Automatic Binding Bricks value

Comments

• LusiferSam MontanaMember Posts: 553

  September 2018

  Holy cow!  That box is great shape! 
  

  
  

  Based only on this photo, I'd the value is a couple thousand US dollars. 
  

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• drdavewatford Hertfordshire, UKAdministrator Posts: 6,742

  September 2018 edited September 2018

  @Istokg might like to see this....
  
  :-)

  

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• SumoLego New YorkMember Posts: 15,029

  September 2018

  LEGO might want to see this!

  

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• Istokg MichiganMember Posts: 2,328

  September 2018 edited September 2018

  Wow!!  Very nice!!  
  
  If my eyes aren't playing tricks on me... this is a 700/2 set... which has 72 2x2 and 72 2x4 bricks.  If that says 700/3, then the brick count is 60 and 60.
  
  Do you want the bad news or the good news?
  
  The bad news is that this is not produced by The LEGO Group.  It was produced by Geas Konstharts, a plastics maker from Gislaved Sweden.
  
  The good news is that it was licensed by The LEGO Group to Geas from 1950 to 1953 as Automatic Binding Bricks for the southern Swedish market... and is every bit as valuable as Billund produced Danish Automatic Binding Bricks sets.
  
  Last year I saw a set like this (but not in mint) sell for Sw. Kr. 35.000 (about $4000 or £3000).  A (unknown in that condition)... mint set would be worth more.  That set is of museum quality!
  
  Here is an image of a rare Geas brochure from circa 1950....
  
  
  
  
  I have so much to say about Geas and Automatic Binding Bricks (which I devote 1/2 of my chapter on Automatic Binding Bricks to)... but I will have to post more shortly.
  
  One odd thing is that The LEGO Group and Geas don't have any surviving documentation on their 1950s collaboration (at least none that anyone at either company would share).
  
  Also... Geas was a plastics maker (today they make little more than plastic coat hangers, and appear to be barely hanging on, business wise).  They made plastic for electrical uses... and back in the late 1940s and 1950s that meant BAKELITE plastic.
  
  Here is a picture of the earliest Geas bricks made of that shiny Bakelite plastic (Bakelite was used in the 1930s to make jewelry as  well... such as bracelets).  Also shown here is an old napkin ring made of Bakelite.  And the last image is from a late 1940s Swedish Business Directory... that mentions Geas Konstharts as a 1942 founded plastics maker (mentioning "Bakelit").
  
  
  
  
  While LEGO Billund was making the bricks from Cellulose Acetate, Geas Kostharts was making it from Bakelite until about 1952, when they switched to another plastic.
  
  Much more info in posts to follow.... ;-)
  
  @mickej, please contact me at [email protected]    
  I have some more questions/info about your set.  (P.S.  I'm not a buyer.)

  

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• Istokg MichiganMember Posts: 2,328

  September 2018

  Just found a few more images.  It is always easy to spot the differences between the Swedish ABB (Geas) boxes and the Danish ABB (TLG) boxes.
  
  The Swedish box has pencil thin printing on the box, the Danish boxes all have thicker printing.
  
  
  
  Also... all the ABB boxes (Geas or TLG)... seem to have been produced in more than one box color...   Here are 3 rare Geas ABB boxes as found in an attic in Sweden, each a different color....
  
  
  
  
  

  

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• Istokg MichiganMember Posts: 2,328

  September 2018

  I had to stitch 8 separate Geas catalog panels together (4 front/4 back)... so here is a 1951-52 Geas Catalog.  The first year (1950) as seen in the OPs set, had a 4 page black/white brochure instead, but by 1951 Geas made an Automatic Binding Bricks 2 sided/8 panel catalog brochure.  Here is the 1951-52 Geas catalog...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  In 1953 TLG stopped using the name Automatic Binding Bricks, and switched over to using "LEGO Mursten" on the box top (it would use this name also for sets in Norway starting in October 1953).
  
  However, TLG did not want Geas to use the same name, so the Geas sets had to change the set name to something else... so they chose PRIMA.  Geas sold PRIMA sets from 1953, until 1955.  In March 1955 TLG started selling LEGO sets in Sweden (sets put together from boxes from TLG Denmark, and parts from Norway).  Swedish LEGO Mursten sets were put together in Lerum Sweden.  With the advent of LEGO in Sweden in 1955, TLG ended their relationship with Geas Konstharts, and no more construction bricks sets were produced by Geas after 1955.
  
  The 1953-55 PRIMA sets made by Geas Konstharts were sold in boxes like this..... still with the LEGO Automatic Binding Bricks box top image.
  
  
  
  
  And the 1953-54 Geas Prima catalog looks like this.... very much like the earlier 1950-52 Geas ABB catalog....
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Geas PRIMA sets, like the earlier Geas Automatic Binding Bricks sets are very valuable today, mainly due to their link with The LEGO Group first Automatic Binding Bricks sets.
  
  
  Ironically, neither TLG Denmark, nor Geas Konstharts, have archival records of a collaboration between them of selling similar sets back in the 1950s... but the evidence is beyond doubt!!  :-)
  
  There is an entire subchapter (on Automatic Binding Bricks) in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (2800 page computer desktop online guide) devoted to the Geas ABB/PRIMA sets, parts and documentation, and how TLG was involved with them, even without archival records.

  

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• Cyberdragon Maryland, U.S.AMember Posts: 541

  September 2018

  mickej said:

  HI
  
  Can somebody help me with a value on this.
  The manual is printed 1950 in Swedish.
  The box is never used.
  
  Mike
  
  

  As has been said, this is rare and extremely valuable. Treat it as a museum artifact. Look into the proper handling and care of vintage paper and cardboard as it can be easily damaged or rot over time. Make sure your hands are clean and dry when handling the box or papers. Also avoid storing it in or near certain materials such as wood (yes, wood gas eats cardboard and paper), styrofoam, or anything else that may emit reactive vapors. The bricks should be fine, they should even withstand being assembled (bakelite usually does't rot) if you want to and are careful.

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