My Classic Pirates collection

[PxChris]

In celebration of completing my collection of the classic Pirates theme (1989-1997) and of reaching a milestone on my Instagram account, I've been posting a series of photos of my collection showing the complete theme year by year. I thought some of you might enjoy these photos as well!

It's been so much fun to collect all of these sets and then getting them photographed and sharing them!

 

1989

1990 (this is the odd year out, since according to Brickset no sets were released in 1990, however we do have the awesome Idea Book 260 from that year so I included the builds it has instructions for)

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

 

[icm]

Very nice collection, and nice presentation. Your enthusiasm for Classic Pirates is contagious. Do you plan to acquire a complete collection of the newer Pirates and Pirates-adjacent sets to go with them?

[NOD]

This is a very beautiful collection. You took very nice photos, everything looks like new.

[Marooned Marin]

Love it, and can't wait to see it on next BIG convention, during the dim-lights.

Technical question: How do you fight against the dust? Do you clean every set regularly, or do you store them in boxes? 

 

[PxChris]

Dust is a constant problem for sure! I do try to keep things dusted pretty regularly, because all of my built sets are out and regular little dust magnets!

I use a combination of brushes of varying sizes as well as a small vacuum.

[Marooned Marin]

Given the size of your collection I imagine you dust every week, if not every third day.

Now this reminded me. What's your policy with kids? Do they get to play with Pirate sets, or they are strictly off limits?

I tend to give my MOCs for play, but under the condition they will not be dissembled.

[ciano]

It's... Beautiful 🥹

[PxChris]

Well, my "kid" is 19 now, so playing isn't so much of an issue any more. On the occasion that we do have visiting kids over, they're now allowed to play with my built sets, but I actually have a tub of LEGO that's specifically for them to play with.

[PxChris]

Now some photos of the collection as arranged by faction!

 

First up we have the Imperial Soldiers (Bluecoats) 1989-1991:

Then came the Imperial Guards (Redcoats) 1992-1995:

The last of our Imperial factions are the Imperial Armada 1996-1997:

A very welcome diversion from the Imperial foes of the Pirates were the Islanders from 1994(-1995 if you count the Treasure Chest set 1788 as I do):

Then we come to our title Pirates which I've broken into three photos mainly because I can't reasonably fit all of the sets into one photo.

Wave 1 1989-1991:

Wave 2 1992-1995:

Wave 3 1996-1997:

 

[mvLego]

What I find almost even more impressive is how crisp a lot of your sails are. Are they all original or have you bought any replacements knock-off sails?

[PxChris]

Every single sail is original.

I spent a lot of time cleaning and pressing the sails for my ships to bring them back to life. Some of them still certainly need some more work done on them, but on the whole I'm very happy with the condition of all of them.

[PxChris]

A final couple of photos of the collection - this time just the ships!

The Pirate ships! Some of the greatest sets LEGO has ever made are in this photo!

The Imperial Ships - always outgunned by the Pirates.

 

[Mister Phes]

On 8/23/2022 at 3:10 AM, PxChris said:

Now some photos of the collection as arranged by faction!

This is an impressive collection! 

At cursory glance, it seems to be complete... but correct me if I'm mistaken!

Did you purchase them all as sets? Or did you build them from parts using instructions you sourced online?

[PxChris]

1 hour ago, Mister Phes said:

This is an impressive collection! 

At cursory glance, it seems to be complete... but correct me if I'm mistaken!

Did you purchase them all as sets? Or did you build them from parts using instructions you sourced online?

It is very, very nearly complete.

Per my definitions, the only set I'm actually missing is the Buccaneers minifigure pack 6204. A weird quirk of mine is that I really feel it's only useful for me to get the minifigure packs if I can get the box with them, so until I find the box for this at a reasonable price (which is very, very tough due to how rare & valuable the 1997 sets are) it'll remain a missing component of the collection.

There are also three sets which were released with two different set numbers in North America (in polybags) and Europe/elsewhere (in small boxes) for which I only have the North American versions. To my definitions, I still have the collection complete because the only differences are the packaging and instructions number, and I'm not a packaging collector but a set collector.

So that's a long way of saying that yes, I consider the collection virtually complete. I will continue to be looking for 6204 with a box but otherwise I have all of the sets.

The majority of them I did purchase as sets. A couple of the small ones I pieced together. I also have duplicates and triplicates of quite a number of the sets and a huge number of extra minifigures (close to 100 extra Bluecoat soldiers and over 100 extra pirates for example) and a pretty large amount of bulk spare parts to Pirates sets that I've Bricklinked or are from incomplete sets. MOCing up more classic style builds for convention displays is the goal.

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

Awesomely excellent!

[Ultimo]

Fantastic collection  and I like how you arranged it for the photos. It's just like watching the catalogues over and over (as I did when I was a kid).

[PxChris]

17 hours ago, Ultimo said:

Fantastic collection  and I like how you arranged it for the photos. It's just like watching the catalogues over and over (as I did when I was a kid).

Thank you very much! That was definitely the feeling I was going for.

[Captain Fortune]

Astonishing, congratulations!

I can proudly say that I own many of them in a very good condition too, and originally bought in the 90s.

[PxChris]

Today was a great day! A most precious package arrived.

I was able to acquire, at a price I was willing to pay, the last minifigure pack with box that I needed to complete my entire collection of the Classic Pirates theme!

The rareness of this, which only had a limited North American release, means that it demands quite a high price on the aftermarket. So I was thrilled to be able to buy it for a much more palatable price!

Super happy to have all of the minifigure packs together now!

[Mister Phes]

7 hours ago, PxChris said:

Today was a great day! A most precious package arrived.

Congratulations on yer acquisition!

I think I've got one of these in MISB condition somewhere...

[PxChris]

6 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

Congratulations on yer acquisition!

I think I've got one of these in MISB condition somewhere...

Thank ya! 

My copy of 6251 is MISB (well... sealed box anyways, not exactly 100% mint ). 6252 and 6204 are open.

[Mister Phes]

2 minutes ago, PxChris said:

My copy of 6251 is MISB (well... sealed box anyways, not exactly 100% mint ).

Ahhhhhh... so the minifigs out front aren't from that particular set?

[PxChris]

58 minutes ago, Mister Phes said:

Ahhhhhh... so the minifigs out front aren't from that particular set?

In that case... nope!

I think I have at least 5 sets worth of those minifigs loose in my collection.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Impressive and beautiful collection!

[PxChris]

21 hours ago, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Impressive and beautiful collection!

Thank you so much, I really appreciate that!

I continue to add to the collection, though that of course has slowed down now that I have the complete wave of classic Pirates sets. But I have recently added the comic in Danish as well as the German audio cassettes for instance. I also have expanded the collection with most of the other ships released since '97 as well. I'm doing another huge Pirates display next year, so I will have new pics to share again in the future!