brochure for Hemmetts Journal #44 on Oct. 27, 1959. The problem is that since I've never been able to locate any images from these Hemmets Journals, I have no clue what the models each little pack is supposed to build!! Another Swedish promotion was one directly from TLG. In the summer of 1966 the LEGO Train System was introduced in Europe. In Sweden there was a promotion from LEGO toy stores to give away free train items to interest children in the new train system. Here is a Swedish promotional box with train accessories... And here is the new train brochure, and the train contents....

LEGO was first introduced to Asia in 1962, when sales started in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. Sales started off very slowly, and remained so for a very long time. One of my new chapters in my LEGO DVD download (free to current owners when the upgrades are available) describes the struggle that LEGO had in Japan. It wasn't just a cost issue, it was also one of culture. Just like Japanese feeling that Japanese cars are superior to foreign built... the same culture happened with toys and other household goods. When the Ahashi Corp. first imported LEGO from Denmark in 1962, sales were very poor. It wasn't until the Fujisho Company took over in 1969 that sales improved somewhat, but that was partly due to the 1970 importation of OLO... a TLG produced half priced LEGO clone that almost exactly duplicated Minitalia of Italy. By 1978 sales were still not significant in Japan, and that was the year LEGO A/S (the overseas subsidiary of TLG) took over sales in Japan. It wasn't until 1986 that a LEGO Dacta type set was introduced in Japan that sales started to increase, as toy stores were being deluged by parents of children who ordered a set thru their grade schools. A big part of the problem with LEGO sales in Asia was problems with the distribution network, and the reluctance of toy store owners to supply a foreign toy. (This is Deja Vu all over again of the 1955-56 scenario of Danish LEGO imported into Germany for the first time.) It wasn't until the new millenium that sales in Japan and elsewhere in Asia started increasing significantly. Today... although Japan is LEGOs leading market in Asia... other lesser countries (and China) are increasing sales... and that's where sales increases this past year have left TLG in the #2 spot. Sales in Japan, USA and Europe have been somewhat flat by comparison. The TLG Archives have very little information on LEGO sales in Asia in the early years... but I have had some contacts with Asian collectors that have helped me to expand on history of LEGO sets and parts from 1962 onward for my LEGO DVD download. There are some very interesting sets, parts and LEGO catalogs unique to the Asian market back then. Gary Istok

One of the more interesting part variations happened in the 10152 Maersk Ship sets of 2006. This set comes in a 2004, 2005 and 2006 version. These 3 nearly identical sets each come with four 2x4 Maersk blue bricks. In 2006, TLG was running low on Maersk blue 2x4 bricks towards the end of the production run of these sets, and they contacted the model shops to obtain more inventory, rather than produce another large batch of these, especially since it was assumed that there might be no more Maersk sets, and therefore no longer a need for that part in that color. So at least one of the model shops (not sure which one?)... had these in the 3001old part variation (pre 1983) without the cross supports on the central tube on the underside. So many of the 2006 10152 sets had these old rare Maersk blue 2x4 bricks, which were never used in any other set. These are still available in Bricklink, and make for a very interesting variation... (mentioned in my LEGO DVD collectors guide)... http://www.bricklink...7923&colorID=72 Gary Istok