Subject:
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The strange case of 1975 Eaton's Catalog Sets...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.loc.ca
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Date:
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Sat, 17 Nov 2012 08:09:52 GMT
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Viewed:
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24367 times
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Hello Canadians....
Since I live only 10 miles from the Canadian border (across from Essex County
Ontario)... I've always had a special affinity for Canadian LEGO... but there
have been a few LEGO mysteries peculiar to Canada that I have never quite been
able to figure out... and the LEGO Archives folks in Billund haven't been able
to provide answers...
So here's my first question...
This is a LEGO add in a 1975 Eaton's Department Store Catalog...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/82930629@N08/7951987864/sizes/z/in/photostream/
Now for some background... LEGO sales in USA/Canada were handled by Samsonite...
the licensee for USA from 1961-72 (when their license was revoked for
underperforming sales)... and in Canada from 1962-85 (when TLG bought the
Canadian Samsonite license back... and Canadian production was moved from
Stratford Ontario to Enfield Connecticut).
Anyway... the LEGO Samsonite basic sets of USA and Canada were numbered (with
some exceptions 120, 205, 285, 375, 450, 615... where the set number equals the
parts count. In 1973 USA started selling the TLG European sets... but in Canada
the Samsonite part numbered sets were produced for an extra year.. until 1974.
In 1973 TLG came up with a new LEGO logo (similar to one used today since 1998).
However... the above Eaton's catalog link shows the smaller basic sets (#3 and
#5) with the new (to 1973) LEGO logo. However.... the larger #7 and #8 sets
show the older (until 1972) logo with English/French text... "Jeu de
Construction" and "Building Toy".
The LEGO timeline does NOT make sense with this scenario... the #7 and #8 were
introduced in Canada in 1974... but the previous LEGO logo was disconinued at
the end of 1972.
Very Strange!!
I'm wondering if any Canadian LEGO collectors have any of these sets (they would
be numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8)... with the old LEGO logo with the bilingual
writing within the logo?
If so, then maybe LEGO Canada made the new boxes still using the old logos well
before the discontinuing of the older Samsonite sets. Also... the existence of
these boxes would definitely place a large premium on the value of these unique
sets.
Any help in solving or proving the existence of these sets is most welcome!
Thanks,
Gary Istok
P.S. I'll be asking more "unique to Canada" questions of the Canadians on this
forum. There are many chapters in my LEGO DVD/download that are devoted to
Canadian sets... such as Department Store Catalog exclusive sets, unique
Canadian spare parts packs, Canadian catalogs, etc. From 1961-65 all USA
Samsonite LEGO bricks (not specialty parts) were produced in Stratford Ontario,
the boxes produced in Detroit Michigan, and sets assembled/shipped via Denver
Colorado.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: The strange case of 1975 Eaton's Catalog Sets...
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| In lugnet.loc.ca, Gerhard R. Istok wrote: <snip> (...) <snip> (...) When I was a kid, we had all the 'even' numbers--2, 4, 6, 8... DUnno how that happened but that's what we got for x-mas and b-days (along with assorted other small sets), but I do (...) (12 years ago, 19-Nov-12, to lugnet.loc.ca)
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