Subject:
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Re: Samsonite LEGO in 1960s SEARS catalogs
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Mon, 6 Dec 2004 03:42:41 GMT
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Viewed:
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1075 times
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In lugnet.general, Allan Bedford wrote:
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In lugnet.general, Gerhard R. Istok wrote:
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One thing I forgot. Allan, you grew up with Samsonite in Canada. Well you
had more time to get Samsonite sets than USA folks. Samsonite Lego was sold
in the USA from 1961 to 1972. In Canada Samsonite had a longer run, since
it was sold there from 1962 until 1986. TLG must have had a court fight to
get the Lego license back from USA Samsonite, since the 1971-72 Lego set
selection was appalling! In Canada things went much smoother, since the
1986 transfer seemed to be realtively uneventful (Lego set wise).
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Do these help explain the difference in the anniversary buckets and tubs that
were available in 1998? Ours here in Canada were to celebrate the 35th
anniversary. But I think the ones in the U.S. were silver anniversary
markers, is that right? Hence the silver bricks included in them?
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Yes, for some reason TLG doesn’t like to include the Samsonite years onto the
years of Lego in the USA. They view 1973 as year one, instead of 1961. And in
Canada they view 1962 as year one. That’s why you have a 25th USA bucket and
35th Canada bucket.
And in the USA one has to add the “SCHWAYDER BROS.” to the mix, because it
appears that they were the USA Lego licensee from TLG, and must have licensed it
out to Samsonite USA. That is from 1961-65. After 1965 there is no more
mention of the Schwayder Bros. Perhaps Samsonite USA bought them out. I have
the 1970 Samsonite dealer catalog, and it lists a full range of Lego items. But
by 1971-72 the number of sets went from something like 30 down to less than 10.
There must have been bad blood between them, or? I bet that there was
litigation. But in 1973 TLG got their license back, and they moved the USA
headquarters from Denver to Enfield. It took about another 7 years until the
full range of products came to the USA. Spare parts packs were not available in
the USA from 1973-80, nor were Lego trains.
And then ther is another reason why TLG doesn’t include the 1961-72 years in
their USA count. The quality of Lego under USA Samsonite was very bad. I look
at quality of some sets and question whether I have purchased factory seconds!
There are a steady mix of Cellulose Acetate, waffle bottom plates, bricks with 2
different fonts (sometimes not even facing the same direction). I still have
yet to find “ONE” yellow ABS brick or plate from the USA Samsonite era with the
Samsonite font! In yellow they were all Cellulose Acetate. And waffle bottom
plates (which use up about 1/3 more plastic than circle bottom plates) can be
found in USA Samsonite sets until 1972! Most sets contain both types. And I
also find ABS red sloped 2x2 bricks with the 1957-63 Lego font mixed in with
late 60’s sets! And Samsonite had some really bad molds. It was either that or
they didn’t clean out their molds enough, or used too much MRI (mold release
agent). I have a lot of mint Samsonite bricks that look like they have had
sandpaper rubbed all over them.
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Also... here’s another Samsonite question for you Gary. :)
Some of my Samsonite LEGO boxes have the ‘Made in Canada’ label printed right
on the box, while others have a sticker that covers whatever was underneath.
In those cases the sticker has the ‘Made in Canada - Stratford, ON’
information. I wonder if this is just a case where some of the box printing
was done either in the U.S. or overseas and perhaps just sent here.
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OK, when Lego entered a new market such as Britain, USA and Canada, they often
sold complete spare parts packs or sets in those countries that were packaged in
Denmark. In Britain for example from 1960-62 most of what was sold there was
packaged in Denmark and the boxes displayed “Made in Denmark”. Starting in
1963, Britain produced their own sets/parts, and printed “Made in Britain” on
the boxes.
In the case of USA/Canada, sort of the same thing happened. Early sets such as
the #725 Town Plan were produced in Denmark. That explains why some #725’s have
painted (European) trees and others have unpainted (USA/Canada) trees. So some
items will show “Made in Denmark” during the early 60’s and “Made in Canada” in
the mid to late 60’s. Ditto for the USA. I believe that most of the set boxes
(from 1961/62 to 1966) were made in Europe, and in many instance may have “Made
in Denmark” stamped on them even after those parts started being produced in
USA/Canada. That is when the sticker you mentioned was applied.
There are some parts that I believe were not produced in USA/Canada, but always
imported. Those would be the 1:87 metal wheeled cars/trucks, the Esso
sign/pumps, the street signs and street lights. Britain on the other hand
probably produced all of these themselves except for the 1:87 cars/trucks. That
is because they produced their own versions.
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Looking forward to seeing the CD Gary... maybe all these questions are
already answered in there. :)
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Thanks, but there are some questions I don’t have answers for, such as the
Samsonite/TLG relationship, and what happened in 1971-73.
Gary Istok
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Samsonite LEGO in 1960s SEARS catalogs
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| (...) Do these help explain the difference in the anniversary buckets and tubs that were available in 1998? Ours here in Canada were to celebrate the 35th anniversary. But I think the ones in the U.S. were silver anniversary markers, is that right? (...) (20 years ago, 6-Dec-04, to lugnet.general, FTX)
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