LEGO Historian

TLG has very little information available in their archives on old "special" Samsonite LEGO sets. Samsonite sometimes "did their own thing" (according to TLG)... and Department Store Catalog sets were among the major sets in that category. So TLG has a lot of "gaps" in their set listings for not only Canada and USA Samsonite... but also 1950s Norway and Sweden. When I started my comprehensive research on my LEGO E-Book collectors guide... I got a lot of help (and images) from the TLG Archives and Collections. And in return I gave them a lot of images and info about the above 4 mentioned countries that they were unaware of..... (another reason you should get my 2,800 page E-Book! ). One of the things I enjoy sharing in my E-Book is information that gets people to think... not just statistics, counts and years. One area is this image below from a 1975 Canadian Eaton's Catalog LEGO page. It shows 4 sets that were introduced in 1973 in Europe/Britain/Australia... but not introduced into Canada until 1974. 1973 was also the year a new LEGO logo was introduced (similar to the 1998 introduced current one). What is so puzzling is that the 2 smaller sets show the new 1973 LEGO logo. But the larger sets 7 and 8 were introduced with the pre-1973 old LEGO logo (with open "O", and with "Building Toy" written in both English and French (common to earlier Canadian Samsonite sets). Why would Samsonite of Canada introduce a pair of sets in 1974... with older 1972 LEGO logos? TLG has no known explanation... and neither do I... but I make it a point to show folks the "LEGO Mayhem" that is common to so many things that LEGO (Samsonite and TLG) did that just don't make sense!!

It was the wee hours of the morning when I posted the original thread... I just dropped the price of the parts down to 7 cents each (for 30 year old parts!!!).... but I also forgot to mention that a purchase gets a free download of my 2,800 page E-Book.....

Yes back in 1984 (when there were no other AFOLs to compete with).... I bought 10 Yellow Castle (the 6075) on clearance at KMART here in the USA. The boxes, stickers, instructions, minifigs have been sold loooong ago... but not most of the bricks. If you have a yellow castle set, but it's not looking the best because of used, scratched or chewed up parts... I can help you give your model a NEW look... I have several groupings of nearly 500 yellow parts (out of the 701 total parts in the Yellow Castle Set.... I just went thru and found some bins of yellow parts, and have been sorting the Yellow Castle parts from the newer parts. To the untrained eye... some bricks have the molding pip on the side of the bricks with a thicker LEGO font on the studs... and mixed with some of these were newer bricks with the pip on a stud... but they still had the thicker LEGO font. ______________________________________________ Yellow parts that were exclusively pip on side were..... 1x1, 1x2, 1x2x6 arch, 1x2x8 arch, and 4x6 yellow plates (that also had Pat. Pend. removed). Yellow parts that sometimes had the pip on the side/some on top, all with a thicker logo.... 1x3, 1x4, 1x6, 1x8 bricks. Yellow parts with a pip always on top... 1x4 arches, 2x2 plates, 1x8 plates. Again... the LEGO fond is slightly thicker than the modern font, and this difference is noticeable on Yellow Castle Sets. ______________________________________________ Anyway... I'm selling these in 3 sets of 2 groups.... 1) yellow bricks/plates/arches, and 2) yellow steep and inverse slopes. Group 1.... 1x1 yellow bricks.... 71 1x2 yellow bricks...183 1x3 yellow bricks.....62 1x4 yellow bricks.....30 1x6 yellow bricks.....29 1x8 yellow bricks.....15 2x2 yellow bricks.....12 2x3 yellow bricks.....12 1x1 yellow rounds.....6 (solid stud) 1x4 yellow arches.....3 2x6 yellow arches.....8 2x8 yellow arches.....6 1x8 yellow plates......2 2x2 yellow plates......6 4x6 yellow plates......2 (these have Pat. Pend. removed) TOTAL....................447 New Parts Asking Price..........$30.........about 7 cents per part for 30 year old new parts!! (3 groups available) 2x2x3 yellow corner steep slopes.....4 (pricey) 2x2x3 yellow steep slopes................6 2x2 yellow inverted regular slope...12 1x2 yellow inverted regular slope....8 1x2x2 yellow shutter holders...........2 (not cheap either) TOTAL.............................................32 New Parts Asking Price.........$12 (3 groups available) First come first serve..... Reserve your orders.... this type of offer RARELY ever comes up.... preferably USA buyers... shipping will be about $6 for USA orders, more for foreign ones.

First of all I leave all LEGO set inventories to the online Databases.... which they don't have for this exclusive set... But for those of you who have my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide as download (E-Book).... (it's available on the major auction site at "such a deal").... see Chapter 12 - USA/Canada Department Store Catalog Sets (1961-75).... it's mentioned on Page 3 and shown on Page 4. And for the rest of you..... this was a 1975-76 Eaton's Mail Order Catalog set that may have been sold in their department stores as well. (See more comments below).... I use tables like this one above throughout my E-Book so that folks can get a broader picture of what was produced. There's another part to this Chapter 12 which deals with plain cardboard box department store catalog sets, where the brown cardboard shipping box was the only box for the set. This was common in the 1966-73 era in North America for mail order, but not in Europe, which really didn't have a lot in the way of mail order sets. The one notable European set that had a plain cardboard box was the 1970 Weetabix Castle set, which was just a plain cardboard shipping box. Otherwise European mailed sets were almost always colorful (inside the outer shipping box.

I just put an rather odd assortment of quite rare LEGO parts onto Ebay.... http://www.ebay.com/...984.m1555.l2649 This group consists of 4 items.... 1) a 1955-57 trans-clear half circle macaroni brick only ever found in 1 parts pack (#1223), and only sold in Denmark, Norway and Sweden for a short time. 2) a very unusual 4x6 black plate made out of a different plastic than either Cellulose Acetate or ABS plastic. It has a pearly black finish, and has non-italics font that is sideways. Not sure of the source of this unusual part, just found it one day in my collection of old LEGO (of which I have a LOT!)... it has Pat. Pend. underneath. 3) a 2x4 green Cellulose Acetate plate sold only in USA/Canada from 1963-65... has Pat. Pend. underneath. 4) a 2x4 Maersk blue brick (MINT). The 2x4 Maersk blue brick was introduced in 2004 in the 10152 Maersk Sealand Ship set. The bricks had cross supports. This brick does NOT, so it dates it to the 1980s, likely an early Model Shop part that got out.... All 4 rare items $13.

Since I am without a car at the moment... all my Post Office deliveries go out on Friday's... so it will go in the mail tomorrow.

And Ole, they will go out with your October delivery request as you stated.... Of the 12 arches, 2 were purchased in one of the original sets, and the other 10 were purchased in 2002 when the re-make of one of the earlier sets came out. I was going to use all 12 in a MOC... but I never got around to building it... so my philosophy (in the last 3 years) is why hoard parts just for the sake of hoarding... let others enjoy them in their own creations!

Good lord I've had 12 of these sitting in a box for years and years... and never knew they were so rare in mint... the yellow 1x4x5 half arch. There were only 2 half arches available in the last 6 months in new condition in BL... and one of them just sold (what good is 1/2 arch?). Anyway, I just put 12 new half arches on Ebay (6 full arches).... and decided not to get greedy.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/150895164613?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

I just put 3 455 Lear Jet models onto Ebay.... just the parts and the stickers... no box or instructions. I bought about 30 of them on clearance back in the early 1980s, and threw away all the boxes and instructions (DUH!!!). But I put the parts aside, and they're still in mint. I built one of them to put an image into Ebay... and then saw that I had the same unique parts in that set (tail, jets, wheels) in gray... so I put together a gray one as well, which looks pretty cool (all the parts are vintage, except the gray plates are modern). Funny thing is that the Lear Jet was a jet that was used as a LEGO Corporate Jet, but this model was only sold exclusively in USA/Canada. 3 of these in white (plus check out the freebies)... for only $10 http://www.ebay.com/itm/150895187902?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 1 of these in gray, a fantasy build (plus check out the freebies)... for only $10 http://www.ebay.com/itm/150895252703?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Private message me with your EMAIL! :-) But there's a catch.... you have to post publicly your honest opinions about it once you've checked it out! Also those skylights with the dull clear finish... it's one of those items that I haven't yet found out when they switched to the sparkling new skylights... so they may not be as rare as I mentioned... but they're still going over $1 each (regardless of which variety) on Bricklink. In fact the 12 that you're getting Ole... equals the entire available population in new condition on BL. And it's not just the skylights that has changed... the Macaroni Bricks have (clearer), as have the 1x2x2 slopes, and numerous other (probably all) trans-clear items. It's interesting to see the evolution of trans-clear... from the earliest days to the present.... at one time they had a bluish hue, other times a Champagne hue (although that one is probably due to age).

Just imagine all the BURP (Big Ugly Rock Pieces) we'd end up with!!

In the General Discussions section there was a discussion about Sets/Parts not put into production. Well someone posted a very interesting (and very real looking) set that was "supposed to be" part of the 12V 1980 7740 Intercity Train set... the 7812 Observation Car.... except there is no such thing... it was sort of an April's Fools Joke (a very convincing one, I might add).... Anyway I had a bunch of rare yellow classic windows I was going to put up for sale... and this got me thinking... so I contacted the originator of the prank... and he gave me permission to use his image in an EBAY Buy-It-Now auction... Check it out.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/150894541626?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_2023wt_934 Also, I added 6 1x3x6 trans-clear skylights (windscreens), that are in virtual mint condition that are from that era (from a pair of 6390 Main Street sets). The sloped skylights today have a sparkling shine to them, the ones from back then (vintage to the era) have a duller finish. I have 2 lots of these for sale... And if anyone here wants one... I'll throw in a free copy of my LEGO DVD/download E-Book. (Note: if you were to take both... you could tell me who to send the 2nd download to... anyone of your choosing).

17 of the 82 Wooden box sets in my guide... no online database has more than 10!!!

From my Prototype Chapter... I wish they would have made the Napoleonic Era Sets.... Or even the Loch Ness Monster Sets.... Or one of my favorites, which they only made as a European glued retailer display model from 1959-60... but I modified it to add inverse slopes and Maersk color bricks (introduced 1974).... and sold 20 MOCs of this set (still have one available).... the REGINA MAERSK.... the first LEGO Maersk ship.... The REGINA MAERSK was a real live Maersk line ship that was built in a 1954, and was the first Maersk ship that had the famous blue hull. It was decommissioned in 1970, just 4 years before the first official LEGO Maersk set, the VERY PRICEY 1650 Maersk Line Container Ship.

Since Denmark, Norway and Sweden were the first LEGO countries (1949-55), they share one thing in common... the first slotted bricks and the first old style LEGO windows/doors not sold elsewhere. When Germany became the next country to come online in 1956, the windows/doors and bricks that we know of today were introduced (although the tubes underneath came out in 1958).... Here's some unique items (found in Chapter 2 - LEGO Automatic Binding Bricks, Chapter 26 LEGO Parts Pack and Chapter 29 LEGO Windows.... The very first Automatic Binding Bricks windows and doors of 1949-56 (Chapter 2 LEGO download) The box (of 12) that these windows doors were sold in... known as 700B In 1954 tall classic windows and doors were introduced in a set called 700C. And the 700B box was updated to match the 700C box. Also the 700A (12 2x2 and 12 2x4 bricks) pack was also updated with a new box look. Here's a new (Aug. 2013) found image... from my Belgian friend Rohnny. These were sold in Denmark, Norway and (by 1955 Sweden)... But by 1955-56... new window boxes were used (mainly in Sweden)... (Sept. 2013 image)... Here is a group of the (1954-56) tall classic windows that were produced for Sweden (likely produced in Norway, since the Billund Archives are not aware of this color). These rare Swedish windows would probably sell for about 80 Euro each... with the rarer green Norwegian ones selling for 100 Euros each. Also produced (from Denmark) were the tall classic windows in white, blue and dark blue), with the dark blue shade being the rarest. Then in 1956 with the discontinuing of the slotted bricks... all of these window types and colors were discontinued. What came out in 1956 was the regular classic windows/doors (produced until 1986)... mainly just in red and white colors. But these rare early window/door types were only sold in Denmark, Norway and Sweden....

Sold to the well dressed young lady in the 3rd row.... Your E-Book is on its' way.... and mercifully you live in Indiana... (I in neighboring Michigan).... my last "weighty' sale was to Blaine Washington as far north on the Pacific coast as you can go!

The earliest prototype was one that was on the front of all 1958-60 LEGO basic set boxes.... a 1:87 scale Opel Kapitän car that was designed in 1957.... but just never put into production. Here's an image of the car with Godtfred Kirk Christiansen's 3 children playing with a Town Plan (their outfits should look somewhat familiar... since they used them in the 80 years of LEGO video, but with the wrong Town Plan board).... That yellow car in front of the twin towered hotel was the Opel prototype, and is today the most valuable single LEGO item ever sold.... there are only about 8 of these known (that made it out of the factory)... 5 in yellow, 2 in red and 1 in orange. About 2 years ago a yellow one sold for $4000. One of the earliest sets not put into production dates to about 1958... and it was an entire series of related sets... part of a LEGO zoo that would have used a 1950s Town Plan board as the zoo layout. Here's one of the prototype box tops of one of the 7 sets that would have been part of the Zoo series.... This one would have been the Elephant exhibit designed for the largest of the Town Plan set blocks... And here's the non LEGO System TLG produced animal sets that would have provided the zoo animals for all 7 blocks of this never produced series.... And here's the actually sold 1950s masonite Town Plan board with what the blocks were to have been used for.... I have images of what was to be on each block... (such as animas from China)... and the empty block was likely the zoo entrance. You'll have to get my E-Book to see the dozens and dozens of other prototypes over the decades.....

Thanks for the post... I had seen the Seatron monorail prototype before, and it could have been a popular set. As for that 6576 image.... it's just artwork, and not a diorama of a built set. There are no face images of the minifigs, so I would tend to believe one of 2 things.... 1) it never made it to an actual built model stage of development by TLG, and was stopped in the artwork phase... or 2) it's just a fake made by some AFOL. 7812... I love it!!! Nice forgery!! Love the use of 9 classic windows. They were discontinued around the same time as the introduction of the 7740 Intercity Train in 1980. 7 1x6x3 yellow Panorama windows (no LEGO set ever had more than 1).... and 2 1x1x2 yellow small tall classic windows. This would have been a nice way for TLG to get rid of their remaining inventory of yellow classic windows!

... well I'm embarrassed to say that I did find the Henry Wiencek autograph on page 4 (right under his name)..... DUH!!!

I've been a LEGO collector going back to the Dark Ages... no not the Dark Ages that most AFOLs have had but to the original Dark Ages (Mittelalter Zeit, Moyen Age)! I got my first LEGO set at Christmas 1960 from my uncle in Germany (LEGO didn't arrive in the USA until a year later at Christmas 1961). When I got my first USA LEGO catalog, I wanted this cool looking Cotswold Cottage type European house set known as the 717 Junior Constructor. Its' design was based on a 238 Idea Book image... with more windows in the roof. Here's the image blown up from the 1961-62 USA LEGO catalog.... And Samsonite LEGO even produced a commercial with this model set.... (now on Youtube)... But do you think that I could find this set? My aunt searched the toy stores of Metro Detroit for 2 years looking for this set to get me for Christmas or my Birthday... but never found it. So instead... I had to settle for this set... which ironically had the same set name and number.... but was a smaller and less desirable house model.... This model was modern, and only used 4 baseplates, instead of the 9 10x20 baseplates of the European design. While I was still a kid, I bought a lot more LEGO, and eventually I had enough parts to build the European style house after all... in fact... over the last 40+ years I think I built this house at least 5 or 6 times. Here's my latest version.... This is an attractive build... and would have been the largest LEGO house ever produced (even though it was in the classic scale (door = 3 bricks tall). When I was researching the LEGO DVD/download E-Book.... the TLG Archives folks told me that they have no information in the LEGO Archives on this model set, and they don't have a copy in the vault!!!!! That was a few years ago when I asked them about that... and although I wasn't mad about it... at least I got closure about the set I wanted as a child. I won't say this was "another dream that TLG crushed".... but gee, my aunt (who is still alive at 86)... would be really cheesed off at TLG for putting stuff in their catalogs that they never produced. Ironically this was (wrong) image of the 717 set was only in the USA Samsonite LEGO catalog from late 1961 until 1962... it was corrected in the 1963 USA catalog. But in Canada... they had this wrong set image in the 1963-65 Canadian catalog!!!!! Here it is.... My 40+ year obsession with this set can be seen in Appendix A of my LEGO DVD/download E-Book.... where I devote 15 pages of historical images, idea book images, TV commercial images, and even TLG display model images of this house. The irony here is that the box used for this catalog was just a mock-up box, that likely no longer exists. And why they did a switch of models for the 717 Junior Constructor set? Likely the number of parts in the larger house (including 9 thick 10x20 baseplates) just didn't fit into the box they had planned for it. I even tried taking one of these built larger models... and couldn't get all the parts to fit into my own version of the 717 box. Just another historic thing you'll find in my E-Book.... and how TLG impacted on the dreams of a 7 year old potential Architect..... (OK I won't be so dramatic.... but really for years they kept me and other American and Canadian kids in the dark?) lol....

I've had this THE WORLD OF LEGO TOYS book since 1987. The year before in 1986 I got a call from the author, Henry Wiencek, who got my name from TLG USA in Enfield CN. I spent several hours talking with Mr. Wiencek about the history of LEGO sets and parts, and I am the ONLY AFOL mentioned in the book (on page 30). I have been collecting LEGO for 52 years, and Mr. Wiencek was a novice when it came to LEGO (he's an author, not an AFOL). Anyway after that (in 1986), I was rather excited, but didn't hear anything further... until 1987, when his publisher sent me a copy. I thought it was autographed, but I no longer remember if this was the version he autorgraphed or my other copy which I sold 2 years ago. Anyway... this first printing book is a LEGO publishing classic! If someone would want me to autograph it (how pretentious)... I would be willing... $24. http://cgi.ebay.com/...22#ht_856wt_934 Gary Istok P.S. Due to the heavy nature of this book, I was only planning on selling it to a USA collector... but if a European really wanted it... I could alter the settings on EBAY... (it weighs 800 gr., so shipping to Europe would be about $15).

One of my favorite chapters in the DVD/download E-Book is the chapter on Prototype.... Chapter 18 - LEGO Sets/Parts Not Put Into Production. This chapter is being discussed in General Discussions right now under the LEGO Sets/Parts Never Released into Production heading. http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=73775 And pair of those parts are still a mystery to me (and others).... those are what I call the DUPLO Pine and Cypress tree.... much larger than the regular sizes, and made so that they can only fit onto DUPLO parts (or also onto a ring of 4 regular macaroni bricks). The origins of these trees remains a mystery. If these were made for regular store displays (as some have suggested), then I would have thought that many more are known. And I would love to find a display image using them, but have not yet come across one. I'm only aware of these 2 large trees. So perhaps they may have been Duplo prototypes that were not put into general production, but maybe got out of the factory. One factor that is known is that they have sharp branches... a feature that would ordinarily date them to the 1970s and 1980s. Although the jury is still out on these 2 very rare large trees, for right now they are in my Prototype chapter.

Sigh..... I wanted to add this pair of LEGO Space System prototypes from a 1983 Danish LEGO catalog... to the LEGO chapter on prototypes but it was too late... .... actually if it wasn't for one of the folks proofreading this chapter who stopped me... I would have left it in.... It seems that these 2 sets were part of an Aprils Fool joke exposed over 10 years ago on LUGNET... someone must have been having fun on photoshop.... So these were left out of the Prototype Chapter....

I'm still selling the 2,800 page, 1/3 million word, over 6,000 images (many historic) collectors guide... with links to many online sites with LEGO TV commercials and the History of the LEGO Family, Sets, Parts, other material, and how LEGO boxes, instructions, sets and even the LEGO plastic has evolved. Here's my E-Book cover... (note... delivery as a 688MB download only takes 6-20 minutes). There will be free E-Book updates about every 6 months for those who own a copy of the download. This way you will never have to buy another version of my guide!! Only $29.95 as a one time download... worldwide (although DVDs are available, but are on back order)... http://legocollectorsguide.weebly.com/ You'll be able to access 73 chapters on an immense number of LEGO items that you never knew existed.... LEGO chapter on Printed and Painted LEGO.... (Chapter 48) http://www.1000stein...2048%20Vol2.pdf Or maybe Town System parts.... http://www.geminisys...chapter32v2.pdf Or maybe the history of LEGO Instructions.... http://www.geminisys...chapter49v2.pdf Or maybe the history of LEGO Display Items.... http://www.geminisys.../chapter2v2.pdf Or maybe something obscure such as LEGO TV Commercials.... (Chapter 71) http://www.fulori.co...LEGO/index.html There are Eurobrick threads that show and talk about some of my LEGO chapters (at least check out the very rare pictures from my LEGO Guide.... http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=73627 http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=69200 http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=73724 There is also a chapter on LEGO Counterfeits... a chapter on LEGO logos (over 30), a chapter on the LEGO Christiansen family on LEGO box artwork, a chapter on LEGO display models, many chapters on all the different LEGO Systems (Town, Train, Technic, Duplo, Fabuland, Paradisa, Scala, Spare Parts Packs, Service Packs, DACTA, Pirates, Space, Castle, Hobby Sets, Architectural Sets).... thousands of pages with pictures. There are even "non-LEGO" LEGO chapters... such as one on LEGO Minitalia (sold in Italy only from 1970-77), a chapter on Modulex (the smaller brick Architectural parts, for use by architects), a chapter on LEGO Clones, a chapter on LEGO Retailer signs, furniture, racks, display stands, display models, LEGO order forms, retailer announcements of new LEGO items, retailer books, etc. And lastly there is a 10,156 item price guide both in Dollars and in Euros. 2,800 pages in an online E-Book that you can download to your desktop in less than 15 minutes, and will be at your fingertips whenever you need it. Plus, if you get a new computer or get a virus... a new download will be sent upon request. And... no shipping fees, no customs fees... plus future updates for free (perhaps once ever 6 months I will be adding chapters to bring it more current.... These are all things that a printed book cannot do (view commercials, provide more current updates, add newly discovered items. Only $29.95 as a one time download... worldwide (although DVDs are available, but are on back order)... http://legocollectorsguide.weebly.com/

Oh dear no.... I missed this thread.... it's a Pandora's Box of details... that I don't have the time to try to explain... but I'll do a little bit (it would have been easier if rows and colums were usable on these forums... but everything gets left justified leading to trying to show any table format... as pure muddle! But here's an example from my E-Book LEGO DVD/download collectors guide (cut/paste via the "image" route). Here is an image of Large LEGO Town Sets in the 1970s.... and yes some number get re-used... and the USA had their own numbering system... which in a select few sets Canada used.... otherwise Canada followed the rest of the world.... NOTE: for those of you who have one of my old LEGO CDs or the DVD/download E-Book.... you'll know that I have tables like this one above in almost every chapter to try to make the logic (or lack thereof) more easy to understand in table form. My chapter on LEGO set parts packs has about 20 pages of different tables. ______________________ Starting in 1980 the world went to 4 digit set numbers for everything except basic sets and parts packs... and the USA used the same numbers as the rest of the world... EXCEPT... if a set was introduced before 1980 as a 3 digit number and after 1980 introduced in the USA as a 4 digit numbers... then you had some "overlap Mayhem".... such as the 375/6075, 383/6083 Castle sets. By 1984 much of this was cleared up when all the non basic and spare parts pack sets were introduced... but the basic and spare parts set still had 3 digit number. (And there was always strange sets such as Canadian and USA mail order sets that used strange and unique numbers!) During the 1980s there was general uniformity among set numbers... each system contained their own range of numbers... except for the "Special Sets" or small "multi-pack sets. Many of those had (regardless of the system) 4 digit numbers that were in the 1xxx range. Then in the 1990s all hell broke loose, and set numbers went crazy.... The 6000 range in 1996 went off the deep end.... 60xx range... Forestmen 61xx range... Aquanauts 62xx range... Pirates 63xx range... Town 64xx range... Paradisa 649x range... Flying Vessel sets 65xx range... Town 66xx range... Town 67xx range... Fort 68xx range... Space 69xx range... Space And this is just one example of the mayhem that the 1990s brought on... I'll get back to the jumble of the 1950s and 1960s... but the new millenium mayhem I'll leave to you folks....