LEGO Historian

I really don't know Splatman... it is a shame to leave the complex to rot... at least the parts that they are not using for the jobs center. Since TLG still owns the complex, it would be nice to have it used for other things. We really don't know. And I use my contacts with the TLG folks "sparingly" ... so I don't know who I would ask about this. But parts of this complex do go back to 1956... so it has to be the most historic group of LEGO buildings outside of Billund. It does seem almost a waste to leave this complex way underutilized... I wonder if TLG has any other future uses in mind? Gary

Yes it does! And some folks were questioning whether it was a real deal (prototype?) or just a privately produced item. I think that it is the real deal... since most of these boxes just have a LEGO logo. This box would have been overkill as a privately produced item. Also that metal plate on the side... looks like it would be difficult to be produced and mounted privately. One thing that makes me think that it is a real item is that it has the standard 24 partitions (12 deep ones, 4 long shallow ones underneath, and 8 shallow ones in the pull out drawer)... these same 24 partitions are found in about 70% of all wooden box sets... and the sliding top is found in about 50% of all these boxes.

No TLG didn't overlook it... they just always take the path of least resistence... meaning that even with the UK/Australia 1960s cardboard "left driving" Town Plan board (different layout, but with same blocks)... they still use what to them would be a backwards parking scenario....

Those headlight bricks were used in 1969 and 1970s LEGO sets (and later). Here are some of them and the sets they came in... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=3010pb036e http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=3010pb035e And here are some of the grill bricks... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=3010p04 These headlight and grille bricks were NEVER found in parts packs with the named bricks... which were in packs from 1955-72.

I agree with you 1000% Electricsteam!!! The fact that TLG has not had a "Window System" in nearly 40 years is really a pity for the world's leading construction toy!! Ironically it was a huge assortment of 750 classic windows and doors that brought me out of my Dark Ages unexpectedly waaaaaay back in 1979, while visiting relatives in Germany! I was at my great aunts house for lunch with my mother and sister, after which I was so full of food I went for a walk for a few blocks from my great aunts house.... and came across a book and stationary store. Inside I found a pair of circa 1958-62 Retailer windows/doors boxes (back from 1957-67 LEGO windows/doors were sold as individual parts from LEGO retailers, but only in continental Europe). It was a red and a white FILLED retailer box (375 windows in each)... that I discovered had been sitting in this store for over 20 years on a dusty shelf... and purchased for $30 per box. This was what brought me back to collecting LEGO... (and plundering the small town toy stores across Germany on subsequent visits)... here are examples of the kind of retailer boxes I found... although mine were full boxes... Imagine my amazement after finding these 2 treasure chests full of LEGO windows/doors!! The best LEGO finds of my life!! Incidentally, there are now all the continental European windows/doors retailer boxes shown here in these posts... they are: 700 b/c Retailer WIndows/Doors Box (160 windows/doors, in red, white, blue)... 1954-56. 1231 1-10 Retailer Windows/Doors Box (160 windows/doors, in red)... 1957-58. 214 1-10 Retailer Windows.Doors Box (375 windows/doors, in either red or white)... 1958-65. 261 Retailer Windows/Doors Box (375 windows/doors, in either red or white)... 1966-67. These are discussed at length in Chapter 43 - LEGO Service Packs & Individual Parts Sales (1950-1990) of my LEGO DVD/download. Gary

In doing some of my old research about old LEGO, I became quite intrigued with Sweden. Reason is that on Sept. 3, 1967 Sweden went from being the last country in continental Europe that drives on the left side of the road... to switching over to the right side. This happened at 5AM Sunday 3 September... and took many years of planning for Sweden's governmental units to prepare for. The irony is that the people of Sweden voted in a primary NOT to switch over... but the lawmakers switched it anyway. There are a few LEGO items that TLG produced that are a relic of the pre-switchover left driving days in Sweden. When TLG came out with a soft plastic rollup Town Plan board in 1955... they came out with a right driving board fo Denmark and Norway, and a left driving board for Sweden. Here is one of those soft plastic boards... with the traffic lines on the left side of the road... In 1956 TLG switched to a smaller plastic board, but without any right/left markings. 1956 also saw the introduction of Masonite 1 piece Town Plan boards. For Sweden the blocks had a yellow border, instead of white... but again without road markings to differentiate it... Then in September 1959, when the new 1960s style cardboard folded Town Plan board was introduced.. TLG once again made a left driving version for Sweden that year... and also for a short time for Britain and Ireland in 1960 (until Britain started having their own boards made). Here is the left driving 1960s board that Sweden used from 1960 until 1967. Here is the entire very fascinating history of the switch from left to right side driving for Sweden in 1967... the entire story is very interesting... http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/history/driving_on_right.shtml These images are from Chapter 3 - LEGO Town Plan Sets & Boards (1955-70)... of my 2800 page Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD/download. Enjoy! Gary Istok

Thanks Spzero! Here is the original artwork on the back of 1958-60 LEGO spare parts packs. It for the most part matches the hand painted artwork on that prototype wooden box....

Now you have me stumped Stinky.... Cake in German is Kuchen... and pastry.... ummmmmm (I've been in the USA for over 40 years now... so it doesn't always come back easily...)... is it "gebäck"? Anyway... probably in German it would probably be "Bäcker" (although Konditorei also comes to mind). Usually German and Dutch are so very close to each other in words... and then some the words aren't even close!

Thanks Stinky... I did wonder about a few printed bricks... thanks for answering that one! Now if you could just tell me what KOEKS' BANKETT is?? (another Dutch printed brick)

One of the most unusual LEGO sets is this one... of German origin. This box has what appears to be a hand painted box top, that matches the box image on the back side of 1958-60 LEGO spare parts pack. This box top is unknown to the folks at the LEGO Archives. And the contents, while reminiscent of an Educational Set contents... has way more 10x20 thick baseplates than it should have (never more than 2). So this box may have been a prototype produced by the LEGO subsidiary, from the development center at the Hohenwestedt Germany LEGO HQ (see the LEGO in Germany thread for images of the German HQ complex). The very high quality box top artwork, as well as the metal plate with LEGO logo on the side... makes it unlikely that this was done outside TLG. If this was a German prototype... it was very nicely done!

Of all the different variations of LEGO sets produced in the last 64 years, few sets are as little known as the wooden box sets of 1950-80. LEGO sets made in wooden boxes should come as no surprise... after all most LEGO items that TLG produced until the 1950s were made of wood. But for some odd reason TLG made an unbelievably unique series of sets made with wooden boxes. Although no online databases list more than 15 sets, there are nearly 90 different wooden box sets that TLG produced during the 30+ years of their production. Here are 2 collage images of just some of the mind boggling number of different wooden box sets that were produced... The production of wooden box sets was a very difficult collection to bring together in one chapter of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide... Chapter 19 - Wooden Box Sets 1950-80. Because it was such a difficult taks, this was one of my favorite chapters to put together... as can be seen here on Youbisher. About 85% of these sets are totally unknown to most LEGO collectors. These sets were only identified (usually) by a Contents List that came in the set (no outside marking)... and once that sheet became lost, most of these sets no longer were identifiable. Here for the first time ever, I'm posting a link to this favorite chapter of mine... http://www.youblishe...O-Sets-1950-80/ I'll go thru the history of many of these rare and hard to document sets in the next few days... Enjoy! Gary Istok http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=73780

In the USA there are Newsstands still in a few major downtown areas.. but for the most part, they are a dying tradition. It used to be many cities across the country that had newsstands with newspapers, magazines, tobacco products and some sweets as well. But these were never really in big supply. Most American grocery and drug stores, as well as gas stations, sold tobacco and candy as well as newspapers.

I agree that Tobacco bricks are an oddity, especially in the smoke-free era in which we live today. In continental Europe tobacco shops were often also candy stores... so that would explain the connection for children. But since this was not the case in Britain, Ireland, Australia, USA or Canada... you will not find English language tobacco bricks in those countries. I checked my Chapter 44 of my DVD/download...http://www.youblishe...Parts-Stickers/ ... and here are the printed tobacco bricks by country.... (Belgium and Switzerland are bi-lingual... and Denmark has 2 different bricks)... TABAK - Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg. TOBAK - Denmark, Sweden. TOBAKK - Norway. TOBAC - France, Belgium, Switzerland. TABACCHI - Italy. TUPAKKAA - Finland. SIGARETTEN - Netherlands, Belgium. CIGARETTEN - Denmark.

Yes... those green Minitalia shutters (and the 12 pane 1x4x3 window) were the prototype for the modern LEGO shutters/windows. My friend Diana from the Netherlands provided this nice image and explanation about the differences between the 2 types.... http://www.bricklink...ic.asp?P=3856mi I agree 1000%!! LEGO is the world's leading construction toy, and it is a shame that TLG hasn't had as nice of a "window system"... like they had with the classic LEGO windows of 1956-86... As seen in this old 1957-58 Danish 1231 retailer windows/doors box....

Thanks Boxerlego... all the spare parts packs that were used with OLO were actual LEGO spare parts packs... imported to Japan from Denmark. The bricks and parts in those packs are regular LEGO parts packs... you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a Japanese 994 Fence Pack, and one made for Continental Europe. Only the 4 OLO basic sets... 025, 050, 075 and 100 are designated as OLO... although again all the parts are made in Denmark. Cheers, Gary Istok

Most people think of the first modern LEGO door as the 4 panes door introduced in 1978 with the arrival of the first minifigs.... However there was a prototype door for the opening 4 pane door that came out 8 years earlier... before even any figures (before the 1973 introduced maxifigs and the 1975 introduce minifig "stiffs"). This door was the 1970 introduced Minitalia door. Minitalia was a LEGO System made only for the Italian market starting about 1970. The Italian Parliament had passed some legislation making toy imports very difficult, so TLG established a plant in Italy to make a slightly different construction toy for the Italian market. Although these toys had "LEGO" on the box... it also had "MINITALIA" in large letters on the box. These Minitalia sets were produced from 1970-75, with the windows/doors produced for Italy and Japan as LEGO sets until 1980... in unique #1 and #2 LEGO sets... The slightly different Minitalia parts can be found here... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?catType=P&catString=394 Here is the first Minitalia 9 pane door design of 1970, next to a 1978 introduced LEGO 4 pane door design of 1978.... And here is the backside of the Minitalia and modern LEGO door (with some slight differences)... The rare Minitalia style door wsa produced in only 2 colors... white from 1970-75... and black in a LEGO set with Minitalia doors/windows from 1976-80. The black doors are much rarer than the white ones. Because these doors are compatible with regular LEGO... they are a highly prized addition to many LEGO MOCs... that like to show off this unique style door.... From Chapter 44 - LEGO Windows/Doors (1949-99), and Chapter 34 - LEGO Minitalia Sets & Parts (1970-80)... of my LEGO DVD/download. Gary Istok

There are some brick engravers that go to LEGO shows to print custom engraved bricks. Tommy Armstrong is one USA vendor of these. Here are the the printed bricks in a USA/Canada Samsonite LEGO #226 spare parts pack of 1961-66. Although the spare parts packs contained 10 printed bricks, there were only 7 different bricks for USA/Canada. So there wrere always duplicates included, as is seen here. Unfortunately the vast amount of different prints and colors of bricks did not include Samsonite LEGO.

Here's a small 1960-62 era promotional set from Germany. This is the small 210 Store Set. This set was sold in continental Europe, Britain/Ireland and Australia, and had a printed brick with local writing on it (such as KIOSK). In Germany it was known with TOBAK (tobacco), Würstchen (sausages) and Bäcker (bakery), but the side of the box did not show what writing was in the box, except as a hand marked notation in the white space underneath the set number. But around circa 1962 this set was used as a promotional set for the large German Department Store "KARSTADT". This set also had a unique printed side of the box showing the KARSTADT 1x8 printed brick. This box with printed brick is a very rare promotional set, and would command hundreds of Euros in mint condition.

Here's a small 1960-62 era promotional set from Germany. This is the small 210 Store Set. This set was sold in continental Europe, Britain/Ireland and Australia, and had a printed brick with local writing on it (such as KIOSK). In Germany it was known with TOBAK (tobacco), Würstchen (sausages) and Bäcker (bakery), but the side of the box did not show what writing was in the box, except as a hand marked notation in the white space underneath the set number. But around circa 1962 this set was used as a promotional set for the large German Department Store "KARSTADT". This set also had a unique printed side of the box showing the KARSTADT 1x8 printed brick. This box with printed brick is a very rare promotional set, and would command hundreds of Euros in mint condition. Note: the non-promotional versions of the 210 set would have a blank brick above the store image.

LegoGenre, yes it was very common for TLG to have different printing and different colors for the same country's text. The variations seem to be much more prevalent during the 1950s than the 1960s. I agree that these bricks appear to often be hand lettered. However, these were machine produced... but the lettering was not alwasy aligned correctly. Here are some factory seconds (mixed in with some worn factory firsts) that show the bricks were not always aligned properly, and the text is not centered correctly. The factory seconds were sold cheaply to employees to take home to their children. These seconds can be found at flea markets around Billund... and would command a good price as a novelty...

Today when you build a house or other construction, you often have to scramble to find the right parts that will do for LEGO windows. Not all modern windows are available in all colors unfortunately. And sometimes you have to use the backside of those headlight bricks in order to produce windows. TLG wasn't always so frugal in the windows/doors department... back in the mid 1950s the LEGO kids in Scandinavia were almost spoiled for colors... Here is a very rare retailer windows/door box (parts sold from these boxes as individual parts) from 1954-55. There are only 2 known of this box... both in the LEGO Archives in Billund Denmark. The folks at TLG let me have an image of this never before seen box. This shows the large LEGO windows/doors in 3 colors... red, blue and white... which were common to Denmark, Norway and Sweden... the only LEGO countries at that time... There was a large classic windows/door type with glass, and a smaller classic windows/door type without glass. These windows/doors were for use with the slotted LEGO bricks of 1949-56.... TLG also made the large classic windows/doors in a few other colors.... white for all 3 countries... green for Norway, yellow and orange for Sweden, and dark blue for Denmark.... And even the blue windows/doors came in a variety of colors... Then... in 1956 TLG switched from slotted bricks to non-slotted ones... and a whole new series of windows/doors were introduced... the ones we know of as the 1956-86 classic LEGO windows/doors with studs on top.... but sadly only in 2 colors for the first 10 years... red and white. Here is a (1957 introduced) Danish retailer windows/doors box... with individual parts for sale to customers... Images from Chapter 44 - LEGO Windows/Doors 1949-99 of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide... on DVD/download for easy desktop use... http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=73780

That would make for an interesting brick... never actually released... except as a "restrike".. Thanks for the replies folks... usually I leave people so stunned at LEGO items that they've not seen before that they're too numb to reply! Here's some specific country bricks... upper left France (1960s), upper right Italy (1960s), middle left Germany (1950s), middle right Germany (1960s), and bottom Denmark (1960s)...

My old LEGO friend Splatman..... How are you?? Yes the entire Hohenwestedt complex is still owned by TLG. They are using only the complex offices now... as a job center. Most of the complex however is silent and empty. But that's a good idea about using it for brick festivals! Here's the job center.... Another side of the jobs center...

Actually the "LEGO" 1x8 brick that is shown on all the set boxtops was not produced either (although in the later 1960s it was produced in other sizes). This LEGO brick was only produced for the box top image... and was a substitute for the local language bricks in each country. One of the most interesting bricks was the 308 Fire Station brick used in Belgium... it was the only known double sided printed brick (as shown in my LEGO DVD chapter link above)... and had POMPIERS (French) and BRANDWEER (Flemish) on the 2 sides. I imagine that there may have been a similar brick for Switzerland in French/German (POMPIERS/FEUERWEHR), but none has yet been located. Here are TAXI bricks... as found throughout Europe.... There are so many printed bricks from the 1950s and 1960s, that I started a dual thread on this topic... other images are found in General Discussion thread on 1x6/1x8 Printed Bricks... http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=81467

Many of us have seen The LEGO Story... video. But what we didn't see was this part, that never made it to the video... From a historical perspective... this would have been October 1957, when the Russians launched Sputnik into orbit. The ailing elder Ole Kirk Christiansen would only live another 3 months before he died of a stroke in early 1958 at age 67. His son (1 of 4) Godtfred Kirk Christiansen was already the LEGO Managing Director, and his grandson Kjeld Kirk was 10 years old at this time. The video shows Godtfred stepping on a hollow bottom brick (the tube bottom brick patent was still a few months into the future). This video also shows some wooden LEGO boxes that Kjeld is getting his bricks from. These wooden boxes would NOT be used by any other LEGO playing child in Denmark back then. The reason is that these wooden boxes were used by LEGO retailers for selling individual bricks to children. The LEGO retailer would buy small cardboard boxes of LEGO bricks (100 per box for smaller sizes, 25 per box for 2x8 and larger bricks)... and dump them into the large retailer box... selling them to children for between 6 øre and 35 øre each (2x2 brick was the cheapest, the 2x14 brick the most expensive). These retailer boxes came in 2 sizes... 4 partition boxes known in retailer catalogs as "700 K/4" and larger 5 partition boxes known as "700 K/5". It is interesting to see some of these boxes used in this video. Here are a group of all the wooden LEGO retailer boxes for bricks... from 1950-60. The tall box is the 1950-52 Automatic Binding Bricks box, the shorter longer ones are the LEGO Mursten boxes... the gray was the (4 partition) box for Norway, the 2 block letter boxes (4 and 5 partitions) were the 1952-55 retailer boxes... the 2 boxes with the "dogbone" going thru the LEGO logo are the 1955-60 retailer boxes. Here is a TLG retailer refill box for 2x3 yellow bricks.... (this box is a little later...1960-65)... Unfortunately the makers of the video used the 1952-55 box design, instead of the more appropriate to the time 1955-60 box design. The one shown in the Video is the right side, 2nd from top box. This image is from my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD/download... Chapter 43 - LEGO Service Packs & Individual Parts Sales.(1950-90)... still available in Eurobricks Bazaar.