The Lure Of Lego

I don’t ever recall having owned a Lego set, and I confess that I haven’t given it much thought over the years, until my interest was piqued by a news item this week when reports came in of the theft of £180,000 of Lego.

At first I thought, ‘That seems to me to be an awful lot of Lego,’ ‘quickly followed by, ‘Why would anyone want to steal so much Lego?’

Naturally, I had to find out, and what I discovered gave me quite a shock. Lego is big business, huge in fact, with investment sites dedicated to it.

The name itself comes from an abbreviation of two Danish words ‘leg godt’, meaning ‘play well’, and ironically one Latin translation is ‘I put together.’

In 1932 Ole Kirk Kristiansen, established his first business, making stepladders, ironing boards and wooden toys.

It began as a small carpenter’s workshop, and with just a handful of employees, took on the name Lego in 1934. It is now the world’s third largest toy manufacturer, and is still in the hands of the family, having been passed down to the founder’s grandson.

Of all the products they produce the ubiquitous Lego brick is the one that most of us will be familiar with, and continues to be the foundation of all development. It has been twice named ‘Toy of the Century’.

The brick was launched in its present form in 1958, and it is its interlocking-tubing principle that makes it unique, offering those of all ages unlimited possibilities and endless amusement.

In 1935, its first construction toy, a wooden duck, marketed as ‘Kirk’s Sandgame’ was made.

Now in its 80^th year, Lego building sets have become very collectable for both children and adults, in addition to serious investors.

The changes have been modest, but really began to develop with movie licensing deals, building a strong marketing connection with such films as Star Wars, Batman, and Toy Story.

There have been regular releases of creative building sets, often as a series, and these include the Space series, and the Lego City series.

Once the craze for collecting Lego started sets, particularly those still in their sealed boxes, started to go up in price rapidly. The attraction is that because Lego are constantly updating their products, they rarely stay the same for long, thereby becoming more collectable.

A quick internet trawl showed that the most expensive Lego figures, introduced as part of a set of 16 minifigs, sealed in opaque bags so that the buyer did not know what they were getting, were introduced in 2010, and followed up in 2013 by Series 10.

This release included a limited edition (only 5000 were produced) gold chrome plated figure, Mr. Gold. With his top hat, monocle, and his jewel-topped cane he has become the most expensive minifig on the market, and could fetch up to £700, or more.   

However, earlier this year, a 20-year old auto glass repairman, paid $15,000 for a one-of-kind, piece from the discontinued Lego Bionicle line, a platinum Avohkii Mask of Light, which is believed to be the most expensive Lego piece ever sold. That takes some beating!