LEGO Historian

Dropped them to $1.30 each.... (10 for $13)... on BL they're $2.00 each for the frame, and $2.50 each for the glass. Also added some other "scarce" LEGO items...

I hope the admins don't mind me putting this here... it's just that some LEGO item has me stumped?? I can't remember where I got this, but it is made by TLG.... and they're Alphanumeric bricks similar to the Modulex adult architectural sets... but I'm not sure?? Never seen them before, and this has me scratching my head... http://www.ebay.com/itm/150904104504?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

OK... I came across a box of red windows 1x4x5 with glass... I've had unused... didn't know they were that expensive... http://www.ebay.com/itm/150904258372?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 Also have some other rare items for sale while your browsing...

Unfortunately.... The most common color for that case is red... followed by blue... the lavender is rare, and the black one rarer still.

Very nice! Those "marbled" bricks were sold not only to the employees, but also to Danish retailers for sales to the public. While the 2 color bricks indeed were color changes in the molds parts, the very fancy multi-colored marbled bricks were likely what I like to call "floor sweepings"... any spilled plastic pellets near the molding machines were likely swept up and washed (to remove impurities). Since TLG never threw anything away (and since plastic was a relatively expensive product in the 1950s)... they took a lot of these spilled pellets and used them for making "factory second" bricks. An acquaintance at the LEGO Archives told me that they sold these marbled bricks cheaply to employees... but also to retailers for individual parts sales to customers at "8 øre" each in Denmark... while single color bricks were sold at "11 øre" each. Ironically these "seconds" are highly collectible and prized by old LEGO collectors today! By 1956 the slotted bricks were retired, and a new use was found for the "floor sweepings"... namely to make early LEGO trees/bushes. Those multicolored trees were painted green with brown bases, so no one would see the interesting color swirls (at least once TLG started painting the bottoms of the trees as well)... TLG also eliminated the 2 color swirling bricks by using an "MRA"... or mold release agent... that was a chemical that prevented the colored "leftovers" from staying in the mold. So that eliminated those type of bricks as well. My LEGO Collectors Guide E-Book shows many of these parts in the chapters on LEGO bricks and the chapter on LEGO Trees/Bushes.

Whenever I think of LEGO clock... I think of my good LEGO aquaintance Eric Harshbarger's wonderful LEGO Grandfather Clock MOC.... priceless!! http://www.ericharshbarger.org/lego/clock.html

Thanks for all the details Gratefulnat!! I mentioned to the team working on the first book that 1963 was really messed up... glad they took my advice, since half the sets listed under that year were from other years. As for there still being only 1 (same) 810 Town Plan set in 1961... the real irony is that they show the UK/Australia 810 Town Plan set version.... http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/810-4 And NOT the continental European 810 Town Plan version.... http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/810-2 That European one is the one shown in the upper right corner of the new 10184 Town Plan (but incorrectly labeled 1958)... http://www.peeron.co...1?showpic=10215 If pages 1-29 are identical... does that mean that they did not add years 1949-57? Or are they found elsewhere in the book. Those are the most difficult years to catalog, since the LEGO Vault and Archives contain little about those years. But I thought that they still would have been added to the 2nd version of the book. I know there was a lot of problems with the book people and TLG folks over those early years... but I thought sure they would be included?? Note: for those who have my LEGO DVD/download... the years 1949-57 are extensively covered in Chapters 2 (Automatic Binding Bricks) and Chapter 5 (Early Basic Sets).... they broach some extremely complex set, part, and non-documented issues (Chapter 2 talks about the early years and how 3 companies (TLG LEGO Denmark, Geas Konsthart Sweden, and Svein Strømberg & Co Norway) all produced Automatic Binding Bricks, and Chapter 5 deals with the local language (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, German, Swiss and Dutch) sets, as well as the vast number of box designs, packing variations, and parts variations. It's possible that there wasn't enough agreement between the book folks and TLG folks on those years. In my years of researching my CDs and current DVD download, about 1/3 of all the information that TLG provided me, I had to discard... because I found proof to the contrary. TLG has serious Archival issues for the early years.

I only own the older copy. I helped out in some way that I was not privy to until after it came out, and my name was in the list of credits at the beginning (I believe some of the AFOL helpers owned an early version of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide). But I have a question for owners of both guides... the year 1963.... are there a lot fewer entries for that year? When I got my complimentary earlier guide... for inadvertently helping them () I noticed that the year 1963 had twice the entries in the first guide than it should have.... I was wondering if the new guide corrected that with fewer entries for that year? And while we're at it... does the year 1961 show 2 different 810 (Town Plan) sets? The first guide only showed one.

There's about 200 boxes you won't find in any online database that I have in my LEGO DVD/download E-Book... many not even in the LEGO Archives....

That's because you don't own a copy of my DVD/download E-Book.... Chapter 16 - LEGO Buckets & Storage Cases... This case also comes in a lavender color from a USA exclusive variation of the 6271 Imperial Flagship Set

Ironically way back in 1953 (the only year without a LEGO catalog, but with a 4 page Idea Booklet instead), there was a model with 2 non-LEGO army soldiers in this Danish pamphlet... this was the ONLY time that TLG ever showed any modern warfare, granted it wasn't their own....

DaveE, I believe you are correct... but in the final analysis, TLG decided that the more they protested, the more publicity the artist was getting, so they just dropped the whole issue, hoping it would leave the limelight. But I'm sure LEGO Legal has new guidelines (and legal forms) in place to prevent this type of blindsighting from happening again.

ShayDdegray, Unfortunately the litigation that TLG tried was stopped in its' tracks when some judge ruled that this was considered "art" and not a commercial enterprise. I guess an analogy could be mad with Andy Warhol and the Campbell's Soup Can....

This entire discussion reminds me of when TLG was blindsighted by a Polish artist back in 1996, who's ambiguous intentions got TLG to give him the LEGO parts that he wanted for "some" LEGO constructions. Well that "construction" turned into a very embarrassing moment for TLG back in the 1990s... and I'm sure that not only is WWII still in the minds and nightmares of their dreams... but this publicity fiasco probably was the icing on the cake as to why they will NOT make WWII sets... For those of you too young to remember... maybe this will give you another indication why there will be no WWII LEGO sets anytime in the future.... http://www.likecool.com/Lego_Concentration_Camp--Toy--Gear.html

Well I just put 5 very rare 2x4 sparkling trans-clear new plates onto Ebay... and in doing so, I did some investigating... Trans-clear plates were first introduced in the 1962-65 518 (2x4), 519, (2x3), 520 (2x20 and 521 (1x1 and 1x2) architectural parts pack in the early-to-mid 60s, and were made of Cellulose Acetate and had a tendency to warp very slightly and also turn to a Champagne color. A few other spare parts packs also had these small plates in the 1960s. Then in the 1970s thru early 1990s there were at least a dozen or so sets that had these parts in at lest 1 of these 3 sizes of trans-clear plates, (usually only 1 or 2 in the set)... but they were a dull finish, almost cloudy color trans-clear. Then fast forward about a dozen years... and today trans-clear plates are again available... but in very small numbers, but not from LEGO sets, but likely from Model Shop surplus that went to PAB walls for sale. The 2x2, 2x3 and 2x4 trans clear plates of today are a very sparklingly clear trans color that shine brilliantly (almost diamond-like). So when buying these 2x2, 2x3 and 2x4 trans-clear plates (none were made larger)... be aware of which decades they came from. Mixing and matching different plates from different eras is not a desirable look. And yes the modern shiny clear ones are the rarest. Ironically this was also the case with 1x3 and 1x4 trans clear plates, which were first introduced with the Scandinavian Line Ferry promotional sets in the 1980s and 1990s, and are also Model Shop limited inventory parts today. But not the1x1 and 1x2 trans-clear plates. These were produced in vast quantities, and are a dime a dozen, even new ones. Their available populations number into the hundreds of thousands! So sometimes TLG does some odd things that we sometimes shake our head and ask "why?".... small trans-clear plates is one of those anomalies!

Oh, no, this would indeed be sort of mddening. There 's so many variables, that it would indeed be very difficult to do. I was able to do it with the Yellow Castle parts because I kept many of them segregated from other parts. I think that ordinarily it isn't worth the trouble. In the case of the Yellow Castle sets.... I had the yellow parts separated. The other parts were not... and it wasn't even worth my while to parse out the other color parts in the set. But I think it would be nice to have the Pat. Pend. and Pat. Pend. removed parts isolated as a separate group of parts... which is even (cost wise) more important than newer bricks with cross-supports. I think that LEGO AFOLs are smart enough to understand the 3 main varieties on the underside of LEGO bricks and plates... 4 if you include cross supports on the bricks. But I can agree that PIP location or mold numbers is asking way too much of what collectors want. Usually I can tell if a "used" set has been re-assembled from different parts... if there is a great amount of differences in the condition of the parts... that's usually a good sign that this is a re-constituted set.

Granted this can be a daunting challenge for even the most knowledgeably LEGO collector... but reassembling old sets with vintage parts can be a really difficult thing to do. "Pat. Pend.", "Pat. Pend. Removed", solid stud vs. hollow stud, and "lip vs. no lip on a part is only the beginning of trying to assemble old sets. This is a very challenging scenario, and it's too bad that none of the online databases want to be bothered with the nuances of LEGO mold types over the years. Now granted... mold overlap over the years causes a great deal of problems in this regard... but I do believe that 95% of an old set can be pretty accurately assembled with the right parts... if only the knowledge that has already been mentioned over the years to the Admins. were not ignored when presented to the online databases. I admit that it can lead to a lot of confusion for the untrained eye or new collectors (and is why online databases try to avoid this)... but advanced collectors should have some means to be able to do so. It's ironic that I'm asking for something that I cannot figure out how to do logically... but collectively perhaps AFOLs can come up with something. See my Yellow Castle Parts sales (in Buy-Sell-Trade) for some of the discoveries I have made in separating old from new bricks, by closely checking each one).... I think I'm going to need bifocals now... http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=73990 Also... I agree that mold variations can be extensive... for example the 2x4 brick has over 40 mold variations, but a lot of those have to do with the numbers printed inside the mold, and I'm not advocating going to that extreme. I also realize that the number of admins working for the databases is limited... and what I'm suggesting would take a lot more workers than is perfectly logical. Maybe I should just be happy and not bitch that I parsed out over 2000 sets into separate boxes, and now I have the ability to reassemble them without difficulty (although for me there's still a learning curve)....

Well sales have been doing well, and I'm still adding other Yellow Castle parts today (in red, white, black, gray). But in doing so... I suddenly realized that I'm doing something that very few AFOLs can do... identify mold variations that include "pip locations", font types, "Pat. Pend." and "Pat. Pend. removed" from the bottom of the LEGO elements. This is the kind of information that Bricklink, Peeron and elsewhere does not provide, and can prevent a buyer from geting truly vintage parts in old sets... and just getting modern parts advertised as old ones. Not really fair... but the inventory database managers don't seem to want to deal with this issue... so it can be problematic for the purist....

I totally reshuffled the parts for sale, and lowered the price of the common parts to only 6 cents each (for 30 year old new parts!!).... and added some items.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/150897013132?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_2484wt_934<br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> http://www.ebay.com/itm/150897015965?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_956wt_934 http://www.ebay.com/itm/150897017622?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_882wt_934

Haven't been in a set in 16 years... the 1x6x2 arches seem to be pretty rare in new condition... selling 2 lots of 20 each only 50 cents each arch... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150896982787#ht_500wt_950

Ah.... thanks for the answer... so it was only in the retailer catalog. Funny thing is in 1970 in the USA... just the reverse happened... a 50x50 stud baseplate with roadways was introduced (first ever roadway baseplate). It was found in the 1970 Samsonite LEGO Retailer Catalog... but NEVER seen in any customer catalogs. But it WAS sold to customers in the USA (although today very pricey!).... It was 078 Roadway as seen below (new 1970 item)... And ironically items put into production that were not shown in LEGO catalogs is not all that rare... especially in the 1950s and 1960s...

I must be going blind...can you point to the page... http://www.peeron.com/catalogs/1996/medium/?id=25

I was just checking on the 1996 Large UK catalog in Brickfactory.... and I don't see the 6500 set? I'm not sure where Brickset keeps their catalogs, so I can't say for sure.

I would like a nice mint TLG sticker sheet that the company used for these "Denmark only" rarities... http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?itemID=83163&colorID=1 A sticker sheet with 500 of these on them.... would be nice! Although these sticker sheets were used by the company to hand label the 1x1 round bricks before they left the factory.... but that's OK... I still would like this sticker sheet....

Thanks Joker1... I'm actually flattered that you used my image and mentioned those particular items. Sometimes some things just don't make sense the way they are priced on all sites.... About 2 years ago Maersk blue 1x2 bricks were very rare (fewer than 100 available)... then the floodgates opened (PAB??)..... and now there are over 9 thousand available... but the price has not yet completely reflected this... they're still rather pricey (especially by some sellers).... http://www.bricklink...3004&colorID=72 And even though Maersk is a rarer and pricier color... some of their parts were dirt cheap for the longest time... I bought over 300 of these (never found in a set... all the supply comes from the Windsor England Model Shop)... for less than 20 cents each... the only reason they went up in price finally was because I sort of cornered the market in them (I needed 11 for each of the REGINA MAERSK MOCs that I sold over the last 2 years)... but they're still a bargain.... http://www.bricklink...062b&colorID=72 And then you have something really wacky like this.... (in mint only 12 are available).... http://www.bricklink...=3659&colorID=3 I'm going to start digging for some of these... I have at least 50 of these in mint! These used to be extremely rare (only found in the Yellow Castles) to suddenly common (must have been model shop leftovers)... and now they're rare again.... (4 are in my Yellow Castle offering on Buy-Sell-Trade).... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?P=3685&colorID=3 And then these used to be very very rare.... (only from one set... 4 found in the 7740 Intercity Train)... then they became plentiful (more model shop inventory?).... and now they're getting pricey again... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?P=3675&colorID=3 And these were very pricey... until a 2012 set had a pair in them... (also probably more PAB inventory).... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?P=30056&colorID=1 And then there's this pair... I thought the bubble would burst one day on these (especially if it's not a discontinued part).... somebody just got lucky and must have gotten a hold of a small quantity of model shop parts.... just look at the "used" prices compared to new... about 2 months ago some of these used prices were double what they are now... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?P=3186&colorID=11 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?P=3187&colorID=11 And then there's the "Grand Puhbah" of rare parts gone dirt common... some of these were selling for hundreds of dollars... and some Chinese shyksters were making fakes (but they were Teal and not Maersk blue)... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?P=3833&colorID=72