What is the oldest set you've ever found in a store?

[BearHeart]

Last summer (2006) I found Snape's Classroom from 2001 in my local department store. It was on discount and I obviously bought it :-)

[oo7]

Phhh.....Here in New York one can never find any fairly old sets in stores......any Lego at all can be found only in the big higher-end toystores and Target/Wal*Mart.

I found the 2003 Coast Guard HQ 7047 probably somtime early 2006/late 2005 at a shuting down KB Toyworks.

[Norrington]

Let me think... I *Think* it was Star Wars (Not sure which one) set that I found in a privately owned toy store on a trip to Panama...

[Starwars4J]

When I was little, in a store (I think it was a Target or a Toys R Us), I saw this old box of Lego. I knew it wasn't available anymore, so I asked for it. Unfortunately the box was opened, and although it looked like all the pieces were there, and they were willing to give me a discount, my mother thought against it.

Wanna guess which set it was?

Ouch

[ghoulrealm]

About 3 years ago a hobby store had some UFO and city sets from around the same time for sale. They were marked up quite high :-( , so I had to pass on that find. I was looking for pirates anyway :-P

[Legoman]

i found a Jedi Defense II 7204 realeased in 2002 in 2005 20% off ( and yes i brought it :-P )

[exo attack]

I found a 2003 orient expedition set, pass of jun-chi, for only

[madoka]

When I was little, in a store (I think it was a Target or a Toys R Us), I saw this old box of Lego. I knew it wasn't available anymore, so I asked for it. Unfortunately the box was opened, and although it looked like all the pieces were there, and they were willing to give me a discount, my mother thought against it.

Wanna guess which set it was?

Ouch

Oh man, you made me winch in sympathetic pain when I read this!

[exo attack]

You made me jealous to even have seen that set!

[snefroe]

when i just got out of the dark age in 2000 i had a shop that was still selling the blacktron 1 base, sw4j's 200 jet, the large red/blue lego technic car, some classic space stuff like this one, all insectoids, some wild west and pirates, older small city sets, 80's baseplates from town and classic space, model team, and most spyrius, ufo, aquazone, aquaraiders, rockraiders,... ofcourse, i bought for about 200 euro a month through out the year there, so i'm afriad it's all gone now... the oldest stuff i can still find from time to time, is Life on mars, timecruisers, some train sets, usually some sort of electronic element, late 90's city sets... sometimes i find older lego basic sets, not the great sets of the past, but the small service boxes, like a motor, but i didn't buy that one... i think they still have that one. I also dug up a huge plastic box in the shop with the small service packs, you know, those parts that were published on yellow pages of the catalogue... the last thing I bought from what was left, was the black and the white battery boxes of the Futuron space train... They're all still in the sealed bags, but g... 16 euro for a part you can easily find on BL for a lot less...

the ony thing i'm sorry about is that I wasn't into collecting MISB sets when i just got out of the dark age and didn't know of BL, so I not only opened all the sets, i also only bought one copy of most sets. I even didn't buy the Battrax (the large car of the Blacktron 1 theme) because i'd bought that as a child and didn't want to spend money on a brand new one :-| :-| :-| :-X

[rexcal]

Being one of the very few people who never had a 'dark age' I often went to a small private-run toy- and bicyclestore (what a combination, huh?). In that store they sold old LEGO stuff all the time, because most of their customers were only interested in buying bikes or stuff for their bikes or giving them in for repairing. So when people were looking for toys they would usually not choose that store and so their amount of old sets became larger and larger.

So, let's get to my two best buyings of old LEGO:

I bought a forest men's cave there (which even was an exclusive!) about 4 years after it had been published. And, save the best for last, I found the great Pirate ship 6285 there, years after it's successor had come out. Still one my largest and nicest sets.

:'-)

[Bonaparte]

When I was little, in a store (I think it was a Target or a Toys R Us), I saw this old box of Lego. I knew it wasn't available anymore, so I asked for it. Unfortunately the box was opened, and although it looked like all the pieces were there, and they were willing to give me a discount, my mother thought against it.

Wanna guess which set it was?

Ouch

I got this set for my birthday (many years ago).

It is disassembled, but I still have all the parts and the instruction.

Unfortunately all the boxes of those sets from my youth are gone...

About the oldest set I ever "found" in a story.

That must be the Galaxy Explorer. I was only 4 or 5 year old at the time.

I can't remember if I was with my mother in the story when she bought it.

[BearHeart]

I found a 2003 orient expedition set, pass of jun-chi, for only

[Wowplayer]

That is just way to long ago to even think about what was the oldest Lego set I remember seeing,

but the one set that made the biggest impression on me when I saw it,

would be the orignal Black Seas Barracuda *wub*

http://www.1000steine.com/brickset/images/6285-1.jpg

I never got to buy the original one, but I bought the legend immediately when it was re-released. :'-)

[Ickelpete]

I recently bought the Technic Power Puller 8457 from 2000 in a local department store.

[SupaaSayajin]

Heh in my holiday place in italy there is a store that has still sets from 1990 and around, and thats no wonder cause hes freakin expensive, hes way more expensive than brickshelf ^^

[Grrr]

Around 1998 I came accross a store with a lot of older stock. The main two sets that stood out were 6285 and 6541. My parent's wouldn't let me buy them at the time as they thought I was growing out of lego (they didn't understand that dark ages end). Still regret not buying them.

[mutley777]

Due to my poor knowledge of lego sets other than star wars i missed a really good deal a year ago. I saw 2 black sea's barracuda sets MISB for

[Scouty]

Silly mutely! :-P .

I see with my little eyes, a marked up 2000-2001 Lego Studio Set that nobody wants, the big one with the camera btw. Been there for AGES.

[JJ.walkers]

I don't know how old it is but I think it was the first rock-raider kit :-/

[exo attack]

When did you get the set JJ? In the shop I found the orient expedition set, I also found two drome racers for

[jamtf]

Last year, I picked up some old sets in a store. The oldest one was a 366 Universal Building Set from 1981 but the best ones of the older sets I got there were 2x 6370 Weekend Home (1985) and 2x 6380 Emergency Treatment Center (1987). And there was a whole bunch of sets from the 1990 - 1995 era included in the sale as well.

Of course, everything sealed and the 6370 sets still had the original undamaged cellophane wrapping. Had been lying around in the attic of the store for over 20 years. Basically, forgotten merchandise that was discovered when they cleared out the attic.

[pesa]

The best one?

- The 1994 Monorail Transport Base (6991) this June in Tallinn. Due to some shelfwear I bargained and got it for ~128 EUR.

The small store had moved several times and since they never had enough room to display it, the set had been "waiting for me" in their warehouse...

Second best...

- The 1997 Model Team Big Foot 4 x 4 (5561) two years ago in Tallinn. ~75 EUR.

Third...

- 12 small crispy-mint impulse sets from 1999 this June in Tallinn 2 EUR/set. From the same magical warehouse as the 6991.

[Svelte]

A few years ago I saw a 1993 6076 Dark Dragon's Den in a pharmacy in King's Cross of all places (Sydney's red light district)!

[Joey Lock]

I found and brought in TK Max last year:

Jabbas Message

Jabbas Prize

Jabbas Palace

Jedi Duel

Twin-Pod Cloud Car

Final Duel 1

Final Duel 2

Jedi Defense 1

Jedi Defense 2

I got them all for last Christmas. Such a fun time!