Subject:
|
Re: Old LEGO
|
Newsgroups:
|
lugnet.general
|
Date:
|
Mon, 1 May 2000 21:02:56 GMT
|
Viewed:
|
836 times
|
| |
| |
In lugnet.general, Gary R. Istok writes:
> I have been thinking about this topic for a very long time. My take on this is
> that in lugnet.general, the most people will be exposed to the history behind
> LEGO. If we were to make say a lugnet.history, or a lugnet.classic, perhaps a lot
> of people will miss the topics. I know that there are a lot of other areas of
> LUGNET that I rarely venture to.
I have conceded that this is the best place for historical LEGO posts, and
I am glad to see their has been some discussion of Old LEGO here since I
mentioned the idea of a new group.
> The one area I agree on is pictures. We do need to get more pictures into it.
> Until now, I have been extensively referencing other websites, such as Horst
> Lehner's and Joe Lauher/Bill Katz Catalog websites. But there are plenty of
> others.
I have been doing the same, and have downloaded most of the old scans
available on the net - and I am really glad those scans were out there! They
have helped a lot... so many thanks to Horst, Joe, Bill and others. The recent
old ads scans were cool, too. Personally I have a lot of old comic books (70s
- 90s) with LEGo ads, but they aren't as old (and in many cases not as
appealing) as the magazine ads (from the 60s).
> John makes another valid point. The old sets (50's and 60's) are not pictured very
> well in the old catalogs. This is especially true of early European catalogs.
Tell me about it! Finding good quality pictures of the old LEGO box art
seems nearly impossible - except for scanning the actual boxes... and have you
seen the prices of those lately?! I hope others who have them can contribute
scans of these boxes (in the same way Brickshelf has grown) before I finish
collecting all those boxes myself, because that is going to take a long time, I
am sure.
> Here are some of the things I think we need, and a LUGNET location is ideal:
>
> 1) a pictorial history of the old 1950's & 1960's parts packs. These are
> (pictorially) very beautiful boxes. I have 19 different, but I know there are
> more. Today's parts packs are very uninspiring polybags compared to the beautiful
> artwork of the 1956-65 timeframe.
We have agreed on this in the past, but I've been burdened with so many
non-LEGO projects! I still want to do this, and think this will be one of the
easiest to complete from your list. I do have low quality B&W pics of all
these old boxes, but only color scans of the few that I own. I agree about the
old packaging - it was fantastic, especially the European LEGO (not so much
with the Samsonite stuff). Although I grew up with LEGOLAND and the very
appealing boxes of the 80s, I must say the 50s and 60s boxes have an appeal
that was lost when photography replaced art.
> 2) a pictorial history of old 1950's & 1960's regular sets, and when applicable,
> the parts list (these were included in early sets, instructions were on the box
> only).
I like the pictorial history idea for both Parts Packs and normal sets. I
also think the Pause database (is that the correct name these days?) can be
updated with a lot of info for these old sets and packs, once we put it all
together. But for historical informational purposes, I think a pictorial
history site should be more in depth than the Pause database, with a sort of
chronology and tons of pics. As for the dates covered, I think up to about
1974, the pre mini-fig, pre theme era is what I am interested in covering. 49
- 74 is 25 years, and a good spread, too. There are tons of appealing sets
from any of those years that are often overlooked and definitely hard to find
info about on the net.
> 3) a complete catalog reference site, that has USA/Canada, German, UK, Danish,
> Swedish, and all other European catalogs from the early era (1956-1972). This
> should include TLC and Samsonite LEGO catalogs.
I think Brickshelf has a great selection of catalog scans, but I do wish it
had more from the earlier days. (1) For catalogs and Idea Books not shown on
Brickshelf, I made some links on my current history pages (they are just a
beginning!) and will attempt to add any other links as I find them. But, what
we really need are more scans, no matter where they are published! I can make
links to them where ever they are put.
> 4) a Town Plan History. Before there was Train, Technic and all other systems,
> there was the Town Plan (1957-65). I have the old/new Town Plan boards, as well as
> the resources to build all 9 different Town Plan city scapes. I would like to
> build and photograph/document all the different Town Plan layouts, from the
> earliest 1957 layout to the later USA/Canada and UK variations. And talk about
> some of the specialty pieces (old oil drums from the Danish Esso Service, the
> Cyclists/Motorcyclists in the European Town Plans, the very rare Policemen set from
> the early European era that somehow never got listed in any period catalogs, and
> the old trees & shrubs, road signs, street lamps, and Esso Signage/Pumps that were
> the mainstay of the Town Plan).
I think this is the most exciting of your four outlined ideas. The Town
Plan was the main attraction of LEGO for so many years, and I am sure there are
many who have no idea of it's existence. I think if people could see the roots
of LEGO, they would easily become more interested in the early history we are
talking about. Of course, I would love to see all nine layouts myself, and if
no one else was interested that wouldn't matter!
> I am going out to buy a scanner in the next week or two, so I will be scanning ad
> nauseum!
School's out for summer?! Glad to hear that - I can't wait to see what
you've got!
(1) - I've got the scanner, just not the time I wish I had!
Have fun!
John
|
|
Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Old LEGO
|
| (...) I have been thinking about this topic for a very long time. My take on this is that in lugnet.general, the most people will be exposed to the history behind LEGO. If we were to make say a lugnet.history, or a lugnet.classic, perhaps a lot of (...) (25 years ago, 24-Apr-00, to lugnet.general)
|
8 Messages in This Thread:
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|