LEGO Historian

One educational set that has never been found on the secondary market (so far)... is the USA/Canada 750 set of circa 1963-66. This is the smaller companion to the larger 7100 set of that era (shown at the top of this thread). The list price of the larger 7100 set was $100, while the smaller 750 set was $50 (more in Canada). This was a lot of money for a set in the 1960s, although these were institutional sets. This image is from a Canadian LEGO promotional brochure... and we are very fortunate to have at least this image. Neither the 750 nor the larger 7100 USA/Canada Samsonite Educational sets are found in the Billund Vault, and the archives have nothing to say on the subject... It is only thru a 1965 Samsonite LEGO retailer reorder form that we are aware of the set number and price. This order form is one of many very rare Retailer LEGO forms and catalog images that I've collected over the years, and include them in one of the 73 chapters of my LEGO DVD/download.

Ummmmm.... LEGO collecting can be perilous to a relationship.... I know of 2 men who's wives divorced them at least partly over LEGO (a Dane and an American). Seems that the LEGO collecting got in the way of marital bliss. That's not to say that the marriages weren't already in trouble for other reasons.... but the spouses of these 2 men did not like their husbands collecting/building LEGO. I also know of several people (mostly men), who have their online orders of LEGO sets/parts shipped to their work address partly because they didn't want their spouses to know that they made these purchases, or made so many purchases. This is more prevalent than you think! So having a non-AFOL spouse can lead to difficulties on the home front! This is probably more true where there are no children in the family.

LEGO has been selling educational sets since about 1960... The earliest were wooden box sets 700K, sold in Germany, Belgium and Switzlerland... and sets 750 and 7100 sold in USA and Canada in the early 1960s.... 7100 USA/Canada Set... (3,235 pieces!!!)... was the largest LEGO set ever produced in the 20th Century... This 7100 set came with vast quantities of parts and Town Plan accessories, in numbers far more than any other set. This set is a real bonanza of rare parts! In 1965 for the first time TLG produced some Educational sets under the name TERAPI... with sets with strange set numbers... TERAPI I, TERAPI II and TERAPI III. These TERAPI sets were only sold in Denmark and Norway starting in 1964, and in Finland starting in 1966... here are TLG Billund Archive images showing the set listings for Denmark, Norway and Finland... for some reason these educational TERAPI sets were not sold in Sweden. Denmark late 1964 (first mention of TERAPI sets)... Denmark 1965... Norway 1965.... Finland 1966 (box not shown).... These boxes were mainly used by schools in these countries, and additional continental countries in the 1970s. These have very rarely survived... and I know of no intact TERAPI sets. With the TERAPI wooden boxes, I know of only these two rare examples (from Jan Katanek and Thomas Rosner of Germany) but both are missing the red Masonite (Hartfaserplatte) lid with a hole to pull the top off.... Then in 1969 Duplo was introduced, and in 1972-73 the first Duplo Educational sets were introduced with the old LEGO logo (open "O" in the logo).... ...and some Duplo sets were included in the TERAPI/EDUCATIONAL sets in the 1970s. The LEGO/DUPLO Educational sets were... number 90 (empty wooden box), 91 (wooden box filled with LEGO and DUPLO), 92 (filled with LEGO) and 93 (filled with LEGO) boxs There were also red cardboard boxes... 94, 95, 96 as cardboard box refills of LEGO... there were also Duplo refill cardboard boxes 507 and 508.... All the 94, 95, 96 and 507/508 had the same box designs on one side. These Educational/Duplo sets became ever more complex... but that's what my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD/download has nearly 3000 page!! For those folks going on Holiday/Vacation... I'm offering a special download... for your home computer and your IPad/iPhone. Whether you're visiting Onkel Oskar in Trävemünde, Noono Luigi in Abruzzo, Mrs. Featherston in Hertfordshire, or Cousin Pearl in Paducah... for those travel weary of visiting the in-laws during the summer doldrums... having a nearly 3000 page historic LEGO encyclopedia with over 6000 images at your fingertips... will take the boredom out of your summer family obligations.... http://www.eurobrick...topic=73780&hl=

Bwafjk, yes more pics would be great! The middle image of 700-13 in Bricklink is my own set, of the earlier (1957) type with hollow bottom bricks, and the Esso Accessories/road signs/printed bricks. What would help in determining a value is if the box top image is intact on the other side of one of the 3 Town Plan board pieces. That would really make it worth more. Also... having 3 board pieces actually fit into the sliding top also adds to its' value. (A picture of all 3 board pieces put into the top would be great!!) Ditto for condition of the box... there are 24 partitions in all... 12 deep, 4 long, and 8 in the pull out wooden tray. If that is also in good condition it adds to the value. If the outer box is just missing paint (no other damage), that also helps, since it can be restored. But what is really important is if there is an image of the box top on the back of one of the board pieces... that could push the value into the hundreds of dollars. Here's a copy of the early version (1957-60) Contents List... The numbers along the left columns are the numbers of the 1956-65 LEGO spare parts packs that these parts are found in. Strangely enough the 236 Garage is a separate LEGO set that can build a garage. Why the parts to that are listed separately is rather odd... but that's how they did it!! The likely 7 1x6/1x8 white beams with names would be... ESSO WAGENPFLEGE, THEATER, POST, HOTEL, WÜRSTCHEN, TAXE and TABAK.

Ooooooohhhhhh..... a German 700 "with contents" wooden box set... Although the 700 wooden box set (1957-65) was sold in much of continental Europe... ONLY in Germany (1957-62) was the box top a 2 piece 1950's Town Plan board layout made of Masonite (Hartfaserplatte in German). The back side of one of the boards was plain Masonite, the back side of the other half of the board was the box top design... known in either German (1957-58) or the international LEGO System (1959-62)... the box top came in 4 different designs. Here it shows how the German 700 "with contents" has room for a 2 piece sliding top (left box), while the German 700 "empty" and the 700 set of other continental countries has a 1 piece sliding top (right), with no Town Plan design at all. Chapter 14 of my LEGO DVD download has an entire subchapter on the 20 different versions of the 700 wooden box set, as well as the Contents List... that lists all the parts that came with this set. The problem with almost all LEGO wooden box sets is that they usually did not come with any set number on the box itself. Only the Contents List has the set number listed... and that contents list is the first thing that gets lost... thus rendering the set number nearly impossible to determine (unless of course you have my DVD download... ). But there is one other mystery... why are there what appears to be 3 or 4 Masonite Town Plan board pieces... when the set only comes with 2? Looks like the remains of another German 700 "with contents" box.... You could probably sell the extra matching pair of board pieces for some nice change on either Bricklink or EBAY!! Very nice find!! Gary Istok P.S. The nice thing about those German 700 wooden box sets is that they were painted white... so you could potentially restore the box with some white paint... provided the box top image is pretty much intact on the back of one of those Town Plan board pieces...

For any of you who have old LEGO (1950s and 1960s)... it's likely that most of it is made of Cellulose Acetate, an unstable plastic that has a tendency to warp. Well I just found an interesting website that talks about problems with certain plastics... and one (of several) problems with old LEGO is humidity... http://www.plastiquarian.com/index.php?id=7&subid=127\ Gary Istok

One of the greatest mold anomalies was the introduction of the post bottom molds for 1x bricks. From 1955-64 the old 1x6 and 1x8 bricks only had cross supports (and 1x2 bricks were hollow bottom). Then in 1964 TLG switched over to the post bottom molds for 1x6 and 1x8, added a post to the 1x2, and introduced the 1x4 (only with posts). Here is a LEGO image from the 1972 USA Samsonite catalog (notice the barrel organ pulled by the horses). The 1x6 and 1x8 bricks still show the old hollow bottom 1x6 and 1x8 bricks with cross-supports. The likely reason for this as late as 1972 is that TLG sent Samsonite their old molds, and Europe/Australia started with the new post bottom 1x6 and 1x8 bricks in 1964. USA/Canada plates (2x8, 4x8, 6x8 and 4x8 curved) of the 1960s are mostly of the waffle bottom variety. In Europe/Australia, they switched to circle bottom plates in those sizes as early as 1962 (to match the new 2x2, 2x3, 2x4 plates from the Architectural Sets 750, 751, 752). A 6x8 waffle bottom plate weights 12 grams.. a 6x8 circle bottom plate weighs 9 grams. So TLG was saving significant amounts of plastic by the quick switch over. So again... Samsonite got the old molds, and some waffle bottom molds were found in Samsonite sets as late as 1972. Often old and new molds can be found mixed in the same sets. So there are so many anomalies to dating molds, that it almost becomes impossible to get things 100% accurate. Just look at the switch from old gray to new gray bricks/parts. The switchover took many years to complete (once the inventory of old gray was finally completed). So it's easier to say when new gray (bley) was introduced, than to say when old gray was discontinued!

Since it's my birthday this week.... (older than dirt)... I'm offering a special with my 2,800 page Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide... a copy of the instructions, contents list, catalog listing, and retailer reorder page copy for the 1959-60 Regina Maersk Ship... which (now that Maersk parts have come down in price) requires only 54 Maersk blue parts... The 256 piece built model... The 5 pages of building instructions, copy of original retailer order form, copy of original retailer catalog page, and contents list for building.... All for getting the "last word" in all things LEGO related..... in 2,800 pages or less.... http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=73780&hl=

Here's a history of LEGO sales by country ... http://www.youblisher.com/p/599853-LEGO-DVD-Download-Chapter-73-LEGO-Sales-By-Country/ From my DVD... the last chapter...

Actually the first LEGO Maersk ship... the REGINA MAERSK goes back to 1959... but it was as a glued display model for retailers, and not as a set for sale... but it does make for an interesting history farther back for the LEGO/Maersk connection... http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=84627 Cheers, Gary Istok

DPrime... here's a sample of my LEGO price guide (this one is in Euro's I also have it in dollars)... this is for Homemaker sets... just one of many parts of the guide... http://www.youblisher.com/p/666171-Sample-DVD-Download-Price-Guide/ There are 400 pages for Euro prices and 400 pages for dollar prices in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide, for the years 1950-80.

Most people think that the 1650 ship of 1974 was the first ship that TLG produced... but that's not necessarily the case.... See here for details... another one of my "lost LEGO histories...).... http://www.youblisher.com/p/665550-MAERSK-EARLY-LEGO-MODELS/ So many stories remain yet to be told.... Gary Istok

Thanks for comments! My 2,800 page collectors guide includes a 400 page "Insurance Price Guide" (in both dollars and Euros) for sets of the years 1950-80. For most modern sets, you can usually find Bricklink or EBAY prices for price guide... but with older sets, it becomes problematic. My price guide has 10,156 set prices... (in conditions VG, EX, MIB and MISB). These are often based on "comparables", as used by The Antiques Roadshow... for sets that have never actually been sold. The problems with any price guide is that prices for auction items can vary enormously. An example is the Canadian #610 Super Wheel Toy set. I've seen it sell in EX condition 3 times in the last 4 years... for $18, $343 and $380. It's crazy auction wins like that that makes an actual or accurate price guide very problematic. However, that's why I have my guide as an "Insurance Price Guide"... and not a "Sellers Guide".

Thanks Hikaro... I could talk for days about sets... especially the old LEGO wooden box sets... TLG produced over 80 different... but no online database lists more than 10... except for my collectors guide on DVD/download...

I've seen a lot of folks make some really cool LEGO town buildings with some very nice signage. Back in the 1960s the Philips Electronics corporation (HQed in Amsterdam Netherlands)... was one early LEGO building idea. Although TLG never provided any actual building with Philips... they sure did include a lot of accessories. So if you ever wanted to build an electronics store as part of your town... try using PHILIPS... a LEGO "sanctioned" product name.... Here is one of the "rediscovering old LEGO history" parts of my LEGO DVD/download... http://www.youblishe...nal-LEGO-Items/ http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=69200

And here are a couple of more forgotten pieces of LEGO history in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD/download... This one is on the USA/Canada Samsonite LEGO Junior Constructor Set 717... the prototype and actually produced set.... http://www.youblisher.com/p/664742-717-Junior-Constructor-House-Set-Prototype-and-Actual-Model/ And here is a promotional LEGO item. Just as Weetabix were a long standing promotion for TLG... so was the PHILIPS Electronics corporation... and all the TLG items that had the Philips emblem and signage... http://www.youblisher.com/p/664745-PHILIPS-Corporation-Promotional-LEGO-Items/ The Samsonite LEGO Junior Constructor is such an easy build (made with common red, yellow and blue bricks, with 22 white classic windows/doors)... that a copy of the complete building instructions for this prototype is included in my DVD/download.

Wow... didn't realize they were so popular... but I guess that there isn't a large inventory of old images (although I have over 10,000, collected these last 15 years). Here's one that I think you will like. This started out as a glued display model in continental Europe... then made it to an image in a Building Ideas Book No. 1 of 1960-66 (#238 in guides)... and in 1961 it was going to be a large house model kit for a USA/Canada Samsonite LEGO model set called the 717 Junior Constructor.... but the model was too big, and it was replaced by a smaller house... also shown here... this is one of the most interesting LEGO house model histories of all time.... http://www.youblishe...d-Actual-Model/ Here is the prototype house again... using 9 10x20 thick baseplates... the largest LEGO house model (as a display and prototype) of the 20th Century!! This large English Cotswold Cottage style house is sooooo easy to build because it uses all common classic LEGO windows... and absolutely no rare parts... just the 1960s trees and bushes are rare... but even those can be had for about $3 EACH. Even the 9 10x20 baseplates can be substituted with 2 32x32 thin baseplates in green! In my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide, I provide not only this history listed above... but also the building instructions to this fun to build piece of old LEGO history!!

Ironically these old 1960s wheel sets and parts packs don't command the high prices of other sets during that era. You can find many of the spare parts packs at very decent prices, even in excellent condition. The same is true for the larger sets... But there is one set that really defies the general logic about the wheel toy set prices. And that is the Double Wheel Toy set #610... but from Canada!! I've seen it sell for as high as $383 on Ebay before. That is much more than the tall box version of the #610 Wheel Toy Set. Here's the Canadian version again (I supplied this image to BL)....

Another part of LEGO history that is very fascinating is the first "numbered" LEGO idea booklet... the #238... from 1960 until 1968. It came in at least 9 different box types, some coming in up to 10 different languages!! http://www.youblisher.com/p/664148-Building-Idea-Book-1-The-complex-238/

caperberry... those early 1960s boxes are very very colorful, and are probably the nicest spare parts boxes that TLG ever produced... each one is a work of art!!

LEGO produces more wheels than any other company in the world... as we've all been told so many times. The first LEGO wheels were introduced in mid 1962, and during the 1960s there were only about 1/2 dozen different wheels in production. But as we all know... today that number runs in the hundreds... My LEGO collectors guide will now have a new history section that zooms in on very specific parts or sets. This is just one of them for the next DVD/download version (free to current owners)... enjoy! Cheers, Gary Istok http://www.youblishe...st-LEGO-Wheels/ The first wheel set #400 introduced in 1962 looked like this.... Then in 1966 the #400 set box design changed to this for continental Europe and Asia...... And in 1966 the 400 set box design changed to this for Britain, Ireland and Australia...

Thanks NAF (and others). I've decided last week (when I had some internet issues at home and was cut off from the world)... to adding a slightly different approach to telling the story about LEGO sets and parts, and their evolution through the years. It seems that so much of the LEGO history has been lost by a convergence of several unfortunate incidents.... 1) not the best record keeping by TLG of their product (via the LEGO Archives), 2) the retirement and death of old time LEGO employees that know/knew so much about the reasons behind why there are so many quirky features about LEGO sets/parts, and 3) the fact that online LEGO databases may mention some of these quirky LEGO variations, but do not attempt to explain them. So I have decided to add a new feature to my current Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (in the next version due out in about 2 months... free to current owners)... and to the next volume (1990s-Present)... due out next year. This new feature will include a story behind the sets and parts that I feel need further clarification for answers about why they are so unusual, or have so many variations. Here is the first 2 of about 100 set or part "Anecdotes"... that will be made available in my future editions of the LEGO DVD/downloads.... http://www.youblishe...TATION-HISTORY/ http://www.youblishe...VERY-LEGO-SETS/ These are the first 2 sets that I have researched and given a history to. Another set was the 6661 MOBILE TV STATION Set with the German WDR rare variation... which I will add into this format. The first of these little history/anecdotes will be in my current LEGO DVD/download... with more to follow (for free) for future upgrades.... Gary Istok P.S. I just wanted to add one caveat... I am NOT criticizing the record keeping by the wonderful folks at the LEGO Archives.... 1) they have what they have been left to work with by an earlier generation that didn't maintain as meticulous a set of records as they do today.... 2) as with the case of the rare German TV Station (WDR) of the 6661 Mobile TV Studio Set of 1989... when special deals are made "under the table" between LEGO executives and executives of other companies... when the LEGO Archive/Collections folks are kept out of the loop... they should not be held responsible for the hushed dealings of higher ups at the company.

LEGO Windows and Doors weren't the only LEGO items that came in a wide assortment of colors and variations. The very rare and collectible 1:87 (HO Scale) series of LEGO cars and trucks (1955-70) also came in an endless series of colors... as did LEGO bricks. Here is a "teaser" from my next version of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (free to current owners, will be coming out in a few months as a download)... the number of colors available in LEGO are not really a modern phenomenon... but have been that way in many ages.... http://www.youblisher.com/p/659767-Please-Add-a-Title/ Still waiting for Pink and sky blue classic windows/doors to be found in Norway!!

I just posted a "teaser" on Youblisher"... of some of the new stuff coming out in the next version of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (1949-1990s) as DVD/download... some items I discovered as recently as last week! http://www.youblisher.com/p/659767-Please-Add-a-Title/

Well I found the image of that 501 Swiss wooden box with sliding white lid.... from 1969... There's about another 1/2 dozen LEGO items unknown to collectors that I'm still snooping around for... some mid 1950 Norwegian boxes, and a mid 1970s Danish Duplo Kindergarten institutional type set... So much to find... so little time....