Lego has taken some serious strides in creative advertising

These are just a couple examples, but you can see that Lego has seriously taken the creativity angle in selling their product.

Erector set parts, parts, and more parts

Parts, parts and more parts

For me the search for Erector set parts seems to be a never ending task

I found another lot of parts just Monday.  Actually I found it on Saturday, but made arrangements with the seller to pick it up from her Monday evening.

Of all places, Facebook Marketplace was where I found this.

Seller had this listed as simply:  Erector set parts. Full tub.

She had an image that showed a Rubbermaid tub that was full to the top of various Erector set parts.

The MOST interesting part of this was that it looked like there were massive amounts of parts from 1914 . . . over a century old!

Anyway, I had arranged to look a the parts on Monday and went to the pre-arranged location and when she arrived, she pulled the tub out of her car and said, "Here is my ex-husband's beloved Erector Set."  LOL

My eyes practically bugged out of my head.

I looked at the tub and found that I was correct, there were a lot of pre-1920 parts . . . I gave her the money that we'd agreed upon and took the tub from her and was really excited at the prospect of evaluating my new treasure when I got home.

The first thing that I did was weigh the tub . . . 33 pounds !!!

After sorting, I found the pre-1920 parts included 12 inch girders, 6 inch girders, 3 inch girders, a ton of angle sections, some wheels and at least 1 plate.

There were several parts from Erector sets from the 20s through the 80s, also included were parts from Meccano sets.  Some old, some not so old.  As to parts, there were a couple of parts that I have no clue what they are, but seem to fit right in with the Erector Set theme.  😂

Some instructions for Constructioneer (Urbana) and Marklin construction kits were thrown in, and for good measure, a box of hardware. . . Construction support brackets.  LOL  Everything Erector. 

Many of these parts need some attention.  They need cleaning, many need straightening and many are just plain unusable as far as "Set pieces" go, but everything in this tub is usefull and useable to me.

BONUS
One of the little Meccano parts boxes that I highlighted in an earlier post, was included in this purchase.

To Collect or To Build, that is the question

To Collect or To Build, that is the question

Why one or the other ?

Why not both ?

I guess the question you'd need to ask yourself in that regard is, are you a purist, are you a child at heart, or are you a little of both ?

I believe that I fall into the third category.

I have a couple of sets that I'm working to complete, so I'm working with inventories and mass purchases to gather the requisite parts and pieces to appease my "Collection" mentality.

I also work with mass purchases so that I can gather several parts to build anything that I want. 

Sometimes, I build, tear down, then build again, other times, I build and leave built.  I build SOME things to fill a specific goal or need that I've found

A 3rd classification that I didn't mention above, is "investor".

Many of the parts that I've purchased have simply been because it's too good of a deal to pass up.  I can sell some of these parts for many times what I've paid for them

So, am I an investor, a purist collector, a grown child who likes to play with my construction toys, or a bit of all 3

I'm squarely in the midst of all of the above.  :)

Lego Castle with Removable Floors

AC Gilbert Products 1960

Chemistry Sets, Electricity outfits, erector sets . . . AC Gilbert did much more than just erector sets

Advertisement: Krazy Ikes 1953

1953 Advertisement for Krazy Ikes

Timeline: Construction sets by decade

What construction toy sets were available to children by decade in the 20th century ?

When were they presented to the public ?

This is by no means a complete list.

1880s
     1880 - Anchor Stone Blocks

1900s
     1900s - Unit Blocks (Traditional wood blocks)
     1901 - Meccano

1910s
     1913 - Erector Sets
     1914 - Tinker Toys
     1918 - Lincoln Logs

1920s
     1920 - Buddy L (Pressed Metal vehicles)
     1921 - Structo pressed metal vehicles

1930s
     1930 - Krazy Ikes
     1931 - Trix model construction sets
     1934 - Bayko Building Blocks
     1934 - Stanlo Construction Toy (Metal Construction toy)
     1935 - Minibrix
     1936 - Nylint Toys (Pressed Metal vehicles)

1940s
     1940s - American Bricks (Halsam)
     1946 - Mound Metalcraft (Became Tonka in 1955)
     1949 - Lego

1950s
     1950s - Skyline (Halsam)
     1950s - Girder and Panel (Kenner)
     1952 - FAC-System (Metal rod construction kit)
     1955 - Play-Doh
     1959 - Arkitex (Girder and Panel style plastic building toy)

1960s
     1960 - Bilofix (wooden erector type set)
     1962 - Kenner Flintstone Blocks
     1964 - Fischertechnik
     1967 - Super City (Ideal)
     1968 - Tog'l Blocks
     1969 - Duplo
     1969 - Stickle Bricks

1970s
     1970s - Loc Blocs

1980s
     1980s - Capsela
     1980s - Pipeworks (Playskool)
     1983 - Construx
     1984 - Mega Bloks
     1984 - Robitix
     1987 - Kapla

1990s
     1992 - Steel Tec
     1993 - K'Nex
     1995 - Rokenbok

2000s
     2000s - Keva Planks
     2000s - Magnetix
     2006 - Konstruk-Tubes
     2008 - Nanoblocks
     2012 - Goldie Blox