Got some old stuff, want to know what it is

[bwajfk]

Hi all!

I've had a close relationship with LEGO all my life, but have had a newfound extra interest in the last maybe five years of my 31 year old life. The wife and I have bought lots from auctions and such and we currently have around 225 kilos, more or less sorted.

Anyway, in one of the lots there was this LEGO wooden box, without a specific number on it. I've managed to find pictures of the exact box on the web, but none of the sites with the pictures ever mention af specific number, only that it's in 700 series or something like that.

I have uploaded three pictures of it here and we hope some of you can lead us in the right direction as to getting this 'set' complete. It's full of bricks, but I'm fairly sure it's not complete.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99436690@N06/with/9367343611/

Also in the link is a few pics of some older sets that was with another lot we bought. About 20 sets, mostly from the seventies, I think. Supposed we can get them all complete, what price range would we speak, again supposed we'd want to sell them?

[Darth Dino]

Hi

nice find! But for your age of 31 this is pretty old. I guess this is late '50 and erly '60 Lego.

I am pretty sure we will get all the details soon from Legohistorian ;) Just sit down and relax.

May i ask how much that old wooden box was?

Dino

[bwajfk]

Hi

nice find! But for your age of 31 this is pretty old. I guess this is late '50 and erly '60 Lego.

I am pretty sure we will get all the details soon from Legohistorian ;) Just sit down and relax.

May i ask how much that old wooden box was?

Dino

It was part of a lot of 90 kilos of LEGO we bought for 6800 DKK, a bit more than 900 euros. So no price on the box itself as such.

[Darth Dino]

Hi

wooha! That was a "buy once - enjoy forever" purchase ;)

Do you see differences between the red bricks from the wooden box and newer onces? Lego changed in the past from cellulose acetate to ABS.

The old cellulose acetate bricks are milky looking, bent often and not that shiny and colorfil as the ABS ones.

Dino

[bwajfk]

Hi

wooha! That was a "buy once - enjoy forever" purchase ;)

Do you see differences between the red bricks from the wooden box and newer onces? Lego changed in the past from cellulose acetate to ABS.

The old cellulose acetate bricks are milky looking, bent often and not that shiny and colorfil as the ABS ones.

Dino

I actually made an even better buy some weeks ago. 140 kilos for 7800 DKK. Including 2x 7939, 7938 (LEGO City Trains) and tons of extra rails, a lot of older rails (blue and gray), transformators, trains and such....plus those about 20 sets I have pictured and maybe 50 LEGO City sets, including the big farm, police station, airport and A LOT more of the big sets (harbor, coast guard and such). And besides all that a lot of other things, including the biggest Indy set, Enzo Ferrari 1:17, the big Ferrari Finish Line...

Much and the newer LEGOs but it's fun also to have some of the new sets, though our favorite LEGO time period are the eighties...

[naf]

I'm sure the Lego Historian can chime in and let you know exactly what you have. Looks like some Lego from the 50's or 60's to me. Great find, you have a true collector's item there.

[Hrw-Amen]

That old road plate looks familiar, is it cardboard? I am sure that I had one as a kid and that railway stuff looks very familiar especially the red passenger coach and the truck using gate pieces on the sides.

I would have got them I'd guess around 1969/70 as a child if that helps.

[bwajfk]

That old road plate looks familiar, is it cardboard? I am sure that I had one as a kid and that railway stuff looks very familiar especially the red passenger coach and the truck using gate pieces on the sides.

I would have got them I'd guess around 1969/70 as a child if that helps.

It's only the box I haven't identified. The other stuff was just to show if someone was interested.

Regarding the box; there are three plates with roads on. They slide in the box and act as lid. I'n not sure what the material is called in english, but it's not cardboard as in a cardboard box (soft, bendable and such). It's hard.

Edited July 29, 2013 by bwajfk

[LEGO Historian]

Ooooooohhhhhh..... a German 700 "with contents" wooden box set...

Although the 700 wooden box set (1957-65) was sold in much of continental Europe... ONLY in Germany (1957-62) was the box top a 2 piece 1950's Town Plan board layout made of Masonite (Hartfaserplatte in German). The back side of one of the boards was plain Masonite, the back side of the other half of the board was the box top design... known in either German (1957-58) or the international LEGO System (1959-62)... the box top came in 4 different designs.

Here it shows how the German 700 "with contents" has room for a 2 piece sliding top (left box), while the German 700 "empty" and the 700 set of other continental countries has a 1 piece sliding top (right), with no Town Plan design at all.

Chapter 14 of my LEGO DVD download has an entire subchapter on the 20 different versions of the 700 wooden box set, as well as the Contents List... that lists all the parts that came with this set.

The problem with almost all LEGO wooden box sets is that they usually did not come with any set number on the box itself. Only the Contents List has the set number listed... and that contents list is the first thing that gets lost... thus rendering the set number nearly impossible to determine (unless of course you have my DVD download... ).

But there is one other mystery... why are there what appears to be 3 or 4 Masonite Town Plan board pieces... when the set only comes with 2? Looks like the remains of another German 700 "with contents" box....

You could probably sell the extra matching pair of board pieces for some nice change on either Bricklink or EBAY!!

Very nice find!!

Gary Istok

P.S. The nice thing about those German 700 wooden box sets is that they were painted white... so you could potentially restore the box with some white paint... provided the box top image is pretty much intact on the back of one of those Town Plan board pieces...

Edited July 30, 2013 by LEGO Historian

[bwajfk]

There are three Town PLan pieces and they all fit into the top of the box (sliding in). It looks as though they are all part of the set. I will snap a few more pics for you soon, if you want. Some say it's 700-13 but I'm not sure as the contents seem to be fairly complete and untouched (meaning it hasn't been emptied entirely and just filled again later with random bricks). And the 700-13 har some of the old trees a gasoline stand and more, which I haven't got. It's more or less ordinary bricks in my box, bricks, slopes and such...

I know you haven't really seen it's condition up close, but assuming it's near complete brick-wise, what would guess the value of it is around? - Just an extimate; like $20, $50 or $100 :)

Edited July 30, 2013 by bwajfk

[LEGO Historian]

Bwafjk, yes more pics would be great! The middle image of 700-13 in Bricklink is my own set, of the earlier (1957) type with hollow bottom bricks, and the Esso Accessories/road signs/printed bricks.

What would help in determining a value is if the box top image is intact on the other side of one of the 3 Town Plan board pieces. That would really make it worth more. Also... having 3 board pieces actually fit into the sliding top also adds to its' value. (A picture of all 3 board pieces put into the top would be great!!) Ditto for condition of the box... there are 24 partitions in all... 12 deep, 4 long, and 8 in the pull out wooden tray. If that is also in good condition it adds to the value. If the outer box is just missing paint (no other damage), that also helps, since it can be restored.

But what is really important is if there is an image of the box top on the back of one of the board pieces... that could push the value into the hundreds of dollars. Here's a copy of the early version (1957-60) Contents List...

The numbers along the left columns are the numbers of the 1956-65 LEGO spare parts packs that these parts are found in. Strangely enough the 236 Garage is a separate LEGO set that can build a garage. Why the parts to that are listed separately is rather odd... but that's how they did it!!

The likely 7 1x6/1x8 white beams with names would be... ESSO WAGENPFLEGE, THEATER, POST, HOTEL, WÜRSTCHEN, TAXE and TABAK.

Edited July 30, 2013 by LEGO Historian

[bwajfk]

Hi!

I've added a few more pictures for you: http://www.flickr.co...s/99436690@N06/

Unfortunately you were completely right. We have three lids, but two of those are the same and all three doesn't really fit in the box as I was certain they did :/

So it looks as though we just have a spare lid.

Also, as you can see, there nothing on the back side of any of the three lids (nor the box itself).

It doesn't look like we have anything of the trees or the garage and other very special items from the set, but the bricks inside are the real ones (no cross supports). Doesn't look like we have the labeled 1x6 you mention, but there are a lot of those 1x1 with letters.

Edited August 2, 2013 by bwajfk

[LEGO Historian]

So you have a German 700 set "with contents" (although many of the Town Plan parts are missing), and no LEGO logo on the one boards for the box top image. And you also have an extra board from a 2nd set (with the rest of the set missing).

You could likely sell this in 2 parts... the complete 700 set with a pair of Masonite boards, and an "extra" (left side) 700 set type Masonite half board.

There may be some buyer out there somewhere that only has the other half of the board, and it could still get some decent money ($30-$50).

Also this Masonite board came as a single board, sold without a box. This board was somewhat larger than the 2 half boards for the German 700 set.

Here's an image of one (from my LEGO Collectors Guide on DVD)....

Edited August 5, 2013 by LEGO Historian