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Your rarest Lego item?

TownTown Member Posts: 68
edited May 2011 in Collecting
Mine would have to be either a Lego sorting tray from Denmark from the late 60's or early 70's, or a red Lego briefcase from the late 70's/early 80's. I've never been able to find any pictures of them online anywhere.

What's yours?
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Comments

  • ThisIsMyCupThisIsMyCup Member Posts: 156
    i had 2 of those red briefcases as a child. wish i still had them.
  • dougtsdougts Member Posts: 4,110
    yeah, pretty much gave away my red briefcases when I moved as a kid, along with all my vintage SW figures, playsets, etc. Somehow, thankfully, my entire LEGO collection survived to this day.
  • PaulTRPaulTR Member Posts: 115
    I actually own a red one of those briefcases and a blue one as well; I hate using them becuase they have a lip around the edge, making the process of dumping out all the pieces a pain. Besides that, I have a 1980s Classic Space light brick that's pretty rare, and a few 1970s pieces that have the words "LEGO" printed on them.
  • JohnnycogsJohnnycogs Member Posts: 68
    I've got a couple of 1976 Police minifigs..... that about the best I can do..... Not sure if they are even "rare" though???
  • EnbricEnbric Member Posts: 64
    edited May 2011
    http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=10179cert
    That's just about it.
  • TownTown Member Posts: 68
    edited May 2011
    Hmm, after much searching I found picture of the briefcase I have on the German Ebay site. I knew it was different from the blue and red one you guys were mentioning, where I found a small little photo here -
    http://y1.yzimg.com/s1/media/get/key.0001sfpen1g9gai0/size.112x84

    or it could be this one -
    http://cgi.ebay.com/BLUE-LEGO-STORAGE-CARRYING-CASE-LEGO-PIECES-/150524732521?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item230bf92469

    Here's the one I have:
    http://www.saleservice-muc.de/Ebay/73987/3.jpg
    http://www.saleservice-muc.de/Ebay/73987/12.jpg
    http://www.saleservice-muc.de/Ebay/73987/13.jpg

    Attached as well.
  • TownTown Member Posts: 68
    edited May 2011
    It's got cool clips. Next I'll have to find the sorting tray. That one might be more difficult, who knows.
    I also have some sets from the 60's but I don't know how "rare" they are. I'll have to check my Lego book.
  • TownTown Member Posts: 68
    Might have found out the set number - 1511.
  • PaulTRPaulTR Member Posts: 115
    @Town Yup, those are the ones I own! Thanks for all the hard work in tracking them down :) You can see the annoying lip I'm talking about, especially on the smaller blue case. I hate that lip so much, I'm even considering selling the cases.
  • rocaorocao Administrator Posts: 4,290
    @Town: so did you really want to know about people's rare pieces or did you just want to start a discussion and fill it with posts about your LEGO storage cases?
  • slingerslinger Member Posts: 10
    Mine must be the 1611 aeroplane from 1978.
  • mkoeselmkoesel Member Posts: 97
    The Technic Tractor from 1979 that, for reasons unknown, came with black crown gears instead of gray ones. I think I remember someone else having this back in the rec.toys.lego days.

    I've also got a brochure (and some other literature as well) from Legoland circa 1985 or so that I've never seen online. Oh, and the I've got the box (and parts too, probably) from a promotional set - just some basic bricks - that came with some toothpaste. For a long time I'd never seen it mentioned online, but I think its been added to Brickset in the past couple years.
  • madforLEGOmadforLEGO Member Posts: 10,788
    Mine would probably be between the 9354 Dacta Hospital (with bin and instruction cards), 1489 Mobile crane (with instruction book)1490 Bank (with stickers and ins or the 1966 repair garage(with original instruction book). Plus the train 7727,7730, 7740... Again I guess 'rarest' is a matter of perspective
  • AETerryAETerry Member Posts: 48
    edited May 2011
    yeah, pretty much gave away my red briefcases when I moved as a kid, along with all my vintage SW figures, playsets, etc. Somehow, thankfully, my entire LEGO collection survived to this day.
    My Nana had one of those... I always thought about taking it, but it was among all the toys for the grandchildren to play with, that it never felt right to take it. I'd have to wonder where it's at now if it's even still around.
  • PaulTRPaulTR Member Posts: 115
    edited May 2011
    @Town: so did you really want to know about people's rare pieces or did you just want to start a discussion and fill it with posts about your LEGO storage cases?
    Tsk, tsk! I detect a bit of sarcasm in your post, rocao! But fully I agree with you. I think there should be two topics: one for pieces, and another for LEGO Gear. Still, it's not really Town's fault; he did say "rarest LEGO item", not piece(s).

  • TownTown Member Posts: 68
    edited May 2011
    @Town: so did you really want to know about people's rare pieces or did you just want to start a discussion and fill it with posts about your LEGO storage cases?
    Sorry for the triple post Rocao. It just kind of happened that way as I was finding stuff. If I could edit my posts I would have put them together. Actually, I'm not sorry.

    @madforlegos The Lego collector's book has a rarity guide for each Lego item. I have to take it at face value though because it doesn't give any more detailed information other than a scale from 1-5.
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,363
    Actually the LEGO COLLECTORS GUIDE has a brick rating of 1-6 bricks (6 bricks being the rarest). And about half the time the brick ratings are pretty meaningless.

    For those few of you who have my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (1949-80) on CD... there are a lot of unique and prototype parts that are very very rare.

    The rarest part would be a 1957-58 prototype 1:87 scale LEGO Opel Kapitän... only 7 are known to exist (4 yellow, 2 red, 1 orange). A yellow example was sold in a private sale from a Danish seller to a USA collector for $4,000. Some are known with out glass windshields. The 1st image below is of a rare red example in a Dutch collection.

    The rarest set is difficult to determine... but one set that I have only ever come across once was this USA only Samsonite wooden box Educational set of 1963-65. It also happens to be the largest 20th century set ever sold... with 3,250 pieces and cost $100 back in the 1960s ($75 to institutions). The 2nd image is a catalog image, but I know a USA collector who has this set.

    And the 3rd image... is of the rarest known colour of the LEGO briefcases was black (owned by a Dutch collector), and dates to 1985.

    I could post another 300 images of rare LEGO sets and parts that most of you probably have never seen... (such as 80 different LEGO wooden box sets) but it would be easier if you just bought my LEGO CD... :-) which I am releasing a new one in about another 5-6 weeks covering 1949-90s. I'm selling it from my USA Bricklink store (Gary Istok Rare Bricks) for $29.95. It has 75 chapters, covering everything imagineable. The folks who put the Official LEGO Collectors Guide together used my earlier (1949-80) LEGO CD as a reference... and I am mentioned as such on page 4.

    Another shameless plug! ;-)
    Gary Istok
  • dougtsdougts Member Posts: 4,110
    edited May 2011
    so, my neighbors had a garage sale on saturday. Went over there and saw they had one of these (it had some wear/damage, but looked replaceable) for $2.00. I picked it up and went to pay and was told it shouldn't have been on display as the daughter had already told one of her friends he could have it. no idea what it's worth, but gotta be more than $2.00

    http://cgi.ebay.com/Lego-Target-Frito-Lay-promotion-R2D2-11-tall-MIB-/270753918773?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0a30ef35#ht_1111wt_1147

    SO close...
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,363
    edited May 2011
    I just realized the topic was "your rarest"... sorry.

    Mine would be a 214 1-10 Continental European Retailer Windows/Doors box. This box was used by continental European (but not Portugal) retailers to sell individual windows/doors to children... whichever parts that they chose.

    UK/Australia and USA/Canada did not have these retailer boxes... but had separate 214/1 thru 214/10 windows or doors parts pack (10 different in each red or white).

    These boxes were first introduced in late 1957, and discontinued in 1967. My example dates to 1961-65 box style, and I found it collecting dust in a bookstore in Germany in 1979 (paid 40 Deutschmark for it... about $20).

    The original box (as obtained by retailers from TLG) contained 375 classic (1956-86) LEGO windows and doors. Individual cardboard refills of specific windows/doors could be reordered (in boxes of 25-50, depending on which size)... or an entire box refill could be ordered (under the 214S number).
  • TownTown Member Posts: 68
    Nice box! Looks awesome filled up.

    I now need to get a wooden box. They're very cool. I feel like I could have seen one of those small Opel cars and passed it up not giving it a second thought as I didn't know what it was. I do now though.
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,363
    edited May 2011
    Here's some Wooden boxes from my LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guilde (1949-90s). You won't find most of these in Bricklink or Peeron.

    1st Image (top to bottom) all UK 700K boxes... 1960, 1961, 1962-65.

    2nd Image (starting top row, L to R) 1957 Swedish 700, 1958 Danish 700, 1959 Austrian 700, German 1960-62, Belgian 700 (empty), German 700 (empty). The 700 sets were sold with or without contents. The without contents varietys often had blank tops.

    3rd Image 1957 German 700 contents. Note: these are the hollow bottom bricks of 1956-58. The 700 boxes always had a shallow tray of 8 partitions that could be removed to show 4 partitions underneath. There were always 24 partitions in the 700 boxes.

    4th Image German boxes 1968-70 820 (left), 1963-65 710 (right lower), 1963-65) 712 (right upper).

    These are a fraction of what I have in Chapter 10 of my guide.

  • davee123davee123 Member Posts: 854
    I've got:

    - The Red Sox promotional minifigure:
    http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?M=redsox

    - A wooden box with sliding lid from the late 50's or early 60's (not sure what set, it only had red and white elements inside)

    - Various promo Duplo bricks

    Those are probably the "rarest" that were actually produced. I've also got a chrome C-3P0 and chrome Darth Vader, but they're more modern, and were coveted by collectors, so I don't consider them quite as "rare". Same goes with my numbered Santa Fe and numbered UCS Falcon. And there are some other things that are just rare elements from a long time ago, but came in normal sets, so I wouldn't characterize them as "uber rare", like the black broadsword, red monorail motor housing, white pigtail piece, minifig-scale pony, etc.

    Apart from that, I've got some test-mold elements that were never released (and hence are "rare"), but those aren't really worth qualifying since there are TONS of those out there among collectors, few of which are the same. In that category I've got some 2x2x3 corner slopes in tan, 3x3x1 corner slopes in tan, larger-than-normal battle droid heads, battle droid arms that have larger clips than normal, a black scimitar with a stud HOLE rather than a stud at the end, brown goblets, a clear fish, and brown and tan garage doors. ... I think that might be it, but there might be a few other oddities in that category.

    DaveE
  • MaxxMaxx Member Posts: 4
    My rarest elements are a red ghost shroud, some very old 50ties sets, a wooden storage box for bricks and my entire collection of test bricks (some 500 now...)
    See: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maxx361/sets/72157622925500743/
  • tommyboatommyboa Member Posts: 36
    would be http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=078-1 as only 6 of us here list it as own. But it shows it's age, 6x6 stud corner chunk broke off, a crack and dotted lines down the middle of the road drawn by me in my youth. The current rarity would be http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?M=poc029
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,363
    Welcome over here Maxx.... Maxx is a good LEGO friend of mine from the Netherlands... if it has anything to do with a 2x4 brick... Maxx has it... in every known color and test strike...

    I mentioned to a few of my long time LEGO collector friends that usually post over on Bricklink... that there's a friendlier atmosphere over here... and the topic is almost always LEGO... fancy that!
  • warrenelsmorewarrenelsmore Member Posts: 77
    The rarest LEGO item I own is a minifig business card from Kjeld:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/warrenelsmore/5838983524/in/set-72157623353532839

    (phone number blurred by me). Though they aren't that rare - but they are pretty cool!
  • LEGO_NabiiLEGO_Nabii Member Posts: 34
    I have a few rare parts and sets - some pre-date my time at LEGO, but honestly, most don't. I have the chrome C3P0 and Vader, one of the LIT2009 inside tour sets and several mini-figure business cards. The most unusual is official figure I have is probably the one made for the staff for the opening of the factory in Mexico, I happened to be in the Billund factory the day after they had printed them and was given one. I also have the incredibly rare Mindstorm 1 printed tiles as well as one of the more common NXT's.

    Then, semi-LEGO, I have a few rare Brick Arms parts and the custom Brick Journal Ninja figures from the San Diego Comic Con a couple of years ago.

    But my desk at work has the true rarities, parts that have never been and cannot be! Chrome space guns, transparent skeletons and dolphins, test molding of mini-figures in weird colours, and some parts in colours that have never existed in LEGO. And that's the stuff I can talk about. But really these aren’t mine; I just hoard them in my drawers in case I can ever get them into a set!
    bluemodern
  • princedravenprincedraven Member Posts: 3,764
    As I have only recently started collecting and all my pre-dark ages collection 'went', I dont really have much in the way of rarities, the best I can come up with is my Star Wars minifigs: Chrome C3PO, Chrome Vader, Silver Stormtrooper, White Boba and Shadow Arf.
  • jwsmartjwsmart Member Posts: 298
    Huh. I'd have to admit - I had no idea that the Red Monorail Cover was rare until @davee123 mentioned it... I got it in a lot with a bunch of other monorail stuff on ebay for like $50... I guess that was a better deal that I had initially thought!
  • andheandhe Member Posts: 3,940
    edited September 2011
    Hadn't realised this thread was so old, but anyway. I've recently acquired a white and a black pony/foal and black bear. As far as I can tell, these aren't in existence on the web anywhere else (and didn't go into production).

    (Brown pony and white polar bear shown for reference).

  • DuchessaDuchessa Member Posts: 287
    edited September 2011
    andhe: I'm totally jealous! I love my brown pony :) May I ask where you found the white and black pony?
  • andheandhe Member Posts: 3,940
    @Duchessa, I got them off someone on eBay. They had a range of rare items (including a bright orange c-3po prototype!). Was pretty excited about the ponies as they're the only ones of their kind I've ever seen.
  • DuchessaDuchessa Member Posts: 287
    @andhe - that's the kind of stuff I'd like to find on ebay! Well, at least now I know they exist. I'll look around.. who knows, more of them might turn up? And since black and white aren't discontinued colours, I still have a hope that Lego might actually produce them in a set.
  • LegoboyLegoboy Member Posts: 8,827
    I still have a hope that Lego might actually produce them in a set.
    I'm not sure andhe shares your hope! :o)

  • JasenJasen Member Posts: 283
    I have a white pony too :D It's very old....
  • AScaryOctopusAScaryOctopus Member Posts: 57
    @andhe The one I want is the Polar Bear. I really want that to show up in an arctic set or promo or something, it looks nice.

    My rarest would be uh... Lego Universe Astronaut? I don't have anything of much value.
  • andheandhe Member Posts: 3,940
    I have a white pony too :D It's very old....
    Actually? Or have I missed a joke?
    @andhe The one I want is the Polar Bear. I really want that to show up in an arctic set or promo or something, it looks nice.
    The white polar bear? They're fairly easy to pick up off eBay or bricklink.

  • dehnehsudehnehsu Member Posts: 206
    edited September 2011
    A local Party Supply store was getting rid of all the Lego stock, so I asked if I could purchase one of the Vinyl Lego Banners they had hanging up. When I came in to pick it up, they handed me 3 free of charge! They measure 37" x 36" with printing on both sides.
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,363
    edited September 2011
    Back in 1957 TLG was considering putting out a LEGO Zoo set that would use the old Masonite Town Plan board as a baseplate. They were going to use an older Zoo animal set that came out in circa 1953... and even made some prototype blocks for each zoo exhibit, one of which was for Polar Bears. However, the plan was never approved, and all we have to show for it are some TLG LEGO Collections prototypes that have survived. This image is one used in Chapter 13 - LEGO Sets/Parts Never Put Into Production, of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide.
  • jagdjhjagdjh Member Posts: 95
    How do you determine if what you have is rare? Are the storage briefcases rare? Are there colors that are more rare than others? I have a red one and a purple one.
  • richoricho Member Posts: 3,830
    Not sure if it's rare, but the pride and joy of my collection is probably a MISB copy of the Sandcrawler. I am in a personal mexican stand off with the set as to whether I will open it given it is so utterly imacculate.
  • AScaryOctopusAScaryOctopus Member Posts: 57
    I have a white pony too :D It's very old....
    Actually? Or have I missed a joke?
    @andhe The one I want is the Polar Bear. I really want that to show up in an arctic set or promo or something, it looks nice.
    The white polar bear? They're fairly easy to pick up off eBay or bricklink.

    No no... the black polar bear. You know, polar bears are actually have black skin and transparent fur, the white color is just an illusion caused by the sun. I already have a white polar bear, but it is discolored.
  • Lego_MooseLego_Moose Member Posts: 36
    I think mine is a Canada flag along with a few other flags (The non-wavy type)
  • macmonmacmon Member Posts: 80
    Mine is the Death Star 2 UCS. :)
  • 4WD4WD Member Posts: 18
    My rarest set is probably the "Republic Attack Gunship", from 2008. Unfortunately, the stickers are peeling and I'm not even sure if all the pieces are there anymore.
  • GalidorneveragainGalidorneveragain Member Posts: 89
    The rarest item, would probably be is 5 original batman lego figures, spent around £60 for them before the anouncement of the Super hero theme, it was worth it though, even though I will be able to buy them again next year.

    Also it would I have quite a lot of rare lego star wars figures from 2005 and before. I value minifigures very highly and have big shrine for them in my bedroom!
  • bluemoosebluemoose Member Posts: 1,716
    Not sure what my rarest item is, but I'm going to go for my blue brick separator as I love it so much :-)
  • JasenJasen Member Posts: 283
    I have a 2x2 yellow brick with LEGO printed permenantly on it, not sudre how old it is but from the early 80's for sure :)
  • bricksanbricksan Member Posts: 566
    edited September 2011
    I have set 030, the box is a ripped but it does still have all it's pieces
  • AScaryOctopusAScaryOctopus Member Posts: 57
    Hadn't realised this thread was so old, but anyway. I've recently acquired a white and a black pony/foal and black bear. As far as I can tell, these aren't in existence on the web anywhere else (and didn't go into production).

    (Brown pony and white polar bear shown for reference).

    Just found out something about the ponies after doing the LEGO Universe free trial, the brick is called fawn.

    I wonder why they included it in the game if it never saw a store release...
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