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Showing results for tags 'Weetabix & Unilever'.
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Back in 1980 TLG came out with some really nice Town System sets... First in 1978 they came out with a British Weetabix Cereal promotional 1589 Town Square set that used the new LEGO road plates... Then in 1980 they came out with a similar set... the British Weetabix Cereal promotional 1592 Town Square set (with a castle sub-theme to it). This set had a UK flag and other stickers that really made a nice city set. TLG must have produced a lot of these sets... since they were not JUST sold in Britain. This set was also sold starting around 1981 in Germany... by the SPIELZEUGRING German toy retailers association. Here's an advertisement of this same UK version of the 1592 set in Germany.... TLG must really have produced a lot of these sets... since they were also sold in limited quantities in Japan... and also in Canada. It was likely an Eaton's Department Store exclusive in Canada, since it was not found in any Canadian catalog (nor was it found in Japanese catalogs). By 1983 the number of these British 1592 Town Square Sets must have been depleted... but not quite.... In 1983 a Dutch version of the 1592 set was introduced in the Netherlands. This version was virtually identical to the earlier UK version, except for the box, instructions, and sticker sheet... which had a Dutch flag and Dutch language stickers.... The Dutch language 1592 Town Square Set was a Unilever Corporation promotional set. Unilever was a cleaning product and foodstuff multinational corporation... and it was promoting Dutch UNOX Soup... (via sending in soup labels and money)... Now one would think that all of the leftover British 1592 sets were sold before TLG produced the Dutch version in 1983... well not really... A Dutch acquaintance was a LEGO fan as a child... along with his 2 brothers... And their parents sent in 3 sets of UNOX Soup labels and money to get 3 of the Dutch 1592 sets. Well guess what arrived?? 2 Dutch and 1 British version of the 1592 sets!! So TLG still had a few of the (produced in large quantities) UK 1592 sets leftover... and added them to the rarer Dutch versions... which incidentally were never sold elsewhere.... So that is the complex story of the 1592 set.... Besides the 1980-83 1592 sets sold in Britain/Germany/Canada/Japan/Netherlands... ... there's the earlier (and probably rarer) UK only Weetabix 1589 set of 1978... ... and then there was the USA only 6390 Main Street Set... the only one of these nice town sets that actually made it to the inside of a LEGO catalog... although it was only the USA catalog.... The 1592 Town Set variations and 99 other sets are going to get their own "little anecdotes" about their production history, where sold, variations, and other little differences... these 100 sets in all are going to have a special history chapter in my (now up to 80 chapters) LEGO DVD/download... of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide. So much to say... so little information available from the TLG Archives... Enjoy, Gary Istok