LEGO Historian

Thanks for the offer Gioppa! I do have an image of the Minitalia 24 box in MISB! Grazie!! I sent you a Private message on how to buy my collectors guide.... also you can click on the "legocollectorsguide" link at the end of this post, which will take you there! Thanks again!

Thanks for the comments AndyB100! Until the introduction of the 9V Train System, continental Europe dominated the LEGO Train System. In USA/Canada LEGO blue track trains were introduced in push and 4.5V variety in 1966, just as elsewhere. However, due to the legal licensing maneuvering of the early 1970s, LEGO trains ceased sales in the USA from 1970 until 1980. The Samsonite LEGO license in the USA was returned to TLG in 1973, and no LEGO trains returned to the USA until 1980. Even in Canada, where Samsonite was able to keep it's license, trains were discontinued from 1975 until 1980. Even in Britain, Ireland and Australia (British LEGO Ltd. as the licensee), when the 12V system was introduced in continental Europe in 1969, British LEGO Ltd. did not sell 12V trains. It was with the advent of the gray track era starting in 1980 that limited 4.5V trains were reintroduced in USA and Canada (Canada continue to produced LEGO by Samsonite until Oct. 1988), although of limited variety. Hearing that USA sets may have had stickers with piece count and other info on them is of no surprise. In the first half of the 1970s all Canadian LEGO 4.5V and push trains had sticker with parts counts. Although no 12V trains were introduced in USA/Canada in the 1980s (they finally were introduced by British LEGO Ltd. in Britain, Ireland and Australia in 1980), most items train related was exported from Denmark. One irony of the 1983 Canadian LEGO catalog is that even though no 12V trains were sold there.... the 12V 7760 Blue Shunter Locomotive was on the front cover of that years LEGO catalog (reason for that is because the same catalog cover designe was used in Europe). But until the advent of the 9V train system.... very few LEGO trains were sold in the USA and Canada... and definitely not the 12V.

Thanks Lind Whisperer.... https://brickextratest.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/the-lego-movie-video-game-news-promotions/ Hmmmm...... a 2009 set design was used as built items in a 2014 promotional ad.... this is getting interesting.

OK... ToddMyers on Brickset first brought this up the other day.... The question of whether this particular polybag set - 5642 Tipper Truck from 2009.... was it actually a produced set? Or was it cancelled before production and a scan of the instructions just happened to have gotten out of TLG and gone viral on the Internet?? It is shown in Bricklink.... but no packaging... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=5642-1 And in Brickset it mentions that 432 people own this set.... with just part of an instruction scan shown... http://brickset.com/sets/5642-1/Tipper-Truck But if you look at the parts in this set.... http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=5642-1 .... then every single part in this set was produced in at least 15 other sets. So those 432 people who claim to own this set, could all have just built it from spare parts. Does anyone have the Polybag that this set came in? If not... then this mystery set may not have actually been produced.... and the instructions may have been from a set that was planned, but never released?? Anyone seen a 5642 set??

I always smile when people throw away their old boxes.... although I understand that there is only so much room in people's houses for boxes (or even LEGO!)... But when I see a set without a box (even in as rough shape as this one)... http://www.bricklink...asp?itemID=9819 And realize full well that had they kept the box... it would have added $2000-$5000 value to these different versions of the 310 set.... Really old sets have been sizzling on the secondary market lately... and part of it is because they are so rare without the box.... The 6 versions of the 310/1310 Esso Service Station... the first LEGO model set (1956-66).... from my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide.

Just got the nicest complement ever from a European who purchased my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide computer desktop download. He also downloaded it to his SmartPhone.... .....he went to a flea market in a nearby town, and came across 2 of the 310 Esso Service stations... in fact two identical to these (1958-60, 1957-58), both in used condition like these, but the 2nd (older one) in better condition that the one shown here.... http://www.ebay.de/i...=p2047675.l2557 http://www.ebay.de/i...=p2047675.l2557 In his Email to me.... he said it was a lot like finding a pair of good used condition boxed 10179 Millennium Falcon's but at only approximately 100 Euros each... with other people not knowing how much they were worth!! Some of the older LEGO sets have really gone thru the proverbial roof in value.... these 310/1310 Esso Service Stations of 1956-65 are running as high as $3000-$5000 each now.... My Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guilde.... still on sale, and you can download it to you PC/MAC as well as SmartPhone.... for when you go LEGO treasure hunting......

Still offering the half off price with the free LEGO Chevrolet 1:43 (1952-57) Collectors Guide, And also the freebie of the 10 page instructions to build the first Maersk model ever.... the 0751 REGINA MAERSK ship of 1960, shown here behind the 1974 model of the 1650 MERSIK LINE CONTAINER SHIP. Included are the 10 pages of 4 documents to build your own copy of the first Maersk LEGO model.... the REGINA MAERSK.... All for only $14.95 with an immediate download that only takes 10 minutes to your computer desktop!

In my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide chapter on early LEGO Idea Books, the first mention of trains was that 1955 Danish ideas booklet that shows HO Märklin Trains with LEGO scenes. The spacing of the Märklin tracks exactly fit LEGO bricks, they were compatible, from what an HO train collector friend told me. The other HO scale train system train tracks were not. The 1963 idea booklet that you referenced in Peeron actually is a (released that summer) 1966 German #238 Idea Book. So regular LEGO trains were already in production when that booklet was released. The #238 Idea booklet actually comes out in about a dozen different versions from 1960-68... the earliest ones show trains without wheels... just bricks.... Then in March 1962, when LEGO wheels were introduced, the 238 Idea Books changed the artwork on these images, and replaced the bricks with wheels. So yes.... LEGO trains (as ideas) predate the summer 1966 introduction of the Train System... no doubt about it. Also a year before the introduction of trains... in 1965, the 323 Train Set was introduced... again... not related to the Train System... but a train... yes.... By the same token... the first LEGO space set was not with the introduction of the Space System in 1979.... but with the 1964 intro of this set in the USA in 1964....

It's amazing when they perform on th huge floor piano.....

The earliest known American LEGO ad for FAO Schwarz dates to late 1961, when LEGO was first introduced to the USA. LEGO was first produced at a Samsonite plant in Stratford Ontario Canada, packaged in boxes from a Detroit USA Samsonite plant, and shipped all over the USA in late 1961. Then in 1962 the Canada Samsonite plant also started LEGO sales in Canada. Here is the Samsonite LEGO 1961 FAO Schwarz ad, which just lists the regular LEGO sets of that time (smallest to largest).... 705, 708, 711, 717 and large 725 Town Plan set. Interestingly enough, the Town Plan set layout is the one used for the European 810 Town Plan Set. Even the first USA/Canada Samsonite LEGO catalogs show the European 810 set, and not the USA/Canada 725 set....

FAO Schwarz has been an American luxury toy store tradition since they first opened up in NYC in 1862. Their Fifth Ave. flagship store was the equivalent of Harrod's of London's toy department. Very up market and exclusive. The went thru way too many owners since the last of the German Schwarz family finally sold out in 1963. Their current owner is closing the last of their 42 nationwide toy stores in July, not so much because of sales declines, but because of the increasingly high cost of doing business on Fifth Ave. in NYC. Their current owner is Toys R Us, which is looking for a new location in NYC. They do not want to eliminate the high brow toy brand name.... http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/05/15/fao-schwarz-store-closing/27387753/ I remember visiting the store back in the 1980s, and their LEGO department was unparalleled in the USA. The store has been in several movies as well as being a NYC icon. Here's a bit of history about the store.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAO_Schwarz And there's a reason why FAO Schwarz was not just another toy store... as far as LEGO was concerned.... from 1962-72 it was one of the major USA toy stores that sold LEGO Exclusive sets. FAO Schwarz and Sears were the first toy store chains in the world that had LEGO exclusive sets... a tradition that carries on into the present. Here is a 1970 FAO Schwarz mail-order catalog page.... all Samsonite LEGO... and even Samsonite table and chairs (non-LEGO).... The LEGO Town Set at the top of this FAO Schwarz mail order page of 1970 is the very interesting 080 set... which was a set that merged LEGO Town System with the LEGO Train System. I don't recall any set that had this type of 2 complete systems in 1 set. The 080 set was only sold in continental Europe (not Britain, Ireland nor Australia).... and in the USA (not in Canada)... only at FAO Schwarz... known as the "Ambassador Set", with the 080 number (and Samsonite markings). Besides the outside of the box, there were other subtle differences between the USA exclusive and the continental European basic set... such as the baseplates (USA version had all stud baseplates), and trees/bushes (USA version had the unpainted trees/bushes). There is an entire chapter in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide that pictures and maps out well over 60 different and unusual exclusive LEGO sets... some in plain brown mailing boxes, others always in colorful boxes, and some that came either way... in-store (colorful) or mail-order (brown cardboard box). Since FAO Schwarz was the premier exclusive American toy store, they always had top of the line colorful box LEGO sets, often with names that sounded exclusive... such as the "Suburban", "Governor", "Diplomat", "Adventure", "Discovery" or "Ambassador" set names. More to come....

802LegoFan, Your UK left driving board ironically has the same 7 blocks as the other boards of the 1960s... just in a different arrangement. Here's your UK board layout.... Sweden also had a left driving board layout, but one that matches the countries of the rest of continental Europe.... the white traffic stop lines are on the left... The right driving board for the rest of Europe is the same, just the traffic stop lines are on the right side.... And the board of USA/Canada has the same layout as most of continental Europe, just with a different front and back cover....

Welcome to the group 802LegoFan!! There are some old time collectors on this forum, such as Lasse, and others. Check out my FLICKR page for old LEGO items from the Town Plan era.... https://www.flickr.com/photos/istokg/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/82930629@N08/ I see that your British Town Plan board has the 257/1257 Bedford Delivery Truck... This truck is known in many variations.... Here are some truly rare ones. Those of Norway have no writing at all on the sides... Images from my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide....

WoutR, funny you should mention Sweedish GEAS sets.... I just yesterday updated my LEGO Collectors Guide Timeline for the very first LEGO brick sets, the AUTOMATIC BINDING BRICKS sets of 1949-53. This of course includes the 1950-52 Swedish (GEAS) sets that TLG licensed out to that Swedish plastics maker that today is known as GEASPLAST (of Gislaved Sweden). What had been bothering me for quite some thime were these 2 red boxes (below)... which just didn't really fit well with the above AUTOMATIC BINDING BRICKS boxes... into the LEGO timeline anywhere (too many different sets for too short a time. Yesterday I was looking at the official LEGO.com timeline for the 1950s.... and for 1950 it said this: ------------------------------------------------- 1950 Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, son of the founder, Ole Kirk Kristiansen, is appointed Junior Vice President the day he turns 30. Selected Product News 1950 Three sets containing plastic bricks aimed at Kindergartens --------------------------------------------------- That comment about 3 sets just for Kindergartens caught my eye. I think it finally explains these very old LEGO sets of circa 1949-50.... These red AUTOMATIC BINDING BRICKS boxes just never made any sense... in relation to the other early sets of this era.... I think that these are 2 of the 3 early Kindergarten AUTOMATIC BINDING BRICKS sets as mentioned in the 1950 Timeline. It perfectly explains why they're different from regular boxed sets. Also... one other thing about them caught my eye. All the Kindergarten sets of the 1960s and 1970s have a red box top... that would perfectly fit in with these earliest sets of 1950... that TLG traditionally showed the institutional sets in red. Here is a 1960s LEGO Kindergarten Set in a wooden box with sliding red top... So this kind of puts everything into perspecive about early LEGO cardboard and wooden boxes!! Now adding Educational sets to both AUTOMATIC BINDING BRICKS and EDUCATIONAL/INSTITUTIONAL chapters of my collectors guide!!

None of my sets survived my childhood in the 1960s.... but here's my rebuilt rare set collection around 2000.... However... I sold off all of these sets in the last 5 years.... so other's could enjoy owning them.... 30 years in my possession was long enough.... Now I concentrate on writing the story about LEGO sets and parts (with 20,000 image library)... in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide!

Thanks Lasse.... I've seen plastic doll size versions of the LEGO Man selling for over $500 in mint condition. Early LEGO is very hot right now on the secondary market... especially the sets that have the parts inlaid in boxes (not loose parts), and also the marbled bricks. There is now a growing interest among these truly collectible items. Also Lasse, I have now found examples of the 1306 VW Repair set box tops with the images with VW GARAGE (your image), VW SERVICE (Sweden) and VW GARASJE (Norway). The 1307 VW Showroom set box has now been found with VW SALG (Denmark and Norway), VW FORSALJNING (Sweden) and VW VERKAUF (Germany). The 1308 Fire Station set box has been found with FALK (Denmark) and FEUERWEHR (Germany). Still waiting to be discovered are BRANDSTATION (Sweden) and BRANNSTASJON (Norway).

Also included in the several chapters of my LEGO Collectors Guide are going to be several videos. The nice thing about having a Computer Desktop collectors guide is that you can click on sites on the internet (videos and reference sites), and then go back to the desktop document where you left off. This will be true for several videos of some of the largest collections of LEGO display sculptures on the planet.... including museums (Dan Brown's in Ohio), as well as online links to the works of famous LEGO sculptors (and LEGO friends) such as Eric Harshbarger, Nathan Sawaya and Adam Reed Tucker. The 5 chapters on display models will make this the ultimate guide for official (and non-official) LEGO sculptures and displays! ;-) (P.S. If you currently own my collectors guide.. this expansion of the guide from 2800 to 3700 pages will be free ) (Image from the 1985 LEGO Exhibition in Paris).... See the LEGO Bazaar for a special.... http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=73780

Well now I think I've seen it all..... several LEGO fans have recently offered the use of the images of about 150 display models covering the last half century of LEGO retailer displays, for my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide next edition (free to current owners of my DVD or Desktop Reference Guide). So now my chapter on Glued LEGO display models will likely be split into large chapters on models by decades!! Chapter 78 - 1955-70 Early Display Models. Chapter 79 - 1970s Display Models. Chapter 80 - 1980s Display Models. Chapter 81 - 1990s Display Models. Chapter 82 - 2000- Present Display Models. This is in addition to a chapter on LEGO Retailer Stores & Displays, and a chapter on LEGO Retailer Catalogs, Binders and Brochures. I'm very excited over thiss... some of these new LEGO guide chapters will be subdivided into sub-chapters on Town, Castle, Space, Homemaker, Large Figures, etc. These chapters will show the evolution from the early years, when retailers were required to purchase Display Models from TLG in Billund Denmark, to starting in the 1970s when TLG made them available to retailers, but kept ownership of the models, expecting them to be returned to TLG. From what I gathered TLG didn't want broken or dirty display models left in circulation, because they wanted to protect the image and reputation of the LEGO product. Fortunately for us today... many of these LEGO display models didn't make it back to TLG, which once returned... they were destroyed. So we are fortunate that there are survivors among this part of LEGO history. This same destruction took place among weathered and replaced Miniland models from the LEGOLAND partks. Somewhere I have a heartbreaking image of a huge mound of disposed LEGOLAND models that were on their way to being crushed and recycled. Even in the early years, when retailers could own their own copies of models, TLG suggested that they dispose of them after they became outdated and no longer in good condition. The over 150 image assortment I now have to document is amazing... an entire book on just these alone could be put together.... Some teasers from my LEGO display model chapters.... An English Tudor House... 1960s A late 1950s House Model..... The old lady who lived in a shoe model from 1976... from the Homemaker era with big people.... A 1970s LEGO Mississippi Paddlewheel Ship showing the old Minifig "stiffs" of 1975-78..... 1001 Arabian Nights.... LEGO Airport model..... And a bazillion more.... ;-)

Classic Trains ..... many of the 1970s and 1980s train sets came with large sticker sheets with stickers for almost a dozen country specific rail companies. The DB (Deutsche Bahn) is the default image on the boxes and instructions, since (then) West Germany was the largest LEGO market for 12V trains. Here is a sticker sheet for the 7725, although it is missing a few (including DSB)..... Here is the sticker sheet for the 7740 Intercity Train, which again allows you to use the stickers of your local country for your build.... In my Eurobricks thread about getting 4.5V and 12V box images of old sets for my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide, I show several train sets that come in multiple languages on one box (the 7725 also did)... where there are 3 box top versions, each with 3 different languages on the box. All box top versions still show the default German DB images, as do the common (no language) instructions... http://www.eurobrick...howtopic=108675

Came across the most ancient of all LEGO documents.... A 1934 (first year they used the name "LEGO") wooden toy retailer pricelist.... And a pricelist list for ladders and stools and other household goods.... Not much to look at... but very historic LEGO documents!

Thanks Pizzareno! I've been amassing images and info about sets, parts and LEGO history for 8 years now! I have been in contact with the Billund Archives in Denmark as well, since I've had so many unanswered questions (not anymore!). And sometimes I give them info and images on sets that they have never seen. It's a 2 way street. But I've gotten many images from them and over 100 major collectors worldwide, that went into my 2800 page collectors guide. If you want to see what printed bricks were used in the early Train System days (before stickers took over)... check out my Chapter 48 - Early Printed and Painted LEGO... a sample chapter of my collectors guide.... Subchapter 48.3.... http://www.1000steine.de/brickset/miscellaneous/Lego%20Chapter%2048%20Vol2.pdf I'm still having a 1/2 off sale on my collectors guide Computer Desktop download... (as seen in the Eurobricks Bazaar.... http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showforum=152 Here's an image from my collectors guide that dates 11 year before the introduction of LEGO Trains in 1966. This 1955 image shows the first of the LEGO Town Plan System using..... HO Trains!! Yes... from 1955-58 TLG was promoting the use of their Town Plan System with Vollmer HO scale trains! I have a lot of very old images showing this.

They do look used... so yeah... give it a try....

Be forewarned.... not all trans-clear parts in older LEGO sets was as sparklingly clear as they are today. Over the last 50 years TLG kept tampering with the formula for trans-clear parts. During the 1980s the 1x6x3 trans-clear windscreens and 2x2x2 trans-clear smooth steep slopes were foggy even in mint condition. Not sure if your train had any of these foggy parts in trans-clear (because other trans-clear parts were perfectly clear)... but you might be making things worse if the part was originally sold that way. Here's an image from my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide showing (from right to left) how LEGO trans-clear 2x4 bricks evolved over the last 55 years....

Thanks LEGO Train 12 Volts I was looking a little closer at my notes about the first LEGO train with motor... the 113 set that came out in Summer 1966. When the 113 set came out, it was one of the few train sets that was sold in all LEGO countries.... USA/Canada (Samsonite), Britain/Ireland/Australia (British LEGO Ltd.) and continental Europe (TLG). But one odd thing about this set was the parts count. In continental Europe, Britain/Ireland and Australia it had 344 parts. In the USA it had 402 parts and in Canada it hat 415 parts. Also the 4 pairs of printed bricks were different for some regions. Britain/Ireland and Australia had LONDON, MANCHESTER, GLASGOW, and ROYAL MAIL printed bricks, while continental Europe, USA and Canada had HAMBURG, BASEL, GENOVA and POST printed bricks. Here is a USA 113 set with the 402 piece count on the box.... Here is a British LEGO Ltd. version of 113 (no piece count on the box).... with the UK style printed bricks.... And here is a built... continental European 113 set.... The box top shows a built train with enough track to build a partly elevated train. However the contents of the set don't contain all the parts necessary to finish this layout. In the 1950s and 1960s LEGO was trying hard to sell spare parts packs... and sometimes not providing enough pieces to build exactly what may be on the box, was considered a way to entice you to buy the parts packs. Here is an image of the layout of the 113 set, according to how the back of box image shows it..... Although the set doesn't have more track than to build an oval, the ironic thing is that the 188 extra pieces required to build the full "figure 8" elevated layout... those parts would actually fit into the 113 box. So the 113 set as sold had a lot more box capacity than the parts in the set. It is possible that perhaps the original intent was to have all the parts to build the entire layout... but at some point it may have been decided to reduce the parts count, due to the high price it would cost. Interesting to think about....

Thanks all! 9v system , I didn't notice that until you mentioned it, but it does look like a steam powered workshop in the lower right of that image! I recognize the regular 4x4 red 1960s era wheels, but that large wheel is puzzling? Could that be a USA/Canada only Samsonite large red gear? Even though TLG Denmark designed the (1965-73) Samsonite gears, they were never found in any European sets. Very interesting! Rail Co .... the blue track era 12V trains were never sold in Britain/Ireland/Australia. Apparently British LEGO Ltd. for some reason never sold them in those locations (they only sold the gray track 12V trains in those locations). Also, the blue track era 12V trains were not sold in USA/Canada (neither were the gray track era 12V trains). Only continental Europe had blue track era 12V trains. One irony of this is that the 1970 Japanese catalog shows a full array of blue track 12V trains as being sold in Japan starting in that year. However, these are unknown to Japanese collectors. So it appears that the 1970 Japanese catalogs showing the blue track era 12V trains was printed before the Fujisho Co. (the Japanese LEGO licensee in the 1970s) may have thought the trains too expensive to sell there, and they were never exported to Japan. Here are some 1970 Japanese catalog images showing this error (image from my LEGO friend Yodoba). Only the 4.5V trains and accessories (and push trains) were sold in Japan during the blue track era...