396-2 NY World Fair promo

hoodaddy

Had a friend show me photos of this set his father picked up at an auction. Couldn’t find very much info on it, so thought @LusiferSam or @Istokg might have some insight on its inventory or potential value. Pretty cool to say the least anyway. 

The_Rancor

Very nice as a cultural artefact with the packaging. I bet TLG would love to have something like that in their museum building in Billund, I didn’t see anything like that when I was there. The logo variant and World’s Fair match nicely for the mid 60s, but I couldn’t tell any more info than that.

LusiferSam

I don't know a ton about these sets, Istokg is the real expert.  What I do know is this is the 1964 World's Fair in New York. This is one several items the Danish Pavilion was selling.  So despite being a US exclusive these were made by Lego and not Samsonite.  There were two sizes of sets sold, a large and a small.  This is the large.  There should be a photo on the front of the box.  What you've shown are the building ideas, which is the back.  The handle on the top looks like it's rotting away. 

I don't believe an inventory exists for this set and I'm not sure I trust it if did.  I'm guessing it's going to be like the 700 series of the time.  Mostly red and white brick, red windows, a gray 10x20 baseplate and a few clear bricks.  More or less what you've shown in the photos.

hoodaddy

Here are pictures he sent me of the other two sides of the box:

Istokg

Wow... this is the first time I have ever seen the larger 1964 New York's World's Fair 396 set.  I had only ever seen the smaller 395 set... which is the only set they have an example of in the LEGO Vault in Billund....



Here is another view of a 395 box...



Here is the 1964 Danish Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair...




And the crown logo of the Danish Pavilion is also on the 395 and (just discovered) 396 fair sets...



Thanks for the rare find.  Too bad the 396 fair set was not in great condition.  It would go for an astronomical amount at auction.

The_Rancor

Ah so 395 was in the vault, should’ve looked in more detail when I was there! Interesting to hear how rare the 396 World’s Fair edition is.

Istokg

The question now is... is there a 397 larger New York World's Fair set?

Still investigating... but while the 395 and 396 each have 1 gray 10x20 baseplate... it appears that there may be a larger (unknown?) World's Fair set that has 2 baseplates.



The box front is different than the 395 and 396... so I'm still investigating...

Stay tuned.... 😯

Istokg

WOW!!   I  just talked to the owner of this set, who is taking a better image of the front and back... and also the side with the LEGO build.  The other side is the "LEGO PAVILION" artwrk with crown as seen in an image above.

And... (this was just an initial guess on my part)... this set IS numbered 397~!!!

I don't believe that 397 is in the LEGO Archives... will have to check back with them!

What a rare find!!

Images coming shortly!!  😍

Istokg

Here is the only known (so far) large New York 1964-65 World's Fair 397 set.

I know they have the 395 and 396 Fair sets mentioned in the Billund LEGO Archives, but I need to find out if the 397 set is mentioned there as well.  I was not made aware of this set by the Archive folks several years ago.

The front of the box...



The back of the 397 box showing the instructions for all the possible builds...



One side of the 397 box (the other side has the artwork crown with "DANISH PAVILION" as seen in the 396 set shown earlier in this thread)...



The top of the box with the incomplete paper box handle showing the 397 number...




The 395 (small) 396 (medium) and 397 (large) New York World's Fair sets are extremely rare.  There are only a few 395 sets known, and only one 396 and 397 known.

Unlike the 395 and 396 sets, whose set number was reused in the 1970s Hobby sets, the 397 is a set number that has never been reused.