LEGO Historian

Commander Red Hat... still looking for my Shell sign and pumps to get the dimensions for you... stay tuned....

Here's some of the glued display models assembled for a November 1962 USA Saturday Evening Post Samsonite LEGO ad... Here's a display image from a 1958 Continental European Glued Display Model Catalog.... Here's a box top image of a 700/1 Basic Set of Germany/Austria in German... this was one of the first basic sets sold in those 2 countries in 1956 and 1957 respectively.... That is of course Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen (right) along with his sister Gunhild (left) and other sister Hanne (1951-69) middle (she died in a 1969 automobile accident in 1969 that almost caused their father Godtfred Kirk Christiansen to sell TLG, so great was his grief. This 1962 UK (British LEGO Ltd.) advertisement shows the "first" LEGO "Palace Theatre"!! I've got hundreds of pictures more to sort thru.... Adding a lot of these to the new version of my LEGO DVD/download (free to those that own the old one!).

One of the most interesting of the 73 chapters in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide.... is one on old LEGO Display Models that were produced by the LEGO Model Shops. Here are some of the more interesting ones..... a 12 year old Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen (1959) playing with a "Riparian" scene along a river, including a bridge. This was during the 1:87 scale Town Plan era, using many of the pricey LEGO 1:87 cast cars and trucks. A circa 1962 model from British LEGO Ltd. (Wrexham Wales)... of the facade of York Minster, the largest surviving medieval church in Britain. This very rare storewindow model has survived for 1/2 century, and is currently in the collection of a Yorkshire UK LEGO collector.... And then there's the entire layout of a 1960 town layout located in the LEGO HQ in Billund (before LEGO wheels... those "brick" wheels look like something out of the Flintstones!). This Hotel building model was built by my Dutch friend Jeroen, and the image is found at the top of my LEGO Collectors Guide - Table Of Contents, This model is also found on the front of the 703 USA/Canada Basic Set box of 1961-65, and on several parts packs box tops of the early 1960s. Lots more images to follow....

Minfig_Matt..... Pipe smoking and LEGO ads/booklets?? Nothing new back in the 1950s and 1960s!! This from the 1960-65 #238 Building Idea Book!!

Thanks for that little anecdote Defaultsound!! It's little stories like that that most people would just say "that's nice" to... but it gives me so much information that others would just ignore!! First of all the Town Plan sets were discontinued in Britain/Ireland and Australia by 1967. There were leftover boxes and boards. These were made in Britain by a company called Waddington's... a UK gamesboard maker... and by 1967 (end of the Town Plan era) there must have been some leftover inventory of boxes and boards at British LEGO Ltd. in their Wrexham Wales LEGO factory. Second... by 1967 the Town Plan sets ran out of Esso Service accessories. In 1966 the #325 Shell Station became the service station of choice for TLG... superceding Esso, which was the LEGO service station (with associated spare parts pack with sign/gas pumps), as well as the Esso Tanker (#250), the Esso Barrel Truck (#251) and the Esso Barrel Trailer (#252). And the Esso station was found in a standalone model set (#310), as well as the Town Plan Set (#810) in Britain. In 1966 when the #325 Shell Service Station set was introduced (along with the 431 (UK) and 491 (continental EU) Shell parts packs)... the leftover older Esso accessories were used in the leftover old Town Plan sets. Well by 1967 most of these parts were depleted... so British LEGO Ltd. decided to take the new Shell items and add them to the remaining inventory of 810 Town Plan sets. The result was a Esso style Service Station model... but with all Shell sign and Shell Tanker (#650), as was found in the new #325 Shell Station set. These 2,250 "leftover" hybrid Town Plan sets were dispersed in this Kellogg's promotion. The only Esso remnant to these sets were the petrol pumps. The old UK style petrol pumps did not show Esso in large letters (like they did in the continental European and USA/Canada versions)... so the leftover petrol pumps were used with the other Shell accessories in these promotional sets. Anyway... the #810 boxes were shipped out to the winners of the Kellogg's contest... but that was not all that was part of the promotion... there were a few other items as well... 1) a LEGO motor with battery pack were introduced in 1966 as separate items #100 and #101. Soon thereafter these were sold together in a #102 pack. So British LEGO Ltd. likely provided the older separate models (2 different boxed sets) to winners of the Kellogg's promotion. So it may have been that these 2 items were mailed separately to your father's friend. 2) this Kellogg's promotion also consisted of 3 wheel sets... those would be sets 400 (small wheels), 401 (large wheels) and 402 (turntables). These were available in several box designs since 1962, and one of the older box designs may have been included in this Kellogg's promotion. Now I would think that these 3 small parts packs would have been sent together... but they could have been sent separately as well... thus confirming the story of your father's friend... that he kept getting LEGO items in the mail!! Thanks for that little bit of information Defaultsound... it's these little bits of what many would consider trivial info... that I find very useful and tells us all a part of the bigger picture of the LEGO puzzle!!

Here's a "mystery question"... what were the origins of these 5 1960-68 LEGO spare parts pack boxes... each size serves a specific purpose... and each comes from a specific country(s)... most of these were sold in different continents... I'll give the answer in a few days... unless someone comes up with it first....

Wow... very nice indeed!!

Yes! Lasse is correct... 5 LEGO acquaintances of mine Rohnny S. from Belgium, Jeroen D. from the Netherlands, Sven K., Jan. K and Olaf B. from Germany put together this very large display of early LEGO items, including the wooden toys (1932-60). They had LEGO owner KJeld Kirk Kristiansen to stop by at their exhibit and have photos taken with some sets that bear his likeness as a child. This exhibit was glassed in and protected by locked doors during off exhibition hours. That wall of spare parts packs that I show above... belongs to my good Belgian friend Rohnny S.

JopieK.... I did mention that it was a "cleaning product AND food stuff" multinational corporation.... so I was technically correct... Here in the USA (where most Eurobricks posters are from)... Unilever is not as much a household name as in Europe.... the major product that they would be known for in the USA is LEVER2000 handsoap. Others of their products sold in the USA are little known by American to be Unilever products... such as LIPTON Tea (and other Lipton products)... and Ben & Jerry Ice Cream... again not a known Unilever product to Americans. That's why I mentioned their cleaning products here... But even many of Unilever cleaning products are unknown to Americans... such as PERSIL... of which there are some LEGO promotional sets for... again the Persil/Unilever connection would be generally unknown to American LEGO folks. Even LEVER HOUSE... the famous and historic New York City "International Style" skyscraper is referred to on the internet as the "American HQ of the Anglo-Dutch soap maker"... so yes in the USA... when people think Unilever... they think soap products! P.S. The LEVER HOUSE on Park Ave. in NYC is the 2nd oldest "curtain wall" skyscraper in NYC... after.... the (now LEGO model) United Nations Building... JopieK.... when I did my homework for my promotional chapter of my LEGO DVD/download (over 100 promotional sets).... I had done extensive background checks on most of the corporations involved... such as the Philips Corporation of Eindhoven Netherlands... I even know about the famous "Witte Dame" of Eindhoven.... seen here in LEGO (in back) in my Dutch collector friend Jeroen's Town Plan LEGO diorama....

Carrera124.... unfortunately I don't... I wish I did have some promotional advertising on those 2 polybag sets. But I have not yet found them... Some sets I have quite a bit of info on... such as the 1620 Chocomel Factory set... or on the 1650 Maersk Line Container Set... and even many of the Kraft Food sets of the late 1960s... but others I have very little to go on, except for a set/pack image.

Presented to you by "antique people".... 43 years of collecting.... lol....

Back in 1980 TLG came out with some really nice Town System sets... First in 1978 they came out with a British Weetabix Cereal promotional 1589 Town Square set that used the new LEGO road plates... Then in 1980 they came out with a similar set... the British Weetabix Cereal promotional 1592 Town Square set (with a castle sub-theme to it). This set had a UK flag and other stickers that really made a nice city set. TLG must have produced a lot of these sets... since they were not JUST sold in Britain. This set was also sold starting around 1981 in Germany... by the SPIELZEUGRING German toy retailers association. Here's an advertisement of this same UK version of the 1592 set in Germany.... TLG must really have produced a lot of these sets... since they were also sold in limited quantities in Japan... and also in Canada. It was likely an Eaton's Department Store exclusive in Canada, since it was not found in any Canadian catalog (nor was it found in Japanese catalogs). By 1983 the number of these British 1592 Town Square Sets must have been depleted... but not quite.... In 1983 a Dutch version of the 1592 set was introduced in the Netherlands. This version was virtually identical to the earlier UK version, except for the box, instructions, and sticker sheet... which had a Dutch flag and Dutch language stickers.... The Dutch language 1592 Town Square Set was a Unilever Corporation promotional set. Unilever was a cleaning product and foodstuff multinational corporation... and it was promoting Dutch UNOX Soup... (via sending in soup labels and money)... Now one would think that all of the leftover British 1592 sets were sold before TLG produced the Dutch version in 1983... well not really... A Dutch acquaintance was a LEGO fan as a child... along with his 2 brothers... And their parents sent in 3 sets of UNOX Soup labels and money to get 3 of the Dutch 1592 sets. Well guess what arrived?? 2 Dutch and 1 British version of the 1592 sets!! So TLG still had a few of the (produced in large quantities) UK 1592 sets leftover... and added them to the rarer Dutch versions... which incidentally were never sold elsewhere.... So that is the complex story of the 1592 set.... Besides the 1980-83 1592 sets sold in Britain/Germany/Canada/Japan/Netherlands... ... there's the earlier (and probably rarer) UK only Weetabix 1589 set of 1978... ... and then there was the USA only 6390 Main Street Set... the only one of these nice town sets that actually made it to the inside of a LEGO catalog... although it was only the USA catalog.... The 1592 Town Set variations and 99 other sets are going to get their own "little anecdotes" about their production history, where sold, variations, and other little differences... these 100 sets in all are going to have a special history chapter in my (now up to 80 chapters) LEGO DVD/download... of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide. So much to say... so little information available from the TLG Archives... Enjoy, Gary Istok

Lightningtiger... yes the Town Plan System of Play was scaled to 1:87... the same as the HO scale. In fact 1955-57 LEGO catalogs and idea brochures even showed Märklin 1:87 trains along with LEGO scenes. Here's part of the 1957 (very first) Austrian Catalog... and it shows in the lower right a scene with HO train tracks (the trains are out of view here)...

Thanks Modulex Guy... the headlights were my first indication that they were not LEGO... I couldn't tell if the wheels were rubber in that image... all LEGO 1:87 wheels are metal only.

Good question Joe! Yes... it was all done in the 1:87 "Town Plan" scale... so it would be compatible with the (1955-68) Town Plan board (#200). This image below shows part of the Swiss 1958 LEGO catalog (it was only 2 pages back then!). The picture shows the 1950s style Town Plan board (available in either hard Masonite wooden board, or as soft roll-up plastic)... and it shows the 307 VW Showroom, the 309 Church, and the 310 Esso Service Station. The other buildings are just built models not related to any particular LEGO set. But from 1955-68... all building models were indeed 1:87 scale. Also... see that car in front of the main block... the one with in yellow with a grayish roof? That's an Opel Kapitän... a prototype vehicle that was never actually released for sale. About 8 prototypes are known to have "escaped" from TLG and are in private hands today. These are known in yellow, red and orange. I have seen a yellow one sell for over $4000 a few years back! In my collectors guide, I show several "flavors" of this rare car... IMHO the priciest single LEGO item (aside from all those overpriced golden bricks ).

Axle... please watch who you're calling "ancient".... lol..... The 607 VW Bus (as Vincent found in Bricklink)... is indeed the LEGO equivalent of the VW Samba Bus that you found. However the headlights and "indicators" (turn signals) at the front of the image you provided don't look quite like they are the LEGO version of this cast car design. The LEGO 607 Bus was introduced in 1965, and retired by 1968. It is very desireable in great condition, and command up to $100... more if in mint. There are 8 color combinations (upper/lower portion should always be a different color for LEGO)... and this is one of the possible combinations. The best way to tell is to check the bottom of the model. This image is from my 2,800 page Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (1949-90)... and shows what the underside of the 607 should look like.... with all metal wheels and "LEGO" at one end of the underside of the bus. These buses were made by several other 1:87 (HO Scale) cast vehicle makers. LEGO would be among the most valuable of the lot... good luck!! Also... here's another image from my collectors guide showing some of the color combinations of the VW Samba Bus (as well as VW Vans and VW Pickups)... the most valuable items in this image are the VW Vans/Pickups with promotional writing on the sides/top. Some of these are worth over 1000 Euros each!! (Images owned by my collector friend Jeroen of the Netherlands.)

Thanks lightningtiger!! Since you asked so nicely.... I'll give another little history lesson. Sometimes LEGO sets end up as promotional items even if they don't start out that way. One was the 6661 Mobile TV Studio vehicle set of 1989... that had a special order by a German TV station (WDR... West Deutsche Rundfunk) with special printed WDR panels for the vehicle... Another much older set was the 1957-64 VW Showroom Set... numbered 307 (also found as 1307 in Denmark, Norway, Sweden). This set was a small VW auto dealership set. The box shows the VW "shadow figure" (a common VW mascot in Europe from the 1950s)... and also the old LEGO "Gnome" a popular LEGO mascot from 1955-63... seen on LEGO boxes, catalogs and literature. Here's the neat set (this is the 1950s box style, there's also an updated 1960s box style)... Although the box top always mentions "VW LEGO"... the 1x8 brick in the box was a printed brick in the local language of the country it was sold in. Here's some variations... Denmark/Norway: VW SALG Sweden: VW FORSALJNING Germany/Austria: VW VERKAUF Finland: VW MYYNTI Belgium/France/Italy/Switzerland: VW VW VW Netherlands/Britain/Ireland/Australia: VW DEALER The really cool part, what I like to call the first "specialty" LEGO part... is the 8x3x3 showroom window... unique to this set (and to the 261 spare parts pack that has it).... http://www.bricklink...Pic.asp?O=261-2 This particular set shown belongs to a Belgian collector friend of mine named Rohnny. He got this set from a Belgian gentleman, who got this (still in wonderful condition) set as a young child. And the story behind this is a very interesting one... these were given away by Belgian VW Showrooms to the children of VW auto buyers. So this regular LEGO model set... was also used as a promotional set in Belgium.... so that the kids would badger their parents into buying a real VW auto... so that the kids would get this freebie... What a great marketing tool!! Just another one of the nearly hundred anecdotes I'm adding to my LEGO DVD/download... to put some

Although this set is WAY before your time for most of you "youngin's".... .... it really was one of the coolest and most unique of all LEGO service station sets. The 325 Shell Station was a 1966-70 set... and was just about the last of the 1955-67 Town Plan sets. Granted it is considered "diminutive" in the classic LEGO scale (1 door = 3 bricks tall)... it still posesses a charm that is the envy of many LEGO sets. This set had many firsts... 1) first set with yellow windows/door. 2) first set with gray large plates. 3) only set with yellow garage flip-up doors (a 1955-70 Town Plan feature with counterweights that would open the door). 4) the unique Shell gas pumps that sat "between" the studs... and not on them... 5) the 2x4 SHELL printed brick... first time (since they were introduced in 1955) that a printed brick was not a 1x6 or 1x8 brick. This set was also unique in that it had TWO service garage doors... every other one before or since had only one. And the 5 years that this set was produced... the real Shell corporate logo underwent a transformation... the sign went from upper case to upper/lower case... and by 1971... the Shell emblem stopped having the word "SHELL" in it (although that's not part of this set. But this set underwent some changes in the printed bricks.;.. the gas pumps... the emblems on the pricey 1:87 (#650) Shell Tanker Truck (4 different upper and upper/lower case emblem variations)... the garage doors themselves... which were clear with yellow painted edges on continental European versions... and all yellow (plastic) on the UK/Ireland/Australia versions. And even the 325 cardboard boxes themselves came in 3 different box versions... All in all this now very highly collectible set was a nice addition of the 1960s LEGO streetscape... even though this set was never sold in USA or Canada.... (Images from Chapter 7 of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD/download.) Gary Istok

Yes... the irony about LEGO basic sets and parts packs of 1949-65 was this... "what was on the box top had nothing to do with what was inside the box!! All the spare parts packs had colorful boxes and all the sets had beautiful scenes on the box tops... but none of it was an accurate description of what was inside!! Here's an example... the 1960-65 spare parts boxes... the outer box shows many colorful scenes... but not what was inside... that's found on the inner sliding drawer...

Sometimes I have to read things a few times before I can really absorb what I'm reading.... that's the case with the 1976 Business Week magazine article on LEGO above... It really is a fascinating read... between what it says, and what had already happened under Samsonite LEGO in the 1960s and early 1970s... the USA LEGO market really did undergo an enormous change in the mid 1970s. Samsonite was the USA LEGO licensee from 1961-72 (TLG was not big enough at the time to start LEGO sales by themselves in the early 1960s). So Samsonite used their Samsonite factories to produce LEGO for the USA (and also Canada via a Canadian Samsonite subsidiary). From 1961 until April 1965... all USA and Canada LEGO production were from a Samsonite plant in Stratford Ontario Canada (note: specialty parts, such as road signs, street lights, Esso accessories, LEGO 1:87 vehicles and flags... were still produced in Denmark). Then in April 1965 a new Samsonite plant in a Denver Colorado suburb called Loveland... opened a new 50,000 sq. ft. USA LEGO plant. Samsonite was selling LEGO the same way they were selling suitcases (the exact words of a 4th generation Samsonite family owner... named Ken Shwayder). And therefore they sold LEGO in a lot of department stores and thru catalog mail order sales. However Samsonite never exceeded $5 million in LEGO sales... this is why TLG started litigation in 1970 to get the license back from the USA... due to "underperforming of sales". This litigation ended by 1972... and in 1973 LEGO sales were from TLG... with all LEGO imported from Denmark for a few years... while the Enfield Connecticut LEGO production plant was being put together. What this meant was that TLG had to slow the sales increase of LEGO in Europe to about 10% (from what would have been a higher figure). So the European LEGO plants were at full capacity to produce LEGO for the USA... which by 1976 exceeded $100 million in sales... an enormous increase. To put this all into perspective... in 1973 USA LEGO products numbered only 19... compared to 125 different in Germany. By 1976 USA LEGO sales finally surpassed Germany (the top sales country for LEGO for 2 decades). By 1977 the Enfield LEGO plant was online... and production was diverted from Europe to the USA... for more sales growth. The irony is that even though USA was the worlds leading LEGO country by 1977... the number of LEGO products in the USA never did catch up to the number of different sets and products available in Germany and other countries in central Europe (some systems, such as 12V trains were not sold in the USA or Canada). Even though TLG took over LEGO sales in 1973... Canada, which had toe'ed the LEGO line better than the USA Samsonite subsidiary... continued to sell LEGO until about 1985... when after a hostile takeover of the Samsonite parent company (called Beatrice) by a Wall Street brokerage firm... reverted to TLG. This was followed in 1993 by British LEGO Ltd., licensed to Courtauld's Corp. of Britain (which had LEGO sales for Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand)... ended production of LEGO... finally reverting all the world's LEGO sales and production to TLG (Japan had followed suit in 1977). But that's another long story.... One of my new upgrades to my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (on DVD/download)... is to add all the anecdotal history of LEGO countries, products and sets to what is already an extensive assortment of information. I'm also adding a long historic narrative to about 100 "special" LEGO sets... that warrant more information than just the normal statistical data. My latest version of the collectors guide (all future upgrades are free to current owners) will be out in a few months... with about 400 additional images, 30 new (old and rare) sets, 4 new chapters, and about 200-300 more pages.

Ah yes... Clark Stephens Isodomos site... Clark and I have been acquainted for over 10 years, and often share images. As for LEGO sets since the 1970s... pretty much every set has been posted online in at least Peeron, Bricklink, et al. It's the older items, such as the 1955 Esso promotion, the 1967 Kellogg's promotion, and 1970 Anders Cereal promotions shown above that you won't find in other sites... ... not to mention these 90 LEGO wooden box sets (only about 10 mentioned on other sites).... http://www.youblisher.com/p/611594-LEGO-DVD-Download-Chapter-14-Wooden-Box-LEGO-Sets-1950-80/ ... or these even older Automatic Binding Bricks (1949-54) sets... http://www.youblisher.com/p/600446-LEGO-DVD-Download-Chapter-2-Automatic-Binding-Bricks-PRIMA/ ... from my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD/download.... ... that you won't find any other information on! But the newer stuff... everybody and their brother have the images.... just not always the whole story! Hi Joe... I see you posting on 1000steine as well.... Siku 1:87 vehicles are likely much more reasonably priced than the very highly sought after LEGO models. The same for the Wiking and Herpa models... especially since the high priced LEGO ones have a tendency to have the headlights fall out with even moderate use! Cheers, Gary Istok

If you are building specific builds... then Bricklink is the perfect forum to buy on. If shipping costs are a big concern then keep your overseas buying to a minimum. Also if you only buy say 100 grams of parts... then shipping won't break the bank. I think that for MOC buildings... Bricklink is the best place to buy. You cannot get the specific parts on Ebay that you can on Bricklink. Also Bricklink sellers are much more savy than Ebay sellers... about the knowledge of the LEGO parts, conditions, variations, etc. Bricklink sellers know better than to try offing you some chewed up parts.... or at least they better.

Well I was just adding some new images to the next update of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (free to current owners) download... First time I had ever seen the actual original packaging for the unnumbered Weetabix Castle set of 1970... Image from my Dutch LEGO Collector friend Richard Bintanja.... lucky him!! Got this at auction... with the parts in virtually mint condition!! Also... the UK flag appears also to be original to this set (according to the original owner)... although it's not pictured on the instructions. So this rare Weetabix Castle set came in a plain brown shipping box... very common for mail away promotional items.

The week is only 2 days old... and already I've found 2 more unkown LEGO sets... When I say unknown... I mean unknown to the general LEGO community... I have a bazillion LEGO catalogs, TLG retailer announcements, retailer catalogs, and other miscellaneous LEGO documentation... and by studying them closely I find new stuff all the time... especially the earlier (1950-70) documentation. For example... here's a 1953 LEGO retailer announcer sheet that dates to 1953... it announces the introduction of a 700/3a basic set... the 10x20 baseplate... and the introduction of the 2x8 and 2x10 bricks.... Or this November 1957 retailer announcement sheet that announces the introduction of many of the Town Plan era (1955-67) town spare parts packs... Here's the 2 new (old) unknown items I found in old catalogs.... #509 Duplo Jumbo Pack... a large plastic bag (unusual to find it this way) with 150 Duplo bricks and 2 Duplo trolleys. This was a Denmark only item from the mid 1970s. #501 empty wooden box... 1979... Switzerland. This box number is known in about 1/2 dozen variations (different boxes by continental European country)... and the Swiss 501 box is unique in that it is a box with a sliding white lid to it (with a white LEGO logo on a square red background. The one listed on Bricklink is a Dutch hinged lid lacquered wood finish box. The Belgian/French examples are similar to the Dutch one.... Always something new to discover... which is why my 2800 page DVD/download Unofficial Sets/Parts Collectors Guide will be 3000 page for the first update (free to owners).....

Naf... you discovered the most common way to come out of the Dark Ages... play LEGO with the kids... it's a sure harbinger of more LEGO in the future! For me... I'm the first "known" AFOL... I came out of my Dark Ages in 1979... while visiting relatives in Germany. I had a hearty midday meal at my great uncles house... and needed to "walk off" the meal... I walked 2 blocks to a stationary store... that happened to have in the back of the store on a dusty shelf... 2 1958-65 Retailer Windows/Doors boxes... where kids could buy individual windows (9 classic types) and doors in either red or white. I bought both retailer boxes for $20 each... as well as 25 spare parts packs for $2 each (Deutschmark equivalent).... and those 700 LEGO windows and spare parts from the 1960s brought me out of my Dark Ages for good. I say I'm the "first" AFOL... because in the 1987 WORLD OF LEGO TOYS book... I'm the only AFOL mentioned (page 30). I was interviewed over the phone by author Henry Wiencek. And the rest is history...