LEGO Historian

Yes... it's ironic that 50 years ago making printed bricks was so easy... and now... it seems to be a lost art... As for the fonts on these bricks... there are so many different fonts that it would be hard to come up with them specifically. I do wonder if they chose them by font... or if the engraving machine has specific fonts as an option?? Here is a close up of some of the LEGO model sets with printed bricks (as shown on the box tops earlier in this thread). These flat box sets from 1956-65 are very highly sought after by old time LEGO collectors. Some of these boxed sets with inserts can easily command $500-$1000, depending on condition and contents. Here are a few from the collection of my Dutch LEGO friend Jeroen. These images can also be found in my LEGO DVD/download Chapter 7 - Early LEGO Town Model Sets...

These printed bricks are Dutch and German... Posterijen and P.T.T are earlier Post Office names for the Dutch Telephone/Telegrap & Postal company of that country. The POST Brick is the German version of their Post Office....

The 309/1309 Church set of 1957-62 has the very rare 1762 printed brick. This is known in 3 variations... 1762, ANNO 1762, and AD 1762. These bricks are highly prized, and cost $50+ each. Another old printed brick is the Train Station brick. It is known in German as BAHNHOF... and French as GARE. There are a few other train station signs, but there is not 1 for each language.

On Peeron there is a limit as to how many images you can look at... not sure what that limit is... but I reached it once when I was doing some large volume checking.

Here is a closeup of an OLO brick showing the backwards "K" design (the symbol in Japanese for OLO)... only thing is you can't tell which way the brick is supposed to be facing, if you didn't know that it was a backwards "K"... And here are the 4 OLO colors... red, white, blue and yellow... Both images from my Dutch friend Maxx, these will be in the LEGO DVD/download chapter on OLO.

Thanks LukeClarenceVan! Here's some images of Hohenwestedt... the LEGO capital of Germany (in the far north close to the Danish border)... There is a large compex of warehouses and development center buildings in Hohenwestedt... which from 1956-1999 was the sales and distribution site for all of LEGO in Germany. In 1999 TLG moved the sales department to Munich Germany far into the south. And all development activity was moved to the LEGO HQ in BIllund Denmark. Here is the (late) Axel Thomsen's house in the Hohenwestedt LEGO compound... Here is the old closed LEGO warehouse in Hohenwestedt... Here are the long quiet loading docks of the closed LEGO warehouse... Here's the closed LEGO Development Center in Hohenwestedt... And lastly the decaying road sign for delivery trucks... All these pics from my LEGO friend Sven, who visited here in 2011. These images are in my DVD/download... chapter on LEGO sales by country.

On 12 January 1956, there was a celebration at Axel Thomsen's house. Axel Thomsen was the Sales Agent for LEGO Germany, and his "Christening" of the introduction of LEGO was celebrated on that date. In March 1956 the first LEGO sets (in the German language) were sold in the north of Germany, near and around Hamburg. The 7 basic sets (largest to smallest... 700/1, 700/2, 700/3, 700/3a, 700/4, 700/5 and 700/6) were all introduced with this box design... And there were about 20 spare parts packs also introduced in March of 1956. These all had LEGO managing director Godtfred Kirk Christiansen.. on the box top disguised as a traffic policeman... All of these boxes had Godtfred's 3 children on the box top... Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, older sister Gunhild, younger sistter Hanne, and sometimes cousin Jörgen. Here is the photo of the January 12, 1956 Christening of LEGO Germany. Axel Thomsen is on the far right, with his wife Grete opposite him. To his right are Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, and Ole Kirk Christiansen (who was in ill health, and would be dead within 13 months). The first LEGO sales in early 1956 went very slowly. Many retailers in northern Germany wer sceptical that a toy importd from Denmark could be sold in Germany. So TLG started an advertising promotion at Cinema's around Hamburg. The result was many inquiries at Toy and Department stores in and around Hamburg... which due to demand, started carrying LEGO products. Enjoy! Gary Istok From Chapters 5 - 1949-65 Basic Sets, and Chapter 40 - Spare Parts Packs 1950-66, of my LEGO DVD/download. http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=73780

Well I'm going to hide this comment here... I'm working on getting the DVD/download reformated as a book... no details yet... but a book that may well be sanctioned by TLG. However... since nearly 3000 pages is way too much for any book... it will likely just be about LEGO sets of the last 64 years... which is covered in about the first half of the LEGO DVD/download chapters. So even if folks buy the book... the DVD/download will still be the "extended" unabridged version... crammed with much more information... Hoping for the best! Gary Istok

Here are some more named beams... MEJERI is a 1950s Danish brick for Dairy. The other bricks are all 1960s style sans serif. The GROCERY and STORE bricks are USA/Canada Samsonite LEGO bricks. The CAFE, STATION, CINEMA and DEALER are international named beams, and could have originated from many countries...

Prior to 1980 most LEGO sets were 3 digits, but not always. And with 3 digits that meant far fewer set numbers available. So many of the new to 1971 set numbers were reused in the late 1970s a second time. This was also the case in the 1960s. When you search one of the online databases for 3 digit set numbers... sometimes there are 2 or 3 different sets (of different years) with the same set number. By far the most common set number for LEGO was the number 700. From1949-55 ALL sets had a 700 prefix, followed by a second identifier... such as 700/1 or 700A... or for individual parts sales... 700 3/4 identified a 2x3 brick... since it was 3/4 of a 2x4 brick! There are about 200 LEGO items with the 700 prefix... which was used for sets from 1949-65... and the 700E (10x20 thick) baseplate was used for years beyond that. Here's a Danish December 1954 LEGO Retailer Catalog (image from my LEGO DVD/download)... showing everythng as 700x.... Gary Istok

The earliest LEGO spare parts packs with printed bricks was introduced in 1955. It was 1224 (sold in Denmark, Norway and Sweden). This particular pack is of Danish origin.... although 4 of these bricks are not Danish... Grand Theater is Dutch, BRANDSTATION is Swedish, KOLONIAL is Norwegian, and Theater is German. This style box was used from 1955-57. These early 1x6 and 1x8 bricks did not have the LEGO logo on the studs... but printed underneath. These early 1x6 and 1x8 bricks are different than later (1958-64) hollow bottom beams. These have both sizes with 3 partitions on the underside. Starting in 1958 the 1x8 brick had 4 partitions (3 cross supports) on the underside... and in 1964 both sizes started having the posts that we are familiar with today. Also... the "AUTO" brick shown on the box?? No engraved AUTO brick has ever been found in any collection. Gary

Thanks for your inquiry 1974... manual engraving machines have been around for some time. I have never seen how TLG engraved their bricks back in the 1955-75 era... never found any footage of this process, so I cannot begin to understand it. But the machine that did the engraving likely required some manual skills to run. This engraving process was likely tied into the "infill coloring" process. As I mentioned this wasn't an exact science, and errors were relatively frequent. Reason I know that, the engraving machine often went off kilter and produced printed and engrave bricks that were not centered correctly. Here are some 1955-65 era errors. These were sold to LEGO employees very cleaply as factory seconds. These seconds were used by the children of LEGO employees, and are often quite worn. This image also shows a lot of worn factory firsts as well... These parts can be found in flea markets in towns around Billund. Today engraving is a process more likely done by precision lasers. Gary Istok

When the printed bricks with names were first introduce in Denmark, Norway and Sweden in 1955, Norway was producing their own LEGO in Oslo, due to a toy import restriction. And for the first year or so, Norway produced printed bricks in a very unique way. They didn't have them embossed, but used decals for the printed bricks. These decals were very delicate, and soon started flaking off of the bricks. Intact old decaled Norwegian bricks are very difficult to find.. but here are some from my friend Lothar in Germany... very interesting... "DROSGE" bricks are "TAXI" in Norwegian. However the 2 printed bricks with this decal look different. One is a normal Drosge brick... the other had the decal too long for the end of the brick, so it was folded over, thus almost covering up the last "E". Gary

I know that this is going off on a tangent... but the 1957-63 flat box sets shown above are very highly prized among LEGO collectors. Within these flat box sets, the parts are very nicely held in place by inlays. Here's an example of a 50s/60s inlay... ... this is the 236 Garage Set... and there's a GARAGE 1x8 printed brick on the upper right side...

Here are some very nice VW named beams... these were sold in European 306/1306 VW Service Garage Set and 307/1307 VW Showroom Sets (note: the 4 digit set numbers were used in Denmark, Norway, Sweden only from 1957-58, before switching to 3 digit numbers). Here are the different printed bricks for VW... For the VW Service Garage... the VW GARAGE and VW SERVICE were used in many European countries, and UK, Ireland and Australia. The VW SERVICIO was for Italy, the VW GARASJE was for Norway. For the VW Showroom... the VW SALG was for Denmark and Norway, VW VERKAUF for Germany, Austria and Luxemburg, the VW FORSALJNING for Sweden, VW MYYNTI for Finland, VW DEALER for UK/Ireland/Australia and some continental countries, such as the Netherlands. The VW VW VW was for other miscellaneous countries in Europe, such as Belgium. The serif style printing on these bricks was for 1958-60 sets, and the more modern san serif style printing was for 1961-64 sets. Here are the VW Service Garage Set (lower left) and VW Showroom Set (lower right), along with the 308/1308 Fire Station Set (upper left) and 309/1309 Church set (upper right). These last 2 sets is where the Fire Station viariations and 1762 brick variations originated from (although the Fire Station type bricks were also found in 226 spare parts packs). These set box images are of the 1957-59 type... new boxes were introduced in 1960. These boxes are VERY desirable... a near mint box of any of these 4, with all the inlays (the parts are held in place by inlays)... can fetch $1000 on Ebay easy! Also... for the 307/1307 VW Showroom sets... there was a large strange looking plastic showroom window...with a size of 3x8x3 that was sold in a separate spare parts pack (so you wouldn't have to buy the 307/1307 set in order to build the model. This was the 261 Showroom parts pack... which contained a 1:87 VW Beetle, a large plastic showroom window a 4x8 white plate, and a 1x8 VW printed brick with the language of the country in which it was sold. In this image below (all these images are from my friend Jeroen of the Netherlands)... these parts are held together only by a Banderole in the language of that particular country (no box). These 2 examples are Dutch (left) and Danish (right)... (as seen in my LEGO DVD/download chapter on Parts Packs)... Note: the showroom window front is facing up... Enjoy! Gary Istok

Thanks all my Dutch collector friends!! Interestingly enough... TLG produced the most number of different printed bricks for Denmark (obviously).. at about 17 or 18... Next highest number were Dutch and German... at about 14 different each. One of my favorite Dutch is GRAND THEATER... which was not sold elsewhere.... even though it is more universal in name. Another interesting Dutch one is "KOEK' BANKETT". The SLAGTER was produce as SLAKTER in Norway... but I've never seen a METZGEREI or SLAGER brick. I have seen "Würstchen" in Germany though... The really rare ones are those from Finland... the Esso brick comes in 3 known varieties... ESSO WAGENPFLEGE for Germany, Austria and Luxembourg.... ESSO SERVICE for international use... and ESSO HUOLTO for Finland. Among the most valuable ones are the ones with "1762"... since these only came in the 1957-62 307/1307 Church Set. This is known in 3 variations... "1762", "ANNO 1762" and "1762 AD". These can go for over $50... especially when in rare blue or red text. And the Finland printed bricks can go for even more!!

Well yes... now you can tell them to take a hike! LEGO has never had roof tiles that were anything other than sloped bricks. From day 1 of LEGO in 1949 TLG used regular bricks for roofs, pyramid style, but since they were hollow bottom until 1958... they could not overhang the side of the building. Then in 1958 with the advent of tubes on the underside of bricks, the first sloped bricks were born (45 degree)... in red. 2 years later (1960) blue slopes were introduced... there were 13 different slopes altogether... of which 12 are still produced today. Only this one was retired in 1972.... (ignore the 1957-1969 dates in BL... they should be 1959-1972)... http://www.bricklink...gItem.asp?P=962 LEGO 1x1, 1x2 and 2x2 flat tiles were introduced in 1965... but not used for roofs (except maybe a flat roof. And then other degree LEGO slopes were introduced starting in 1971 (33 degree). But TLG has NEVER produced a roof "tile" besides sloped bricks. Only in modern times have SNOT techniques been advocated for LEGO sets, including roofs, so that's not what they were talking about. Your family must have LEGO Dimentia! Gary Istok

Posted something simiar in Town for all the nice printed MOCs... Back in the early years of Town... from 1955 when the first Town Plan accessories were introduced by TLG until 1975 TLG produced an almost endless number of printed 1x6 and 1x8 white bricks with printing in local languages, and sometimes international words... such as GARAGE, KIOSK, HOTEL, RESTAURANT and ESSO SERVICE. These printed bricks came in an endless assortment of printed colors in the late 1950s, and came with a more streamlined printing in the 1960s and 1970s. Most of these bricks came in a parts pack of 8 bricks (until 1957, and 7 bricks thereafter in pack 226 and sold in all countries from 1956-66. Here are some sample printed bricks.. or named beams as they are also called... Theatre & Cinema (Kino, Theater, Grand Theater)... Fire Station... In German, Danish, Swedish, Dutch/Flemish, English... These are just 16 of a vast number of different bricks. Here is chapter 48 of my 2800 page Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD/Download... the chapter on LEGO Printed and Painted Parts... hundreds of printed bricks are shown here in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, German, Dutch, Flemish, French, Italian, French, English (UK, Ireland and Australia), and American English (USA/'Canada).... http://www.youblishe...Parts-Stickers/ Enjoy! Gary Istok P.S. My Collectors Guide as an instant computer desktop download (688MB) is available in Eurobricks Bazaar..

I posted something similar on General Discussions... but this is probably even more appropriate for the Town folks... I've seen some really awesome MOCs... from MAPLEVILLE... to the Miami Beach Deco COCOA HOTEL confection, and some of the entries in the SERVO competition... Back in the early years of Town... from 1955 when the first Town Plan accessories were introduced by TLG until 1975 when the minifig stiffs first came out (that would turn in to true minfigs in 1978)... TLG produced an almost endless number of printed 1x6 and 1x8 white bricks with printing in local languages, and sometimes international words... such as GARAGE, KIOSK, HOTEL, RESTAURANT and ESSO SERVICE. These printed bricks came in an endless assortment of colors in the late 1950s, and came with a more streamlined printing in the 1960s and 1970s. Most of these bricks came in a parts pack of 7 bricks numbered 226 and sold in all countries from 1956-66. Here are some sample printed bricks.. or named beams as they are also called... these are food related... either Baker (in German and Danish) or Butcher (in Danish)... Here is chapter 48 of my 2800 page Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD/Download... the chapter on LEGO Printed and Painted Parts... hundreds of printed bricks are shown here in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, German, Dutch, Flemish, French, Italian, French, English (UK, Ireland and Australia), and American English (USA/'Canada).... http://www.youblisher.com/p/603214-LEGO-DVD-Download-Chapter-48-LEGO-Printed-and-Painted-Parts-Stickers/ It's too bad that spare parts packs of some printed bricks weren't available today... Enjoy! Gary Istok P.S. My Collectors Guide as an instant computer desktop download (688MB) is available in Eurobricks Bazaar...

Thank you for that link Def!! Wow!!! The Japanese may not be the fastest fans in the world at embracing LEGO... but they sure do play catchup FAST in the MOC department!!! Wonderful creations!! And thanks for that feedback on LEGO really catching on in the last 5 years! One point I wanted to make about the white LEGO city (a beautiful construction!!). A few years back there was a big LEGO fest in Oslo Norway, where TLG made a huge amount of LEGO available for the general public to build with... all white of course... and they built some stunning buildings lined up one after another. I do believe that if you take away the "variable" of color... that the speed with which building can proceed is amazing. People aren't bogged down by trying to decide what colors to choose (or to find them). With all white.. it makes it just pure architecture... and the amount of building that can be done in a short time is quite amazing! Good Job Sapporo!!

Here is a glued display models from the early 1960s showing the Houses of Parliament Clock Tower, now known as the Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben. This tall model was likely available in Britain and Australia as a traveling model....

Thanks all... glad I could be of help... Speaking of LEGO retailers... the British LEGO Ltd. model shop created this beauty in the 1960s for LEGO retailers in Britain and Australia... the west front of York Minster... largest medieval cathedral in Britain... And here is a 1963 UK Magazine ad showing a LEGO display. The model shown were actually built UK/Australia models... I know a Dutch collector who has these actual glued models (the buildings and the London Bus). This was the first "Palace Cinema" building... with the new 10232 modular Palace Cinema being the 2nd one! And here's another LEGO set that was only sold in Britain/Ireland/Australia... the very rare 380 Village Set of 1971.... And here's a 1979 Weetabix Cereal Ad for the 1589 Town Square Set from British LEGO Ltd. Unfortunately this one was a UK only set... but it is still a beauty!

Welcome to posting on the Eurobricks Forum snibber66 !! Wooden box sets are very difficult to identify. And the reason for that is that over 95% of them have no identification on the outside of the box. Usually a Contents List (with an inventory of the parts) was the only way to identify these wooden sets. And most of the time that sheet of paper got lost. Your description of the LEGO catalog that you mentioned could date it as early as 1966 or as late as 1970 (in 1971 the had a new format). Your set is likely an Educational wooden box set... such as the 700K. I've also heard that Australian wooden boxes were known as "A2" for sets going into the 1970s. The other larger booklet shown in my 4 box image is the Building Ideas No.2... otherwise known as the 238 Building Idea Book (it came in 12 different variations throughout the world). Some things help date wooden box sets... such as if your tires are gray... that dates to 1967 and before... black tires dates to 1968 and later. Also your windows is a good measurement... if there is a protruding window sill in front of the windows... the date to 1969 and before... if they have no sill... that dates to 1970 and later. So there are quite a few little clues to look for in dating old LEGO sets. Here are the contents lists from 3 old wooden box sets... (left to right)... a German 700 wooden box... a German 700/K Educational wooden box, and a Belgian 700/K wooden box... they all have different part counts... and where there is a number (instead of a descriptive) that usually means parts pack number where the parts are available in. Cheers, Gary Istok P.S. My 2800 page DVD/download chapter on wooden box sets, identifies and shows 80+ different ones. No online LEGO database has more than 10! ____________________________________________

You are most welcome howie28! I've had a run of my LEGO DVD/download purchases in Australia as of late... (all states... including Tasmania and Capital Territory... just not the Northern Territory)... so my way of saying THANKS to all my LEGO friends down under! Here are some very interesting variations of old LEGO parts only found in Britain, Ireland and Australia... Top left:..... Australian flag with (1966-72) tapered base... only found in Britain, Ireland and Australia 442A and 442B spare parts packs. Top middle:.... the (1956-66) continental European/USA/Canada Esso sign/pumps upper middle/lower right and the (1962-66) Britain, Ireland and Australia Esso sign/pumps lower middle/lower left. Top right:...... The 939 (1973-79) Stickered Flags/Road Signs/Antenna Parts Pack flag stickers for continental Europe these came with only the 2 large sticker sheets. For the 939 of Britain, Ireland and Australia... they came with the same 2 large sticker sheets, but also the small sticker sheet with the Irish and Australian flag. Middle:..... Britain/Ireland/Australia (1966-72) road signs (432 parts pack)... with road signs with white base. Bottom left:.... Britain/Ireland/Australia (1965-66) very shortlived 4x8 curved plates with 2 notches (a feature of all future curved plates). These were not found in any sets outside of these 3 countries. All other 4x8 curved plates of all countries (1955-66) had no notches. Bottom middle:... Flagpole top variations... Left side (rounded top) 1957-65 all countries and 1966-72 continental Europe. Right side (flat top) 1966-72 all different tapered base flags sold in Britain, Ireland and Australia have this flat top. Only found in these 3 countries starting in 1966. Bottom right:..... Britain, Ireland and Australia street lights. Elsewhere, silver girder streetlights sold... from 1962-66 these sleek street lights were sold only in Britain, Ireland and Australia. From 1962-64 these were spray painted silver. From 1965-72 they were unpainted gray in color. This type of street light was only sold in these 3 countries. Enjoy! Gary

LEGO in Australia.... It all started on a North Sea ferry boat in the late 1950s... when Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, the new Senior Director of LEGO Company was on one of his infamous ferry trips where he often made history (such as the 1954 trip where a department store owner gave him an earful that sparked the LEGO System)... But in 1958 it was an executive of Courtauld's Ltd., a British Textile and Chemical company. This gave Godtfred an opening for marketing LEGO in Britain and Ireland.... and later in Australia. When the first LEGO sets were sold in Britain and Ireland in 1960... British LEGO Ltd. (the Courtauld's subsidiary LEGO licensee name) imported the first sets from Denmark in 1960 and 1961. Then by 1962 British LEGO Ltd. had their Wrexham Wales (Courtauld's) plant come online with LEGO moulding machines. 1962 was also the year that LEGO sales in Australia were introduced via imports from British LEGO Ltd. The first LEGO catalog in Australia was this 1962 catalog.... note... the Australian Pound (in Pounds/Shillings/Pence) was still in use before Australia switched to the dollar in 1966... One of the first sets sold in Australia... was the 810 Town Plan set... (the one on the right was the Britain/Ireland/Australia version (1962-66)... the one on the left was continental Europe/Japan version). And then there's the 700K wooden box set variations... the top and middle sets (from Denmark) were sold in Britain in 1960 and 1961, and the British LEGO Ltd. made bottom 700K wooden box was sold in Britain and Australia (1962-66)... as seen in the 1962 catalog.... And also starting in 1962 there was this unique 600/1 British/Irish and also Australian Basic set (not sold in continental Europe)... It was only sold in continental Europe as a 700/1 set (same parts only red/white)... Here is a very interesting little parts pack boxes. From 1960-63 all European and British parts pack boxes were produced as 2 piece boxes... with a sleeve on the outside, and a drawer box on the inside. In 1963 TLG switched to 1 piece "Kliklok" boxes for continental Europe, but Britain, Ireland and Australia kept the 2 piece boxes until 1966. So TLG likely shipped leftover 2 piece boxes to Britain to fill for British LEGO Ltd. boxes. And some of these were shipped to Australia as well. In 1964 small plates were introduced to Britain, Ireland and Australia (they were introduced in cont. Europe in 1962, USA/Canada in 1963)... and rather than come up with new boxes for these... British LEGO Ltd. used the leftover TLG boxes and put a sticker on the 2 ends of the boxes for many of these sets. The irony of this 509 yellow plates parts pack box is that they used (bottom of box image)... a 210 small store set box (from the design on the bottom) and put stickers on the sides to convert this from a $150 value box... to a $15 value box!! I half seriously suggested to the Aussie owner of this box.. that he try using a hair dryer to heat up the ends to see if the 509 stickers could come off clean... there's plenty of common vintage parts available to remake this into a 210 box.... And finally there are these very unique... Australian wooden boxes from the late 1960s and 1970s. The upper right box (#90 Super Set) was also sold in Britain/Ireland, but the other 3 blue and white boxes are unique to Australia, and may have been produced there... All images are from my LEGO DVD/download Chapters on LEGO Town Plans, LEGO Basic Sets, LEGO Parts Packs, LEGO Wooden Boxes, and LEGO Counterfeits vs. The Real Thing. Australia is very well represented!!!