Vintage Pirate/Imperial Guard displays

[TalonCard]

Ahoy everyone, I found an interesting video while voyaging through YouTube today. It's a video from 1993/94 from a mall in Caracaus, Venezuela with a nice little view of an Imperial Guards display--definitely a blast from the past, I would have loved to have seen this in person. (Or better yet, have it in my living room!  ) 

[PaleozoicBricks]

maybe not exactly for pirates, But I eventually would like to have displays similar to this, but with more bricks. Predominantly for my chima and space sets. A youtuber I used to watch a lot got me into making my own displays you would see in toy fairs and old commercials. so I love the aesthetic a lot.

[PxChris]

Wow, thanks for the share @TalonCard - that is so cool!!

[SpacePolice89]

What a fantastic display. Those sets are so cool. I've seen a couple of similar displays for Pirates and Trains.

[TalonCard]

Oh wow, that's fantastic! Especially the pirate/islander one; I've seen that display case type before but the diorama itself is completely new to me. Do you know where those photos were taken?

[SpacePolice89]

13 hours ago, TalonCard said:

Oh wow, that's fantastic! Especially the pirate/islander one; I've seen that display case type before but the diorama itself is completely new to me. Do you know where those photos were taken?

I took the photos myself at the Helsinki Lego Show in Finland in 2004. It was and exhibition that was arranged every summer from 2003 to 2006 as a cooperation between Lego and a sports complex called Arena Center that is situated underground under the Hagnäs market square. There is an article about it (in Finnish, which I speak some so I can help to translate the most important information).

https://www.kaleva.fi/helsingin-hakaniemeen-avattiin-lego-puisto/2090785

The owners of the sports complex wanted to do something different during the summer when very few people play floor hockey indoors and got the idea to do something Lego related. They contacted the local Lego office in Helsinki and they contacted the main office in Billund. They all liked the idea and so the Helsinki Lego Show was born. Every summer a team from Billund arrived and built the show. Over 30 builds were displayed and the there were also build and play areas as well as a pop up Lego store. The Star Wars display in the photo below has mountains from similar material as the Pirates display in the video has.

[Ammiraglio_Artic]

Sorry if this isn’t the right section, I’m new here. I wanted to share some photos of this (apologies for my terrible English): This is a LEGO display tube that I bought almost twenty years ago at a toy store in Italy, where it had been displayed in the LEGO section for at least ten years. It was around 2006 when I got it; officially, it wasn’t for sale, but the store owner had no issue selling it to me. I don’t remember exactly how much I paid, but it wasn’t more than €40-50.

I’ve never been able to find any trace of it in the Bricklink archive under the "Retail Display Case" section, where it should be listed. A few years ago, I wrote directly to Bricklink’s email contacts, explaining how I came to own it and attaching some photos in the hope that they would add it to the catalog, but I never received a reply (maybe I’ll try writing to them again).

 

The tube is probably from the year 1994, when the Islanders theme was introduced, and in fact, we can see almost a small story: from the pirate islet on the left, a rowboat led by Captain Redbeard sets sail towards the green island of the Oropacos.

 

On the right side of the tube, we find the 'LEGO System' sticker, now completely yellowed.

 

One of the two caps at the ends of the tube is secured with two screws (although I suspect they were added later), while the other cap was only glued on, but the glue has worn out over time, making it possible to open.

 

The interior is very interesting to analyze and deduce its history before it came into my possession. First of all, as a display product, all the pieces are glued in place. However, I believe that while it was in the store, it suffered some 'looting' (probably why one of the two caps was later secured with screws).

There are some missing parts, such as one of the lids of the two treasure chests or a palm tree. In fact, on the base, there are remnants of three palm leaves that were forcibly bent by the tube. All three broke because of this, but I never found any trace of the third broken leaf (in the photos, you can see only two, but on the base, there are remnants of three leaves). Was it thrown away because it was broken? Or taken by someone? We’ll never know.

 

The glue, as with the cap, has also worn out in several places. You can detach King Kahuka from his throne or the shark from the water.

 

Here’s another interesting detail: on the back of the treasure chest’s pedestal, there are two black pieces with traces of glue, but I’ve never found anything attached there. It was probably stolen by someone, and unfortunately, we’ll never know what was originally there.

 

Some parts of the display clearly come from certain Pirates sets from 1993-1994. For example, from the 6262 King Kahuka's Throne set. The litter from the set is the one we find in the tube where King Kahuka is seated, and both pirates from the set are also present. Additionally, the drum of the natives in the tube (which appears in almost all their sets but with different colors each time) features black and red colors, just like the ones from set 6262.

[SpacePolice89]

1 hour ago, Ammiraglio_Artic said:

Sorry if this isn’t the right section, I’m new here. I wanted to share some photos of this (apologies for my terrible English): This is a LEGO display tube that I bought almost twenty years ago at a toy store in Italy, where it had been displayed in the LEGO section for at least ten years. It was around 2006 when I got it; officially, it wasn’t for sale, but the store owner had no issue selling it to me. I don’t remember exactly how much I paid, but it wasn’t more than €40-50.

The tube display look fantastic. You are very lucky to own such a rare piece. I have always wondered what happens to such items when they are no longer needed. 

[CvS]

A really cool display!

Thanks for showing it.