LEGO Historian Posted April 8, 2013 Posted April 8, 2013 (edited) I just signed up for Youpublisher, and have put my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide.... Chapter 73 - LEGO Sales By Country.... onto Youpublisher for all to see. Ever wanted to know when each LEGO country first started LEGO sales? The official LEGO Timeline on the LEGO.com website is a confusing muddle of information... since they mention first LEGO sales... and LEGO sales offices opening... apples and oranges... since the 2 items don't always happen the same year... and are sometimes several years apart. Here's a view of the last chapter (73) of my LEGO DVD/download that is still available on LEGO Bazaar as a handy 2,800 page desktop download... Lots of historic LEGO images shown here... http://www.youblishe...les-By-Country/ Edited April 8, 2013 by LEGO Historian Quote
LEGO Historian Posted February 24, 2014 Author Posted February 24, 2014 (edited) Rather than open a new thread, I thought I would reuse this year old one from last year, but with a different twist... LEGO Set sales by country.... There were a lot of LEGO items that were not sold in all countries... and in some instances it may have just been the packaging that was different (such as the 384/760 London Bus Set)... or the contents that were different (such as the 325 Shell Station with different colored garage doors). One of my recent additions to my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide was including rare items that folks might find if they were at a flea market or (UK) boot sale... especially things that are very rare and valuable to look out for. So I added a new chapter in my collectors guide for this... and it would be something to have handy on a iPad or SmartPhone (which my collectors guide can be downloaded to). Here's an example of this... say you lived in Portugal... Portugal first started selling LEGO surprisingly early... in 1957 (the same year that sales started in Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg). However LEGO sales there were never quite as popular as they were in the Germanic language speaking countries of Europe. But there were some items sold ONLY in Portugal that are worth a very pretty penny!! Take these items.... (from a 1966 Portugal LEGO catalog).... These 1:87 LEGO cars are very valuable to begin with... however they are not known in plastic garages under the 602-668 numbers. All of these are only known in cardboard boxes in other countries. The 661-668 cars are known under a 261-268 number in other countries from earlier in the 1960s... but not under these numbers. The 602 and 604 cars are totally unknown under these numbers anywhere. They are known in cardboard boxes under th 603 and 605 numbers respectively. Here is what these Portuguese items are packaged with.... image on the left (from earlier 261-268 cars) shows what these very rare Portuguese items are packaged in, including a paper banderole. The item on the right shows how these are packaged in all other European countries in cardboard boxes. Ordinarily a 661-668 car in a cardboard box in mint is worth about $200. But if they were packaged (with the same 661-668 numbers) as the one on the left... then they would be worth well over $1000!! And a 602 or 604 would likely go for much much more ($1500+) in a plastic garage with a paper banderole around it. If you had a 604 Fiat car in Black (only about a dozen known)... that 604 would be worth about $5000!! None of these items are listed (as the Portuguese variations) in any online LEGO databases. So for you Portuguese AFOLs... keep on the lookout!! I've done a country by country breakdown of very sets and items only sold in specific countries... some are still so recently discovered (such as the German 6661 TV Mobile Studio set with the WDR German TV Station logo on the truck) that the value of the sets have not yet caught up to the reality. I saw one of these sell for only $60 on Ebay!! (pennies on the dollar!!). I've got these rare sets/items divided into the following categories... Denmark/Norway/Sweden Germany Netherlands Italy Portugal Switzerland Continental Europe Britain/Ireland/Australia USA Canada Lots of rare and unusual LEGO items found in these specific locations... some very old... others more recent. But there are still a lot of rare items that can be found either at flea markets or even Ebay or other online auctions... a lot of it STILL unknown to many collectors!! Edited February 24, 2014 by LEGO Historian Quote
Yak Posted February 25, 2014 Posted February 25, 2014 Thanks for the great info! As a vintage non Lego toy collector but someone who has kept an eye on Lego for the last 15 years - I can only conclude Lego is it's own strange beast. I think the difference is AFOL's are mainly focused on modern stuff so you can pick up some crazy vintage Lego bargains all the time! Scott Quote
LEGO Historian Posted February 25, 2014 Author Posted February 25, 2014 (edited) Thanks for the great info! As a vintage non Lego toy collector but someone who has kept an eye on Lego for the last 15 years - I can only conclude Lego is it's own strange beast. I think the difference is AFOL's are mainly focused on modern stuff so you can pick up some crazy vintage Lego bargains all the time! Scott Scott.... shhhhhhhhhh!!!!! My vintage LEGO collector friends kindly ask that you not say that too loudly!! Hehehehe.... New collectors do seem to be preoccupied with the more common new stuff, thus driving up new LEGO prices, while the truly rare older stuff goes for some very decent prices at auction... thus many old time collectors buy much more than they really need at decent prices... Which is why my collectors guide helps out those collectors who want to start collecting the true rare items... the older LEGO!!! Opps... forgot the rare UK stuff.... Edited February 25, 2014 by LEGO Historian Quote
LEGO Historian Posted February 26, 2014 Author Posted February 26, 2014 The Fiat 1800 in black (fewer than a dozen known)...commanded $3250 at auction 3 years ago... and that's for a used model without an MISB box... Quote
LEGO Historian Posted February 27, 2014 Author Posted February 27, 2014 (edited) On to a different, more modern vehicle.... also very rare... OK... this 1985 Canadian 106 UNICEF Van Set, is very rare.... And the rare part (besides the box and instructions) are the two 1x4x3 printed panels with the UN emblem. There is a used blue panel (with scratches) in BL selling for $150. And then there's a single (no box, no instructions) used 106 set selling in BL for $1,499... (mighty pricey for 2 non-scratched panels!) Well that is a unique to Canada LEGO part. Then there is a unique to Germany part, which is still undocumented (although it is in my collectors guide... ) The 6661 Mobile TV Studio Set.... This unassuming 1989 set was sold in all countries. But a German TV station WDR (West Deutsche Rundfunk) had a LEGO executive whip up a few hundred or thousand promotional sets with a "WDR" emblem on the truck panes. The folks at the LEGO Archives in Billund, and the German LEGO marketing group have no records of this happening... but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. There are many known instances where TLG did things "under the table"... So there have been some German owners of 6661 sets with the polybags still sealed inside... that had the WDR on the 1x4x3 panels... (although the box and instructions show "TV").... As you can see, this close up shows that the WDR was overprinted on top of the earlier "TV" logo. Although not as valuable (yet) as the UNICEF logo... it's just a matter of time as this set starts becoming more well known, once online databases catch up. One BL friend of mine found the set at auction for only $60... which I told him to snatch up right away... for even 5 times that price!! Well he got it, without much fuss, at such a bargain. I try to tell people that there's a gold mine of rare and valuable parts out there... but so many seem to be more smitten with all the common new stuff... The old time collectors don't seem to mind though! Edited February 27, 2014 by LEGO Historian Quote
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