LEGO Historian

There aren't a lot of sets that were Canada only... but there are about 20. One of the most interesting is what is known as the Double Wheel Toy Set of 1963-66... a large blue LEGO locomotiive set. This Samsonite LEGO set was only sold in USA and Canada. In the USA version... the box was very tall (as were USA sets 702, 703, 605 and 905). And the box doesn't quite look like a model set, so the USA version has generally not been as desirable as the Canadian version.... USA version.... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?O=610-4 Canadian version.... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?O=610-3 I remember seeing the USA version selling on EBAY for $18 a few years back... and a few months later the Canadian version sold for $383. Of course auctions are always dependent on "a good day" where more people are interested in a particular item.

Danim, I always thought the same thing... but it seems that Tuberculosis is spread by breathing in the air (as I suddenly sneeze)... when someone nearby with TB cough's sneeze's, talks or sings. Since these (below) are NOT ways to catch it, I suppose that touching a TB patient packed LEGO boxes would not be harmful.... Shaking a TB person's hand. Sharing a TB person's food or drink. Sharing a TB person's tooth brush. Kissing a TB person. But it comes across as something that would likely dampen LEGO sales if we knew it was packed that way! Oh... and although the first image of the clinic patient is in my LEGO DVD download... the 2 images of the Icelandic LEGO parts packs will be in the next available release of the LEGO download (in about 6 months)... free to all owners of the LEGO collectors guide download.

LEGO sales in different countries around the world started in many different ways... in the USA and Canada it was thru a licensee (today unknown) company called "Shwayder Brothers"... which in 1965 was renamed for their most famous product "Samsonite" (that's why you will see "Shwayder Bros." in USA 1961-64 LEGO sets and ads).In Britain, Ireland and Australia Lego was sold thru a company little known (outside the UK) chemical/textile licensee company called Courtauld's.... which immediately established a subsidiary called British LEGO Ltd. and produced LEGO for those countries from a Courtauld's plant in Wrexham Wales (hence the "British LEGO Ltd., Wrexham Wales" printing on LEGO ads in those countries).But no country had a more unusual beginning than LEGO sales in Iceland. WIth only a population of about 320,000 people, Iceland was a very small market for LEGO. So TLG really didn't want to invest a lot of money on such a small market.So a Copenhagen Denmark company called ELMODAN (owned by Dane Elmo Nielsen) signed an agreement to sell LEGO in Iceland, and was signed the 22th of November, 1954. The first LEGO molds were sent to Iceland on January 29th 1955. But this was no ordinary agreement.... because the producers and packers of LEGO sets in Iceland was a Tuberculosis sanitarium in Iceland called "Reykjalundur. And from 1955 until the end of September 1960 these sets with LEGO parts were not called "LEGO"..... but were called "SIBS Kubbar". If anyone in Europe ever finds one of these so far unknown named sets, all I can say is...$$$$$.Starting in late September 1960, the name on the boxes was changed to "LEGO System". However, these sets still had the "REYKJALUNDUR" label on the sides of the boxes... and again if found would command a lot of Euros!!Below are 3 images... the first is Reykjalundur Tuberculosis patients packing LEGO sets in 1960 (maybe "sneeze guards" weren't invented until "Salad Bars" came into style many decades later? :cry_sad:The 2nd and 3rd image show a small LEGO spare parts pack (of 1960-63) with the "REYKJALUNDUR" (complements of German Thomas Rosner) logo on the side. Up until last week I had never seen these boxes before. I sent the Billund Archives the box images (I already had the clinic image)... and they were astonished, since they had never seen these before, and had no examples of these boxes in their collections. They thanked me, and gave me all the information that they had on record in their inventory (which is one way how I compiled much of my information in my LEGO Collectors Guide DVD/download).... enjoy a newly discovered piece of LEGO history..... :classic:Cheers,Gary Istok

Good point.... when I created my 2,800 page UNOFFICIAL collectors guide, I had to use that word... UNOFFICIAL... per TLG... since it was privately produced, and not a LEGO sanctioned item (although their Archives folks are very happy with me, since I found items that they were not aware of! :) )

Building any skyscraper in the minifig scale is almost too challenging and very expensive. I built a few in the classic scale (Town Plan 1:87 scale) of 1956-77.

I would also be careful about taking YOUR OWN LEGO into a LEGO retailer... You better have that pre-approved as well, or keep an itemized list...

Tomorrow (Mon) is the day of reconning... I'll private message you, rather than muck up the board...

Also, I do believe that LEGO's use of the name "Automatic Binding Bricks" was an attempt to sort of separate their Kiddicraft imitations from real LEGO products. TLG was pround of their "LEGO" brand name, and had it plastered all over their LEGO wooden and other plastic products. But it didn't show up on the Automatic Binding Bricks boxes until 1952 (their 4th year of production), and it wasn't until 1953 that the words "Automatic Binding Bricks disappeared from TLG produced LEGO boxes, to be replaced by "LEGO Mursten". Interestingly enough when TLG got their molding machines from the manufacturer to make plastic bricks... the mold manufacturer included real Kiddicraft molds to show how easy it was to produce part. TLG must have looked at those molds (like other toy manufacturers all over continental Europe), and had their own molds made up that were variations of the "un-patented in their country" Kiddicraft bulding system. One last thing... in Chapter 2 of my LEGO DVD/download, I mention that perhaps one reason that the LEGO Archives are so mum on "Automatic Binding Bricks", and why it wasn't until many decades later that the LEGO Vault purchased Automatic Binding Bricks from the secondary market, may have been due to some fear about litigation. That's just speculation on my part... but when one connects the dots... I may not be far off the mark.

Here's another clone called ABC Copex, which was a 1950s French clone of Kiddicraft... Their windows and door designs are exactly like Kiddicraft and LEGO's Automatic Binding Bricks.

Yes LEGO did clone Kiddicraft... but the caveat is that back in the 1940s and 1950s there were so many toy companies that were copying each others "non-patented" products it's almost laughable. TLG was one company to copy the Kiddicraft product, but only for 4 years before they changed designs to other designs (the only new similarity was that the bricks had studs on top). There was Geas Konstharts of Sweden and Svein Strømberg of Norway that produced the same bricks, windows and doors, but in different plastics. And then there was an Austrian company that created a product called "WUNDERSTEINE" (Wonderbricks) at the same time with the same parts...... There are at least a 1/2 dozen different companies throughout Europe that produced the same designs as Kiddicraft. Kiddicraft made the mistake to only Patent their toy in Britain, Switzerland and a few other countries. These other clones were produced elsewhere. And by the time that Switzerland started LEGO sales in 1957, the product was so different, that the Swiss Kiddicraft patent did not apply to the completely different LEGO toy by then As for LEGO and its' strict legal protection... they never tried to stop other companies from using studs on their bricks... they were only protecting their 1958 "tube in brick" LEGO patent.... although they were quite aggressive in their legal dealings. There is an entire chapter in my LEGO DVD download that shows many of the LEGO/Kiddicraft clones and other similar brick systems from the 1940s to the present.

Believe it or not... this is the first time EVER that all of these very rare 1954-56 tall classic LEGO Panorama windows (1x6x4 instead of the normal 1x6x3)... have ever been seen together in all colors... (I did a cut/paste of 2 images)... these windows are so rare that the cheapest ones (red and white would likely go for about 25 Euros each, the blue and dark blue would likely go for about 50 Euros each... the rare yellow (Sweden only) ones would go for at least 80 Euros, and the very rare (Norway only) one would go for over 100 Euros.... Note the variations in the colors... (window images courtesy of Lothar and Jeroen). These very rare windows are found in my LEGO DVD/download - Chapter 44.2 Early Classic LEGO Windows/Doors with Wings(1954-56). The Billund Archives was unaware of the yellow and green ones until I sent them an image. Just another of the thousands of LEGO things that you probably never knew about... in my LEGO collectors guide as download....

Allan is an acquaintance of mine, and since I'm give a review.... I fully approve of this book!

LOL the Joker1.... you should get my 2800 page LEGO DVD download (over 6000 interesting/rare/historic images).... Just ask anyone who owns a copy... the you would be able to about.... There's more lots more.... http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=73780

Interesting questions, and I can't argue with any of the replies... thanks for that little anecdote Davee... didn't know that one. These "Miniig Stiffs" as I fondly call them came out in 1975, but didn't work out quite right. The hats and the heads didn't change by 1978 (except for adding faces). But the upper and lower torsos were awkward, and could not be made to do anything. In fact they could not sit down. One had to dismember them in order to do that. Sets 696 and 617 show that awkwardness.... http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/696-1?showpic=9657 http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/617-1?showpic=9804 One of my favorite sets was the Coast Guard sets of 1977-78. In continental Europe/Britain/Australia it came out in 1977 with the stiffs in set 369.... http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/369-1?showpic=7238 And in USA/Canada it came out in 1978 with regular minifigs.... http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/575-1?showpic=7237 The minifig stiffs were discontinued in 1978 with the one exception already mentioned. The 1592 Weetabix (UK) and UNOX Soup (Netherlands) 1592 Town Square Set did have a minifig stiff as a statue in the middle of town... with black hat, black minifig head, and black upper and lower torso... http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/1592-1?showpic=5761 I don't think that when these came out that TLG planned on them being temporary. Perhaps feedback from retailers and children caused TLG to change the design. Back in 1957 German retailers were complaining to TLG that the hollow bottom LEGO bricks were not versatile enough... so TLG invented the tube bottom brick to take care of this complaint. Perhaps the minifig stiffs also received complaints as to their versatility... and soon changed for that reason. One example where a quick change was not likely to do with customer tastes was the early 1970-74 granulated trees and bushes. These were quickly eliminated because TLG found that young children were chewing on the granules... or in some instances they came off easily, and became choking hazards. But when the minifig stiffs first came out... I don't think they did so with the idea of being temporary... maybe just "evolutionary" as they truly were...

Prototypes, or "test strikes" are usually red. What some of those pieces could be is model shop inventory. The model shops got LEGO parts produced in colors not released in sets. And model shop excess inventory often find their way into PAB. And then you have some weird parts, such as the Monarch's Ghost... which is known in its' regular fluorescent green hue, and 1/2 other rare colors...

It does appear that this may indeed have been a test piece! Red was the common color for test strikes. I have never seen a test strike for a decorated part, but that doesn't mean they didn't make them! They may just not have gotten out of the factory. In this case the test was not the part... but the print... TLG may have just taken a regular 3x4 33 degree red slope, and tested out the pattern on some of them. It may have taken several tries to get the pattern right, and I don't think your piece is necessarily worn... it may just have been a non-complete patterning of the part. But I do believe you may have a nice patterned test piece! What is odd is that this patterned piece (and its' 2x3 slope counterpart in white with purple tiles) was only ever used for the 4161 Pink Suitcase Set. I purchased 5 of those back in the 1990s, and the rare parts were those roof tiles, and the 1x6 white bricks with a flowered pattern arch imprinted. Why they were both only in that 1 set is puzzling...

If you're talking major LEGO stud fonts (but something tells me you may be talking boxes)..... there are only 4 major fonts (from Chapter 49 - LEGO Bricks of my LEGO DVD/download).....

Amen.... the first minifigs that came out in 1975 were what I call "minifig stiffs"... no arms/legs.... just upper and lower torso's with faceless heads. The first non-yellow minifig head was one of those faceless ones that was in the 215 Indian Set of 1977 (part of the semi-Homemaker "Lego Sets With People)... it was a papoose with a red head. One of the most interesting LEGO set variations consisted of the 1970s Coast Guard set... the European 369 set came out in 1977 with the minifig stiffs... and when they came out in North America in 1978, the set was the 575 Coast Guard Set with the "new" regular minifigs. An interesting pair of sets. But I grew up with LEGO back before there were figurines, and it was just an architectural toy. It has sort of evolved from that more to a "dollhouse" type toy today... most sets seem to have a need for inside/outside fixtures with minifigs... and today sets that contain minifigs are more like "Hollywood movie lot buildings"... a facade and some walls... but nothing in the back....

Does it have a LEGO logo on all the studs? If not, it's not LEGO. But you had me excited for a moment thinking that you had actually found one of these... a white brick with the red roof pattern (instead of purple).... this set was never produced (for Britain) and no examples of this white brick with red pattern are known....

I put an assortment of old rare LEGO parts out onto EBAY.... Different parts from 1949-56... the Automatic Binding Bricks era (windows/doors very rare and expensive).. http://www.ebay.com/itm/150907649014?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 http://www.ebay.com/itm/150907633503?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 1956-58 Hollow Bottom Brick era.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/150908554213?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 And some rare MINT early Macaroni bricks in the 1/2 circle size (1955-57 only).... http://www.ebay.com/itm/150907556699?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Speaking of rare LEGO parts... here's what LEGO parts looked like from 1949-56.... (this is the underside) these are known as Automatic Binding Bricks from 1949-53 and LEGO Mursten until 1956)... these are also known as slotted bricks... where the thin windows and doors were held in place by the slots... And in 1956 TLG started producing the classic LEGO windows/doors that no longer needed slots on the sides of bricks... the windows/doors now fit onto the studs. The 1956-58 windows/doors had solid studs... replaced with hollow studs in 1958. These are known as "hollow bottom" bricks... Another oddity that was produced from1955-57 only were 1/2 macaroni bricks (with and without the notches on the sides)... as well as the regular (1/4) macaroni bricks, also with and without slots on the sides. In 1957 only the 1/4 macaroni with the notches were continued... the other 3 types were permanently retired. I just put these all out on Ebay as LEGO Mursten bricks..

People hate this story... and for good reason.... 1980-83.... 10 Yellow Castles $20 each. 10 6390 Main Streets $20 each 34 760 London Bus Sets $7 each 40 455 Lear Jet Sets $2 each All MISB....

Thanks!! I've already had placards printed with that window image... the North Rose at Chartres Cathedral donated circa 1230 by Blanche of Castile (reigning widowed mother while St. Louis IX King of France was still in his minority). Unfortunately, although I have been to France twice, I've not been to Chartes (even though it's only 35 miles from Paris). It's the most spectacular church in the world for medieval stained glass... with 176 surviving medieval windows.... and the north rose is my favorite, although the south rose there... and the north and south roses at Notre Dame are way up there as well....

Well I was investigating converting my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (1949-1990s) to a KINDLE book to sell on Amazon.com... I was reading thru the tutorial and all was going great until I read that "all Kindle Books have to be 50MB or less".... OoooooooooooKaaaaaaaaay.... that means that at 688MB my (6000 images) 2800 page 73 Chapter guide would have to be split up into 14 Kindle Books!!!!!!! Well so much for Kindle.... in order to make it all one Kindle Book... all my 6000 images would have to be postage stamp size! So I guess that the guide will have to stay as a Computer Desktop E-Book. It only takes 6-15 minutes to download, so I don't fully understand the Kindle extreme limitations... although I guess most Kindle books must be mainly text. Oh well... splitting the book into 14 Kindle Books at 5 chapters per Kindle (at a minimum of $2.99 ea) would bring the price to over $40! You can get it for a lot less than that on Ebay as 1 E-Book volume!

Well... actually the white large spoked wheels were never sold in USA/CAN, but only Europe and Australia. These almost mint white spoked wheels/tires were only found in sets 391 (Renault) and 395 (Rolls Royce) Hobby Sets from circa 1975-77. Can't beat the price for the condition! $3.00 Each. _____________________ And then there are the red large spoked wheels (and black tires)... again almost new condition, were only found (with black tires) in 1 USA/CAN sets... the 194 Antique Car set... $1.50 Each