LEGO Historian

medib.... were these the ones for Canada? These images (from Jan K.) are from the Billund Vault, and are Canadian (Copyright date 1980)... I was wondering if these were the Shop-At-Home varieties that you were referring to... .thanks!

Thanks for the recollection Splatman... yes the parts are original LEGO parts... it's just whether or not they originated in these particular boxes that has not been verified. Just like those orange classic windows (1954-56) seen above.... They belong to my Belgian friend Rohnny, who won them at auction from Sweden. They were found in a Swedish 700/3 set of circa 1955-56).... And this basic set was also sold in Denmark and Norway in the 1954-56 era... but not with orange windows. Had these windows/door come from a spare parts pack (but in a different color).... if they had originated in either Denmark or Norway they would have been from a long box 700C spare parts pack.... like these blue windows/door of the same type... However... since we know they were of Swedish origins (and this gets very complex)... the only possibility of these windows coming from a spare parts pack would be a shorter Swedish 1214 Spare Parts Pack box, much different from the 700C pack of Denmark/Norway.... The reason for different set numbers was because the 700C windows/doors box was introduced in 1954... when only Denmark and Norway sold these windows/doors in spare parts packs. By 1955, when Sweden came back online to selling LEGO... a new 1214 spare parts pack was introduced (along with other parts packs of this same size and dimension). However the old long box 700C was retained in Denmark and Norway, rather than replaced by a new windows/doors parts pack. And getting back to finding these windows/doors in basic sets... there is more than one basic set that has this type of windows/door. They could have come from a large 700/1 set, medium 700/2 set or medium 700/3 set... as seen in this 1954 Retailer catalog image (from the Billund Archives)... the smaller sets had the older (700B) Automatic Binding Bricks windows/doors.... Early LEGO is very difficult to fully understand... and I've spent years figuring out the riddles of its' complexity....

Not surprised... that's Chapter 43... Just getting past Chapters 40, 41 and 42.... the parts packs chapters is probably going to be brutal... That's 134 pages of every spare parts pack imaginable... I did a calculation that with every box type possible, there are over 11,000 spare parts pack boxes that you could collect! During the most productive years... 1963-65, there were 138 different available... in 15 box designs!

Caperberry.... those lists were white from 1970 until 1976... and then in 1977 they started coming out in yellow from that point forward. Here's the 1972 Australian spare parts list... I've created many tables of part numbers by country in that LEGO DVD chapter... sometimes TLG would drive me crazy because a certain part would be numbered... #12 in Germany, #Sp.12 in Netherlands and Italy... and #S12 in UK/Ireland/Australia. Usually the numbers matched up... unless it was a 12V train item... then UK/Ireland/Australia would have a different part under that number. I've got pages and pages of tables put together for both individual parts and spare parts packs... differentiating the parts, and the parts counts.... very maddening....

When TLG started LEGO sales in Europe, they sometimes sold LEGO in ways that were never available to kids in USA and Canada... that was individual parts sales (these were limited in UK/Ireland and Australia to mail-orders). When I visited the toy stores of Europe in the late 1970s and 1980s, I thought it was soooooo cool to have the retailers pull out a box (usually wooden, sometimes cardboard or plastic) of spare parts that you could buy individually. But this was not the "sales model" for toy stores in USA/Canada... where toys were sold pre-packaged. It's really too bad, since picking the parts (like Pick-A-Brick today) was a great way to buy JUST what you wanted. Here's a little piece of the history of that way of buying LEGO that most of today's AFOLs know little to nothing about. I devote a very large chapter of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (Chapter 43 - Service Packs and Individual Parts Sales (1950-90) to these interesting variations in buying LEGO. The LEGO Train System was introduced in 1966, with the 4.5V trains. Then in 1969 the 12V trains came out (never in USA/Canada, and not yet in UK/Ireland/Australia). Here is an example of an early 1970s continental European Retailer box (wooden) and the contents list and contents.... By the late 1970s the contents changed, some items were put into plastic bags, while others remained loose in boxes such as this one. NOTE: this is a box I put together of parts that I purchased in Germany (1979-85) as loose parts. Note the nice train windows!! This was put together from memory, based on several retailer boxes.... Back then the continental European retailers had these large wooden boxes either behind the counter, or under the LEGO sets shelf, for individual sales. Some of these parts were placed in plastic bags in groups. By 1980 all the parts came out in Service Pack bags numbered 1101-1147 (more numbers came later in the decade, and there was a complete number revamp by 1987). However many of the 4 digit service packs have 1977 copyright dates, even though they originated from 1980. The reason for this was because early parts were sold loose or in unmarked plastic bags, and starting in 1980 in preprinted LEGO bags with the appropriate number and bar code... Here is a 1978 German Spare Parts List.... ..... and by 1980, these same numbers were used, but with the "11" prefix... so black train wheels #10 became black train wheels Service Pack #1110 in 1980... but still with a 1977 copyright date.... Here we see several early plastic bags that LEGO retailers sold some of their items in prior to 1980 (plain plastic bags), and later (starting in 1980) the beginning of official Service Packs. This shows 3 #19 packs (top of image) of 1977-79, and 3 #1119 (bottom of image) Rod/Piston Service Packs of 1980 and beyond. As I mentioned individual parts and even early Service Packs were not available in the USA and Canada. This was partly to do with the fact that USA/Canada toy retailers generally didn't handle toy sales in this way... but also because LEGO trains were rarely sold in either USA or Canada... and if they were, it was only the push trains or 4.5V trains... never the 12V. So there was also no pressing need for spare parts or expansion parts, like there was in Europe. In Britain/Ireland/Australia the same general parts were available as in continental Europe... but only as Mail-Order items. Also some continental European countries did not sell these spare parts or service packs thru the LEGO retailers... but only thru the local countrys mail-order service (the Netherlands and Italy were mail-order). All of these and many many more individual LEGO parts items are found in my 50+ page Chapter 43 of my DVD/download guide. It makes for a fascinating read, especially for USA/Canada folks, who were unaccustomed to Service Packs and Mail-Order until long after Europe and Australia. Cheers, Gary Istok

I often go to Brickfactory if I need to look up some LEGO catalog information. But lately my computer has warned me not to enter their site because of malicious MALWARE.... Are they even aware that their site has been affected? It's been at least a few weeks now??

fhomess... you and I had the same relationship... I am German, but grew up in the USA and went back to Germany 10 times between 1979 and 1993 to visit relatives. However it was my trip in 1979 when I found old sets from the 1960s in a stationary store that got me out of my Dark Ages that year (I found 600 LEGO classic windows/doors in 2 old retailer boxes that I bought). So I spent the 1980s scouring the small toy stores of Germany looking for old and rare LEGO items.

Damn.... Joe... I thought I could sneak that one past....

JF8.... where do I start...... with an emphatic YES!!! One of the reasons I have such easy access with the folks at the Billund Archives/Collections/Vauilt is that I show them LEGO items they have never seen before, and have no records of, nor examples in the Vault... I think I have over 100 items in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide... that they don't have in their archives/collections/vault... Such as.... (a sample)... the 1989 6661 Mobile TV Station set with WDR (West Deutsche Rundfunk German TV Station)... promotion, which they have no records of in their archives or from the German marketing people... hence a high level TLG directors had these done under the radar, and shipped directly to the German TV station.... The very first LEGO set of 1949 (TLG didn't know they made this set in a wooden box, and don't have an example of it in their collections).... (and also the first parts packs that came with it).... That early classic LEGO windows/doors were made in Norway in green (1954-56)... Or that they were made in Orange in Sweden (1954-56)... TLG also didn't know that Norway made alphabet bricks in blue with gold lettering (1957-58).... Or that the largest LEGO set of the 20th Century was this obscure Samsonite LEGO set made in the mid 1960s in USA/Canada... with 3,250 pieces and a huge wooden box... Or that Norway made LEGO roadsigns with red bases (1956-57).... Or that Sweden made roadsigns (1955-56) with golden brown bases.... Or that the 717 Junior Constructor Set model (USA/Canada 1961-65) looked nothing like the mock up box shown in early USA/Canada catalogs.... (no info on this mock up box, or its' existence or survivial)... Nor does TLG have any records or examples of these 1955 prototype rarities (must have "escaped" from the factory/company).... 1x1 round and square bricks without studs on top.... In my collectors guide I have over a hundred other items that TLG has no records of (until I told them). But in response... they send me images of items that I had never seen before.... such as this 1954-55 rare beauty... a Danish Windows/Doors Retailer Box... (non known in private hands)... Or this very rare 1955 Mosaik set #1300... (only 1 known outside the company)... of Danish origins... Like I said, there's over 100 more not liste here or in any online database... I just happen to be fortunate to have collected LEGO for over 40 years, and know a lot of rare LEGO collectors... and started writing a complete LEGO set history 7 years ago... now available as a DVD download, with annual free updates (download only takes 6-15 minutes to get to your desktop)... as found in the Eurobricks bazaar.... Gary Istok

When TLG started the first Town System sets back in 1955 as The Town Plan, they were very much trying to get adults to be interested in LEGO, as well as children... they tried this for nearly 10 years, until the mid 1960s, when they quit doing so, and from then onward LEGO ads and commercials were always geared to children (with the exception of Duplo, which occasionally showed moms playing with the young children). One of my new Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide's new chapters (free to current owners as well as new buyers)... shows this early LEGO attempt at the adult audience... Here is one of the first LEGO images with children and adults... a historic 1955 image showing LEGO owner (then Junior Director) Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, with his 3 children (KKK, Gunhild and Hanne), along with his older nephew Jörgen... And here is the new Chapter 74 - EARLY ADULT (AFOL) AND CHILDREN LEGO IMAGES (1955-65)... http://www.youblishe...Y-TLG-CAMPAIGN/ Lots of interesting Town Scenes... Enjoy! Gary Istok P.S. This Chapter is still a work in progress...

Thanks jluckhaupt!! When you've been dealing with LEGO for over 40 years like I have.... you start to see things that other folks take for granted. That's why I always look for things that don't make sense, and I get to have fun and play Sherlock Holmes with it... especially things that the folks at the TLG Archives/Collections have no records about....

Carrera124, in that SpielzeugRing image, the girl minifig has red legs and white torso... and the windmill has black parts as seen here... in the 730 set. http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?O=730-2 The 710 doesn't have enough black parts to build windmill blades...

Carrerra124, are you sure? That Spiezeugring image shows on the left what looks like the windmill with the black sloped bricks from the 730 set. (I had one of those). Your earlier image from the Idee-Spiel catalog shows the 710 set with the red umbrella... it even shows "(710)". That 710 set.... I don't ever remember seeing it selling in the USA.

About a year ago I came across a very strange LEGO set... the 800 set of 1966 (not the gear set of 1970). I first found it in a 1966 French LEGO catalog. I saw a set sitting underneath the 810 Town Plan set (1961-67), (labeled "Large Universal Set") and wondered what the odd looking box was. It had white sides, with the number "800" in the corner surrounded by black thick lines. No other LEGO set of that era had this type of coloration... they all had either the large LEGO logo with rainbow colors, or large strips of blue, black and red along the sides. But never a white set with black thick lines and black markings. How odd I thought?? And I had never actually known of one in any collection... So I contacted my friends at the LEGO Archives/Collections and asked them about this set. Sure enough it was produced in 1966 only. Here's an image of the set sitting in the Vault in Billund (again sittung underneath a 810 Town Plan Set, ironically... The folks at the Billund Archives sent me these 2 images of this very strange set.... one is an archival photograph of the outside and inside of the box top.... Note how it looks as though the outside and inside top images appear to be "taped" to the box.... And the other an archival photograph of the contents. The LEGO Archive folks told me that this set was only sold in 1966 in France, Denmark and Norway. I confirmed this with images of those catalog pages. Since this was a set that no one had ever seen, my thoughts were that this set was perhaps never actually released (not too uncommon for TLG). However, a fellow by the name of Gabrielle from Barcelona Spain had one of these sets that he said his father had purchased many decades ago. Since Barcelona was not far from the French border, this may have been purchased by Gabrielle's father on a trip to France. Here is a close-up of the corner of the box (that Gabrielle owns), and as I mentioned earlier... it is VERY uncharacteristic of a LEGO box to look this way... It looks as though TLG took a blank white box, covered it with a LEGO image on the outside and inside box top, perhaps taping it onto the box... and also gluing a paper label with the "800" and black lines onto 2 of the 4 outside corners. Originally I had wondered why TLG made this very unusual set, and had a limited production for only 3 countries??? But I think I now know why this set was produced... TLG, as we all know... never threw anything away!!! By 1966 as the LEGO Town Plan board #200 (or #200B) was being discontinued (along with the entire Town Plan series of sets and accessories)... they must have had a lot of leftover printed sheets of laminated paper with the front and back of the Town Plan board scene... left in their inventory. So what better way to get rid of these than to create a limited edition set, paper the inside and outside top with the leftover Town Plan paper, and fill the set with rather random parts, and maybe some leftover Town Plan accessories. Here's a (1960-67) #200/#200B Town Plan board front and back cover... which is identical to the 800 set... Gabrielle also mentioned that the inside box top of his 800 set has no image (upper left) on the inside box top.... it is just blank. This leads me to believe that TLG ran out of the back side of the Town Plan board image before they did the front side image (which was also used on the continental 810 Town Plan sets). So there may have been many more front side images remaining in inventory than there wereback side images! Also, the strange gray single formed plastic inserts used for the bottom of the box... were also used in 2 other large LEGO sets of this era... the #750 Architectural Set, and the #700/K wooden box set. So far only 1 of these very rare sets has ever been found on the secondary market... but it would make for a very nice addition to any LEGO collections, as a way to show how frugal TLG was with their LEGO items. Cheers, Gary Istok P.S. This set is mentioned in Chapter 4 of my 73 Chapter Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD/download (as found in the LEGO Bazaar!). Chapter 4 contains many very odd sets that really don't belong in any other category.

One of the more interesting promotions was in 1970 by British Kellogg's... It had a LEGO Village set that consisted of many LEGO Town sets (houses, fire station and vehicles)....

Just when things get complicated, they get even more so... PERSIL is a German cleaning soap sold under that name in Germany by German chemical company HENKEL AG, and PERSIL is also licensed to UNILEVER (Britain)... and these 2 companies license the detergent soap name in several European countries under several names. In France both companies sell it under either LE CHAT or SKIP.... in Sweden it's called VIA, in other countries it has other names. But in UK/Ireland the (Unilever licensed) brand is Persil. So far the 1593 set appears to have been sold in Britain/Ireland, France, Denmark and Sweden under one of the PERSIL brands, and in Germany as an IDEE+SPIEL toy subsidiary. Whew... that was not easy...

Supposedly the 1593 Delta Spacecraft Set was a PERSIL Cleaning Soap Exclusive... sold in Britain, France, Denmark and Germany. I can now add Sweden to the list (do they sell PERSIL there??). But finding it in a toy store in Germany makes me wonder if any of these leftover sets may have found their way to VEDES or SPIELZEUGRING??

Thanks for that information Merkurius.... just like the UK Version of the 1592 Town Square Set, which originated as a UK Weetabix promotional set in 1980, was later sold in Germany, Canada (unknown source), Japan (unknown source), and even in the Netherlands (must have been the leftovers when the Netherlands had their own version of 1592). So 1966 was sold in the Netherlands, Germany, and now (unknown source) in Sweden. I wouldn't be surprised if we find more of the "exclusive" promotional sets weren't so exclusive after all!! Well this is why my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide as DVD/download will have free annual updates... things just keep changing!!

Thanks Carrera124, I saw all of your Brickshelf images... very impressive!! I just mentioned you and your pictures in a post on 1000steine (LEGO Set Ohne Name...1968). I love these type of magazine or catalog images of old LEGO sets because it gives us so much information on special or promotional sets. A good friend of mine, Eric Strand of Texas has a great collection fo USA/Canada Samsonite LEGO ads and mail order catatog images. From 1961-85 there were many USA/Canada sets not sold elsewhere that were exclusives of American or Canadian retailers... http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=136450

Thanks for the information!! Looks like that Unilver 1966 set was also sold in Germany by the 2 leading toy store associations. This is also true for the 1592 Town Square Set. The UK v ersion was sold as a Weetabix exclusive in the UK... and also by both VEDES and SPIELZEUGRING in Germany (and also possibly in Canada and Japan). One reason I always like to share information is because others can always "add" to it! Another very interesting item about the Vedes catalog image is that the 1968 Space set... called "Unknown" or "Nameless" in all online LEGO databases is mentioned in that catalog as "Schwernutzlast-Raum-schiff"... which translates to "Heavy Payload Space Ship".

******************************************************************* OK... now for the embarrassing part... How is it that 2 almost identical sets... 1590 and 1589... produced 4 years apart (1982 vs. 1986)... both contain the same glaring box top/instruction sheet top... mistake?? Why didn't they correct their error for the 1986 set, via a different box top and instructions top photograph?? What was TLG thinking??!!! *******************************************************************

Two of my favorite sets are the virtually identical 1986 promotional sets... the Swiss TCS (Tour Club Schweiz) 1589, and the Dutch ANWB (Algemene Nederlandse Wielrijders Bond) 1590 (both are Auto Clubs). What is so interesting about these sets, is that the box/set first page designers and the actual instructions designers must have had a miscommuncation at TLG...either that or someone was dyslexic at TLG... The box top and instructions are identical... but the baseplate/building arrangement in the actual instructions were reversed.... The 1982 introduced 1590 ANWB Breakdown Assistance Set version.... ... and the 1986 TCS Breakdown Assistance Set 1589 (image belongs to Leoone).... Probably the most valuable parts to these 2 sets are the stickered flags or sticker sheets.... The unique 1589 TCS stickered flag... The unique 1590 ANWB stickered flag....

I added a few extra sets... Jeroenaa.... Unfortunately it sounds like your Sinterklaas Day came several years too late. The Netherlands had many LEGO promotional sets... from Unilever 1592 Town Square (anothe UNOX Soup), the 1620 (Chocomel), 1966 (Car Repair Shop), the Martinair sets of the 1970s and many many more... the Netherlands was well represented back 30 years ago, with many promotional sets! P.S. It kind of sucks having your birthday and Christmas on the same day... and in the Netherlands Christmas is celebrated on Dec. 5.... ********************************************* EDIT: Soory Jeroenaa.... when you said "this action", I thought you meant your birthday was on Dec. 5, as well as it being Sinterklaas Day... but it was only one of the 2... *********************************************

LEGO has had promotional sets since the 1950s. Some, such as Weetabix, Shell, and others are very well known, while some are not. Here's a few of the lesser known promotional sets... The 1966 REPAIR SHOP SET of 1985 was a Dutch Unilever Corp. product promoting their UNOX Soup. If you sent in 3 soup labels and some money, they would mail you the set. Although this is a promotional set, the set itself has nothing to do with Unilever or UNOX. However it is a rare set, since it was not sold on the open market.... Unlike the Unilever Unox Soup promotion, the Italian Ovomaltina (Ovaltine in English) promotion was just of regular small sets, found in any toy store. If you sent in 2 proofs of purchase for Ovomaltina, you got either a 600 Police Patrol, 602 Fire Chief Car, or 606 Ambulance set for free. Unfortunately, these boxes were not uniquely marked, so these sets are just regular LEGO sets not highly valued... Another old promotional set was the 1620 Chocomel Factory Set of 1978. This set was available for sending in 3 Chocomel proof of purchase stickers, and money. This is a very highly collectible set... but I'm not sure it will see nearly $6000 in MISB.... http://www.bricklink...10&searchSort=P A 4th interesting set is the 1601 Schmidt & Co. Factory set. For a long time many folks thought this was a set for a specific company (like the Chocomel set). But this factory set was a promotional set for VEDES... the association of toy stores (with over 1000 member stores in central Europe), with their HQ in Nuremberg, the toy capital of Germany. Schmidt & Co. is a fake company name. Although this 1976 set wasn't related to a specific company to promote, this VEDES exclusive for Germany is still a very highly collectible set. These are just a few of the 100+ promotional sets that TLG made... some for specific companies or associations as exclusives... others as promotions using regular LEGO sets. These 100+ sets are discussed in depth in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (2800 pages/6000 images) on DVD/download as an Ebook for your PC, iPad or iPhone (or 3 for the price of 1).... http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=73780 With access to the LEGO Archives, Vault and Collections, I've got images of sets and parts you've never seen before!! Photo images courtesy of Diana Swartjes and Piergiorgio Andreatini.

So you have a German 700 set "with contents" (although many of the Town Plan parts are missing), and no LEGO logo on the one boards for the box top image. And you also have an extra board from a 2nd set (with the rest of the set missing). You could likely sell this in 2 parts... the complete 700 set with a pair of Masonite boards, and an "extra" (left side) 700 set type Masonite half board. There may be some buyer out there somewhere that only has the other half of the board, and it could still get some decent money ($30-$50). Also this Masonite board came as a single board, sold without a box. This board was somewhat larger than the 2 half boards for the German 700 set. Here's an image of one (from my LEGO Collectors Guide on DVD)....