Subject:
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The first LEGO sets in Austria were in German
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Wed, 5 Feb 2014 23:21:55 GMT
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Viewed:
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21494 times
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OK... here's the background... first LEGO sets with writing in the local
language(s) started in 1955... with Denmark, Norway and Sweden LEGO sets with
"LEGO System of Play" in the local language on the box top. This was followed
by Germany in 1956 and the Netherlands and Switzerland (bilingual boxes) in
early 1957.
Well by late 1957 TLG decided that with Belgium, Austria and Portugal coming
online to LEGO before the end of 1957... that a new way had to be found... and
sure enough, they decided on the international "LEGO System" on the box tops was
the way to go for those countries.
However, I was never sure if Austria followed suit with the international box
right from the beginning in Nov. 1957, or switched over in 1958, as did Germany.
I was never sure if Austria sold German language boxes identical to Germany, or
not?
Well my German collector friend Thomas Rosner finally put that mystery to rest
lastt week.
He purchased a German language set from an Austrian collector. Usually this in
and of itself is not a guarantee that the box was trully Austrian. It may
perhaps have been just a Germany box that made its' way to Austria! But when he
sent me the image, I was soooo happy. The box was a wooden box set, and all
known German wooden box sets of ths era come with a white painted box.
However... this was a brown varnished box... set 700 "with contents"...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/istokg/12314724203/sizes/l/
This was exciting news, because pror to this date, I wasn't sure if there were
actually Austrian boxes produced in the German language.
That box would then predate what I had always thought was the first Austrian
wooden box (with LEGO System), which now appears to date to a year later...
1959-60...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/istokg/12314824693/sizes/o/
And just the other day, I obtained the last of the missing links for Austria...
the 1961-65 700 wooden box set, from an Austrian museum...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/istokg/12314858513/sizes/o/
These 3 boxes are all the wooden boxes that were sold in Austria... from
1958-65. The Germany equivalent to the 700 wooden box sets are these 4...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/istokg/11569918814/sizes/l/
... which are quite different from the Austrian boxes.
So now we know that Austria joins Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands
and Switzerland... in selling early local language boxes...
The box top writing would be...
Denmark........ "LEGO Mursten - System i leg"
Norway/Sweden.. "LEGO Mursten - System i lek"
Germany/Austria "LEGO Bausteine - System im Spiel"
Netherlands.... "LEGO Boustenen - Systeem bij het Spel"
Switzerland....
"LEGO Bausteine - System im Spiel" &
"LEGO Briques - Du systeme dans le jeu"
From my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide, Chapter 5.
Cheers,
Gary Istok
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