Is there anyone with kids who hasn’t purchased LEGO bricks? LEGO toys are those wonderful little blocks that we step on in the night, suck up in the vacuum and on occasion have had to pry from our dog’s mouth.
It is estimated that over 400 billion of the interlocking plastic pieces have been manufactured since they first hit the market in 1947, and some of them are sure to have landed at your house.
LEGO, from the Danish words “Leg Godt,” meaning to “play well”, was the name given to a small shop in Billund, Denmark in 1934. The company owned by Kirk Christiansen and his son became known for their line of toys and wooden blocks and grew from 5 employees to 50 over the next 13 years.
In 1947 they purchased a plastic injection molding machine allowing the company to expand into mass-production of over 200 toys by 1949. Among these toys were automatic binding bricks. In time these would come to be known as “LEGO.”
The decade of the 50s brought many changes to the toy company. With the renaming of the binding bricks to “LEGO bricks” in 1953, the interlocking feature added in 1957 and the addition of the patented stud and coupling system in 1958, the small company would become international by the 1960s with exports to Sweden, France, the United Kingdom Germany and Belgium and eventually to the U.S., in 1973.
In 1964, LEGO introduced building sets that included all of the parts and instructions to build a model. As interest grew the company manufactured themed lines. Castle and Town were released in 1978, Space in 1979, Western in 1996, Star Wars in 1999 and Harry Potter in 2001.
Serious collectors watch for the large “adult” sets and are willing to pay top dollar for that special acquisition for their collection. Star Wars seems to be one of the more popular themes with a recent eBay auction garnering $2,860 for a Cloud City (10123) and Amazon currently offering the Star Wars Death Star (10188) for $1,020!
A bit too much for your budget? Never fear! You will find a nice selection of less rare sets in the $30-$150 range and, if you keep close watch, you may well find sets at flea markets and rummage sales for under $10.
To the surprise of no one, the tiny little LEGO was inducted into the U.S. National Toy Hall of Fame and in 2000 it was named “Toy of the Century.” Until next time . . . Linda
Linda Kennett may be reached at 317-258-7835 or lkennett@indy.rr.com
