Subject:
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Re: More esoteric Lego history
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Tue, 7 Jun 2005 20:14:20 GMT
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Viewed:
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1941 times
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In lugnet.general, Jim Hughes wrote:
> > Ya know, Eric told me about this a while ago. And with Jim mentioning the 4 sons of Ole Kirk Christiansen again. Well it got me to wondering about the family twist to TLG. I mean here we have Ole Kirk, who died in 1958 leaving his 3rd oldest son (GKC) in charge. Hmmmm, sounds like a recipe for family discord. It is no wonder that 2 of GKC's brothers left the company in the early 60's. Does that mean that the billionaire Lego family mentioned in Forbes Magazine only covers the descendants of 2 out of 4 brothers, since the others went to form the shortlived BILOfix company, and perhaps are the poorer cousins to the other two family branches?
> >
> > And with the 3 children of GKC... they started showing up on Lego boxes for the
> > first time in 1953 (that picture in THE ULTIMATE LEGO BOOK and WORLD OF LEGO
> > TOYS), when KKK (about 5 1/2 years old at the time) and his older sister first
> > showed up. By 1955 all sets (with the exception of model sets, garage sets, and
> > 1:87 cars/trucks) had Ole Kirk's grandchildren (from GKC) on the box tops of all
> > basic sets and parts packs until 1960.
> >
> > Jim, in your original post, did you mean that KKK's older sister is the one that
> > died in a 1969 accident? Or that both sisters were older. In Eric Strand's
> > picture (the one that Dave Shifflett is questioning :-) I think it clearly shows
> > that one sister is older and one is younger.
> >
> > Thanks for posting this info Jim! It sure does beg a lot of questions, doesn't
> > it?
> >
> > Gary Istok
>
>
> Yeah, every new fact I uncover raises many new questions, my head may explode
> eventually.
>
> I originally thought that both sisters were older than KKK but Dave has sent me
> a high-resolution copy of the image above and it is clear that one sister is
> older and one younger than KKK, but I dont know which is which, I do know
> this:
>
> Kjeld and Hanne were driving back from a movie in the town of Give in Oct
> 1969, their car, a Morrison, slid off the road and hit a tree, Hanne was
> killed and Kjeld was seriously wounded. GKC was so upset that he seriously
> considered selling the company. A prominent Danish businessman Vagn Holck
> Andersen convinced him not to sell. Anderson was then hired by GKC and spent
> the rest of his career at Lego as a go-between for GKC and KKK.<1>
>
> The burial records for Hanne and the rest of the family are likely pointed to by
> this Danish church information:
>
> Kirk Christiansen (familie) (-1970-), Billund, s. 2293, 2295, 3539
> and
> Christiansen, Hanne Kirk (+før 1973), s. 2295
> and
> Christiansen, Ole Kirk (-1919-24-), (legetøjsfabrikant), Billund, 2326, 2329
> note 5.
>
> Good luck with that but let me know if any comes up with anything!
>
> From early on it was clear that Gotdfred was the most interested in the company
> and GKC favored him. I would think that the 2 brothers leaving was
> at least in part protest, but this is only speculation.
>
> The role of the rest of the family in the Lego fortune is unclear. The first
> board of directors in the 1940s had OKC's 2nd wife on it to represent the
> family, and the board has continued since then to include a family member not
> directly associated with the business, the current board (2005) includes
> Mogens Andersen, husband of Gunhild Kirk Andersen (Christiansen).
>
> KKK alone (not the entire family) is listed in the Forbes list, he makes money
> from Lego but moreso from several holding companies such as Lego
> holding and KIRKI AG. KIRKBI
> owns all of Legos intellectual property and Lego makes sizable royalty payments
> each year to KIRKBI, according to the 2004 financial statement this
> was 121 million DKK. So both the Kristiansens and Lego use KIRKBI as their
> "bank". All of the shares of Lego holding are owned by KKK and his 3 children.
> all of the shares of KIRKBI are owned by KKK and Gunhild.
>
> <1>It should be noted that currently KKK owns a Ferrari, Porsche and a
> "practical" VW Phaton, but the rest of the family is interested in horses, KKK
> owns a horse farm on a island in Denmark and a 50,000 acre farm in the scottish
> highlands.
>
> --jim
Hey Jim,
Got some more info from a Danish collector from a nearby Danish town, on the
event that almost changed Lego history... (and KKK was not behind the wheel)...
-----
"I know Hanne died in a car crash. Some years ago I talked to a woman who worked
for the Kirk Kristiansen family in 1969. She could tell every detail of the car
crash. It was a red Mini (Austin / Morris Mini 850 or 1000) and the kids were
out for a kind of speed / street race. I know who drove the car - he survived -
and today is CEO of a major production and retail chain here in Denmark. Only a
very few people know who he is. KKK has never and will not talk about the
accident."
"Also, some years ago I talked to a very old lady who worked as a housekeeper /
(nanny for Godtfred) / the Ole Kirk Christiansen family. I have some very early
wooden toys, that she got from the family. She could tell how poor and miserable
the Christiansen family was."
-----
I still don't know which sister Hanne was, but I am starting to believe it was
the younger sister..... WHY? Because the 1986 book THE WORLD OF LEGO TOYS (page
49) and the 1999 book THE ULTIMATE LEGO BOOK (page 13) both show pictures of KKK
with only one sister (a 1953-55 picture). It was probably "politically correct"
to show the living sister, not the deceased one, since I am sure that KKK has a
copy of these books (as did GKC of the 1986 Lego Toys book while he was still
alive until 1995). From 1955-60 most Lego sets showed both sisters and KKK on
the box tops. But we are rarely shown these box tops, and for obvious reasons.
Just my opinion, not necessarily fact.
Gary Istok
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: More esoteric Lego history
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| (...) SNIPPAGE (...) Well I just got another email from my Danish collector friend, who continued: "Hanne was the youger sister I belive. The official story, is that the accident happened when the three kids where on their way to a movie theatre in (...) (19 years ago, 7-Jun-05, to lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: More esoteric Lego history
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| (...) Yeah, every new fact I uncover raises many new questions, my head may explode eventually. I originally thought that both sisters were older than KKK but Dave has sent me a high-resolution copy of the image above and it is clear that one sister (...) (19 years ago, 6-Jun-05, to lugnet.general)
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