Subject:
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Re: The History of LEGO Plates - Part 1.
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Wed, 14 Jul 1999 16:30:02 GMT
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Viewed:
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2984 times
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Opps, I forgot to mention several people that have helped me (unwittingly)
fill in some detail for getting this info together. One is a German
collector friend of mine named Kurt Richter, the other is a British
collector named Phil Traviss, whom I only recently had the pleasure of
becoming acquainted with. And of course there's the infamous Bill Katz
("Mr. Samsonite") and Horst Lehner (who has an awesome collection of early
LEGO catalogs).
Thanks, gentlemen!
Gary Istok
Gary Istok wrote:
> Since several of you have expressed enjoyment with my blathering about
> Lego history, I thought I would give you a 1956-65 history on the
> origins of Lego plates.
>
> If anyone has info that contradicts me, please feel free and let me
> know.
>
> Enjoy!
> Gary Istok
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
>
> Lego plates have been around since the very beginning of Lego sets
> (circa 1956). Until 1963, they were only produced in white in sizes
> 2x8, 4x8, 6x8, and 4x8 - right curve, and 4x8 - left curve. These early
> plates had those interesting "square holed" bottoms, and were made of
> Cellulose Acetate (as were all the other Lego bricks). The 1950's and
> 1960's Esso Service Station (#310) were an early user of all of these
> plates, especially the curved plates. In fact the Esso Service set had
> red "hand painted" edges on some of these plates to give that "Art Deco
> Moderne" red stripe that this set had. Horst Lehner's excellent website
> of early Lego Catalogs shows (in the 1958 catalog) the red striped
> plates in the Esso Service set:
>
> http://horst-lehner.mausnet.de/lego/katalog/gk58/GK58-1.JPG
>
> This red stripe (the Esso Service station) was also found in the early
> Samsonite Town Plan set (#725), as well as the European Town Plan set
> (#810).
>
> The first small Lego plates came out in a big way in 1963. That year
> several very interesting thing happened:
>
> 1) small plates (1x1, 1x2, 2x2, 2x3, 2x4) came out for the first time in
> parts packs.
> 2) small plates were used for the first time in a set - the unique
> continental European Architectural Sets.
> 4) small plates did not have the "square hole" bottom common to the
> larger white plates, but the circular holes like we know them today.
> 3) Samsonite produced small plates in different colors (white, red,
> black, grey, clear, green) than were available in Europe (white, red,
> yellow, blue, black, grey, clear). Green was only produced by
> Samsonite, and blue & yellow were only produced by TLG Europe.
> 4) TLG (Europe) produced plates from the very beginning (1963) in ABS
> Plastic, while Samsonite (USA/Canada) produced small plates (also
> starting in 1963) in Cellulose Acetate! Figure that one out!
>
> The first plates parts pack that came out in 1963 came out in several
> very interesting variations. The regular European parts packs of 1963
> were colorful boxes slightly larger than USA cigarette boxes, and had
> flapped ends for opening the box (as opposed to the earlier sliding open
> box, similar to match boxes - which were used for parts packs from
> 1956-62). The new plate boxes were the same as other Lego brick boxes.
> They were #518 (2x4 plates), #519, (2x3 plates), #520 (2x2 plates), and
> #521 (1x1 & 1x2 plates).
>
> Here is a 1963 German catalog (thanks to Horst Lehner's website) showing
> the small plates for the first time:
>
> http://horst-lehner.mausnet.de/lego/katalog/gk63/GK63-2.JPG
>
> Here is a 1963 USA (Samsonite) catalog (thanks to Bill Katz/Joe Lauher
> website) showing the Samsonite small plates for the first time:
>
> http://www.chem.sunysb.edu/msl/LEGO/60s_e3.jpg
>
> An interesting variation to these 4 parts packs was the Architectural
> series of parts packs that had the same set number (and the same number
> of pieces) as the regular plates parts packs. The major difference for
> these Architectural parts packs was that they were encased not in
> cardboard, but in a clear plastic box that had a 8x11 grey plate as the
> bottom of the box, with a cardboard sleeve (showing "architects" and
> young adults building modern houses and buildings). This 8x11 grey
> plate was the very first large Lego plate produced in a color other than
> white. It is also, I believe, the only time an 8x11 rectangular plate
> was ever produced by Lego.
>
> These Architectural parts packs were produced for the short lived (and
> not too popular) Architectural Series of sets - #750, #751, #752. This
> entire Architectural series (plus their parts packs) were only produced
> for the continental European countries (not Britain), and were produced
> from 1963-65.
>
> I assume that the release of small plates in 1963 was primarily due to
> the release of the Architectural sets. The reason I assume this is
> because it would be several years before any other sets would use them.
> This is especially true for Samsonite. No other 1963 Samsonite set had
> small plates - except for the parts packs. And Samsonite made them in
> green, a color not produced by TLG for the European market. A European
> collector friend of mine thought perhaps the green plates were a typing
> error on the Samsonite Catalog of 1963. But I purchased several sets of
> the small green plates for my collection back in 1963 (I was 10 at the
> time), and I still have them. So I know it was no typo.
>
> Recently I discovered that all of my early Samsonite small plates were
> made of Cellulose Acetate. I have about 20 of the European plates parts
> packs from 1963, and all of them have plates made of ABS plastic (as is
> the 8x11 grey plate for the Architectural parts packs). This confirms
> an earlier suspicion that since my 1963 Junior Constructor set (#717)
> and Town Plan set (#725) both contain only Cellulose Acetate bricks,
> then Samsonite must have switched to ABS plastic at a later date than
> did TLG Europe (which started switching in 1961 - according to "The
> World of Lego Toys"). This is unusual since I would think that
> Samsonite (famous for their plastic luggage at the time) would have
> modernized faster than they did. Perhaps they had a large inventory of
> Cellulose Acetate at their warehouse.
>
> Perhaps some of our European collectors would like to obtain examples of
> Cellulose Acetate small plates from the Samsonite era, since it is
> doubtful they were ever produced for Europe, although I could be wrong.
>
> Plates in other sizes that those listed above would come later, and by
> the 1990's plates would come in all shapes and sizes. Stay tuned for
> Part 2.
> ----------------------------------------------------------
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | The History of LEGO Plates - Part 1.
|
| Since several of you have expressed enjoyment with my blathering about Lego history, I thought I would give you a 1956-65 history on the origins of Lego plates. If anyone has info that contradicts me, please feel free and let me know. Enjoy! Gary (...) (25 years ago, 14-Jul-99, to lugnet.general)
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