lego system 700/1

Comments

• Toc13 Member Posts: 1,143

  October 2017 edited October 2017

  #700-1 - a 10x20 baseplate, is showing on bricklink at just under £5 used

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• kennyub40 wesy yorkshire ukMember Posts: 2

  October 2017

  i have both sets complete in box good condition
  
  

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• LusiferSam MontanaMember Posts: 564

  October 2017

  There are over a dozen version of the each of these and were available for 16 continuous years.  You'll have to be fairly specific as to which versions you have.  Photos would help.
  

  

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• Istokg MichiganMember Posts: 2,359

  October 2017 edited October 2017

  If they are the most recent 700/1 and 700/3 sets (1960-65).... then there were 2 box top styles produced for each....
  
  700/1 
  
  
  
  
  700/3
  
  
  
  
  
  And if the were older 1950s boxes it gets way more complex, since some box tops had the local language on them for Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Switzerland, while others only came in an international "LEGO System" box top (Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium).  Switzerland always had canister sets for the 700/0 thru 700/6 series of basic set boxes.
  
  Here are the variations of the 1953- 1960  700/3a basic sets.  Many of these (from 1955-58) you can usually determine which specific country they originated from, others you can't (they use the international "LEGO System" on the box.  The 1953-65 LEGO basic sets are the most complex series of basic sets LEGO ever produced.  And that doesn't even count the 1949-53 Automatic Binding Bricks 700/1-700/3 basic sets.
  
  Box variations for the different continental European countries the 700/x LEGO sets were produced in.....
  https://www.flickr.com/photos/istokg/albums/72157645472562780
  
  Then the question becomes.... do the boxes have their own inserts?  Oritinal inserts add a LOT of value to the sets....
  
  
  
  And even with original insert (turned upside down for easier storage of LEGO parts)... and original parts... you probably have this "mayhem".... because the parts are randomly found in the box after they've already been played with..... (note: after 1954 the boxes mainly come in only red and white bricks, with a few trans-clear bricks thrown in).  This 700/1 set dates to 1954, with more brick colors....
  
  
  
  
  I helped the owner of this set from the Netherlands restore his set back to it's original packing condition (some of the inserts get turned upside down)... which always involves something akin to a checkerboard layout.  Here is what I helped him restore (mainly re-arrange) it to (and greatly enhanced the value of the set)....
  
  
  
  
  These sets all originally had the bottom box shrinkwrapped, as can be seen in this larger 700/0 set of 1960-65....
  
  
  
  All of these images are from my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide, which is being expanded to a 9 volume publishing book deal, and I had mentioned that my (cheaper) online (computer desktop) gide was now a closed edition... well the publishers in China and USA (2 language versions) has not yet said STOP... so it is still available for a short time.... ;-)
  

  

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• Istokg MichiganMember Posts: 2,359

  October 2017

  Until 1965, all the LEGO basic sets were hand packed with the inserts underneath holding up the bricks to the top rim of the lower box part... so that the shrinkwrap process originally held them all in place.  Here is a 1957 TLG image of a LEGO worker hand packimg a large 700/0 set.  Only in this largest of basic sets (700/0) were some of the parts of the middle insert held in place onto the insert with a dab of glue.  The previous image shows the glue holding in place the windows and 2x8 white plates under the shrinkwrap).  Bricks were not glued... they were held in place by each other within the confines of their inserts.  The middle insert is just a bit taller, thus securing the 2 side inserts with the bricks held in place on all 4 sides.
  
  
  

  

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• iso3200 97 miles from Brickset TowersMember Posts: 2,065

  October 2017

  I wonder if @Huw might like to see this thread? The Brickset database doesn't have these set images in it.

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• Istokg MichiganMember Posts: 2,359

  October 2017

  Yes.... Brickset is lacking sets prior to 1965.  Huw and I are going to rectify this once I'm done with my 9 volume LEGO Encyclopedia.  The thing I don't like is some sites taking other sites images, and plastering their watermarks all over it.   Grrrrrr...
  
  Also it gets much more complicated than that...  the sets of continental Europe are different than those same numbered sets of Britain/Ireland/Australia (British LEGO Ltd., a UK licensee).....
  
  Continental Europe....
  
  
  
  (Blue numbered boxes date to 1960-61, yellow numbered boxes date to 1961-65.)
  
  Britain/Ireland/Australia of the same sets (not all sets were sold in both regions)....
  
  
  
  The sets of Britain/Ireland/Australia have a white price circle on the sides of the box, which is not found in continental European boxes.
  
  
  And then there is the box top/side LEGO logo identifier....
  
  Continental Europe (1960-65) and UK/Ireland/Australia (1960-64) box logo (with "System")....
  
  
  
  1964-65 UK/Ireland/Australia box top logo (no "System")....
  
  
  
  And then there are the 700/x inside box tops.... those of continental Europe....
  
  
  
  And the 700/x sets of UK/Ireland/Australia have this inside box top....
  
  
  
  LEGO sets (and parts) are very complicated in the 1950 and 1960s (until 1972)... so there are so many different variations... that it becomes almost numbing on the number of variations to the same set number!!

  

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