Top 10 Most Expensive LEGO Sets: RRP vs. Winning Bid on Catawiki
Posted by Huw,
Thinking of selling your LEGO online? This article, written by the team at Catawiki, might encourage you to do so:
It’s no secret that LEGO sets appreciate in value over time and that selling vintage or limited edition sets can be quite profitable. Most people are in agreement about which sets should be included in a top 10 most expensive LEGO sets list and most of these sets have been sold at Catawiki’s weekly LEGO auction.
Let’s look back at the top 10 sets and compare their recommended retail prices (RRP) to what they’ve sold for on Catawiki.
10. Market Street - 10190
RRP: £59.99 / $89.99
Winning bid at Catawiki: £375.54 / $479.34
Market Street was the company’s second set ing their modular building series for adults. The set contains 1,248 pieces and features curved staircases and interchangeable floors.
9. Café Corner - 10082
RRP: £88.09 / $139.99
Winning bid at Catawiki: £1,767.65 / $2,257.20
Café Corner features 2,056 pieces, has three floors, a mosaic and a bicycle. Compared to the recommended retail price, the resale value is pretty impressive.
8. Eiffel Tower - 10181
RRP: £146.79 / $199.99
Winning bid at Catawiki: £901.57 / $1,151.23
This 1:300 scale model of the Eiffel Tower stands an impressive 1.06 metres high, consists of 3,428 bricks and even features a French flag flying on top.
7. Imperial Star Destroyer -10030
RRP: £249.99 / $269.99
Winning bid at Catawiki: £2,238.43 / $2,857.19
This model of the Imperial Star Destroyer from Star Wars includes 3,096 pieces, a Lego minifigure of Darth Vader, a hologram of Emperor Palpatine and eight synchronized cannons.
6. Death Star II - 10143
RRP: £249.99 / $269.99
Winning bid at Catawiki: £2,143.68 / $2,735.41
This 3,441 piece set is not a moon, it’s a space station! The impressive Death Star II set has certainly appreciated in value.
5. Employee Gift
RRP: Unknown
Winning bid at Catawiki: £16,352.50/$20,852.50
It was all over the news when Catawiki sold this empolyee gift. The 14K solid gold LEGO brick has the same dimension as the original 2x4 LEGO brick. It came to Catawiki through the nephew of one of a man who helped develop the market for LEGO in Italy as one of the first businesses there.
4. Statue of Liberty - 3450
RRP: $199.00
Winning bid at Catawiki: £1,685.85 / $2,174.44
The LEGO version of the American symbol of freedom contains 2,882 bricks of mostly sand-green. The Statue of Liberty set stands 83 cm high when completed.
3. Grand Carousel - 10196
RRP: £179.99 / $249.99
Winning bid at Catawiki: £1,812.56 / $2,311.67
This set has 3,263 pieces, 9 minifigures, and is powered by electricity! When assembled and powered up, the Grand Carousel spins and plays melodies.
2. Taj Mahal - 10189
RRP: £199.99 / $299.99
Winning bid at Catawiki: £2,396.25 / $3,058.49
The Taj Mahal was produced in 2008 and is the largest lego set released to date. It contains 5,922 pieces and sold for 10 times the recommended retail price at auction!
1. Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon - 10179
RRP: £342.49 / $499.99
Winning bid at Catawiki: £4,152.72 / $5,301.48
The second largest LEGO set ever produced and the largest LEGO Star Wars set is the ultimate collector’s series Millennium Falcon. It boasts a massive 5,174 pieces and 5 minifigures and it made international headlines when it went up for sale on Catawiki.
As you can see, it can be profitable to sell LEGO online. So if you’re considering parting with a few sets, Catawiki is the place to do so.
We’ve received some great press coverage for past auctions and with our around 15 million people visiting our weekly auctions from all over the world, your chances of making a profit are considerably higher.
Sign up as a seller to get started. You can then offer up your LEGO lots for review by our team of experts who will help you create a winning description and plan it into an auction where it will do best.
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43 comments on this article
Interesting to see the increases in some of those sets (Although I don't think I'll be selling my Cafe Corner, Falcon, or Star Destroyer any time soon!
POINT OF NOTE: 10030 Star Destroyer did NOT come with "minifigure of Darth Vader, a hologram of Emperor Palpatine" (They came with the non-UCS versions: 75055 & 6211)
Dang, I could hear the wallets screaming for mercy
I'm planning on getting them all MISB. Should I put my plans into perspective?
I reckon the Apollo saturn v will get up into the top 10 in five years time or so.
I have a MISB 10143 Death Star II, still in its original shipping box, which I tried to sell three years ago to finance the purchase of our first house. I had no takers at all at €1500, so it's still in my possession. I did manage to sell my (opened, unbuilt) 10179 Millennium Falcon, all profits of which went into the house.
Considering the value appreciation on our house in those last three years, I have NO regrets at all, especially if a rumored new UCS Millennium Falcon is imminent!
Iv got a friend who has some of these I'll tell him how much they go for !!
Looking at those ridiculous prices, I do often wonder if Lego wouldn't be better of producing or outsourcing production of the most popular retired sets. Maybe those retired after at least 5 years and only the most popular.
Some will get a re-release (hopefully like the the MF this year) but many won't.
At the moment those who make money from these sets are investors, auctioneer websites and as a consequence of how ridiculously expensive they are Lego clones, like Lepin.......but not Lego.
Whilst there is an argument that some cutomers only buy them for the intention of investment, I think the ability to resell them in the future could offset that and for us fans (not investors) it would be fantastic to both be able to buy some of these and know we are directly supporting Lego.
Holy. Crap. 20,000 for the gold brick! Are people nuts!?!
If the Brick weight was 14 ounces, that would be about the right price for the gold.
Hmmm I understand this is more of an advertisement for Catawiki but they should really mention the commission fee of 12.5% excluding VAT. Compare that with eBay that charge 11% in Australia and I really don't know why I would bother to list it with them.
Trying to sell my Grand Carousel on BrickLink for 1760 GBP incl shipping (sealed bags/stickers) with no luck.. Guess I have to keep it afterall
Not sure how representative Catawiki is for any price analysis, some of the buyers don't seem well informed of the alternatives available to them.
For example a new, sealed Scooby Doo 75903: Haunted Lighthouse sold in a very recent aution for EUR150 including free shipping. Buyer pays an additional 7.5%, so total of EUR 161.25. This set is readily available for a fraction of that price on Bricklink, even with postage to anywhere you can get it far cheaper.
Another auction of the same set is currently EUR 71 plus shipping, ending tomorrow. (I'm not the seller of either set, before anyone asks.)
I've yet to determine the logic of the top 10 list. Doesn't seem to be:
- alpha
- age
- set number
- RRP
- Catawiki price
- Ratio of Catawiki price:RRP (though that's the headline)
- ROI
Help???
WOW
@speedorz4ever you left out random
I've been very tempted to bid on Catawiki auctions in the past, however the shipping to the US is almost as much as, and sometimes more than, the Lego itself. Until they host a US auction or find a way to avoid shipping costs I'll stick w/eBay (which unfortunately is hit and miss - really got burned on the last auction I won).
I've often wondered why catawiki gets a weekly advert on the front page of brickset. High fees, smaller audience than other outlets and listings are riddled with inaccuracies (see 10030 above). Surely none of us on here would be buying anything there as most of us would know where to find it cheaper (except for maybe the golden brick).
@LegoSolo77, the amounts shown are 'estimates', you need to provide shipping costs for all the countries they list (or use the 'Rest of Europe' and 'Rest of the World' options). If the actual shipping cost is less than the amount shown the seller is 'supposed to' contact the buyer, get their bank details and refund the difference, less EUR 1.50 allowance for packaging. So I suspect sellers overestimate to avoid being caught out if bought from outside Europe, I know I did when selling an item recently. Whereas when selling on eBay I usually sell to UK only with free shipping, or UK and Europe only, never worldwide.
Can you start disclosing that these Catawiki articles are just ads?
Agreed with others that state these should have a "word from our sponsor" disclaimer. Alternatively, if they are meant to be "content" or "editorial" than an opt-out should be provided in the site preferences (as it is with all other types of content).
Absent that, these are ads that we can't opt out of (which is totally fine), but should be disclosed as such, or referenced to the affiliate disclosure...
Perhaps I'm "factually" incorrect, in which case all of the above is my opinion!
Some of you folks really need to think about the larger picture. Do you pay a subscription fee for this website? Nope. Does it blast you with ads and malware if you setup a login? Nope. Does it offer a ton of customizable features and content? Yup.
Even if this article, or the others about Catawiki, were unofficially sponsored, does it really matter? If you're taking the time to read the content, or even more, to record your protestations...why not just skip it and move on to the next thing? Why torture yourself?
Oh dear, what a fuss this has caused...
We are not sponsored by Catawiki, and it did not pay us to publish it.
Like Amazon, eBay, Argos, TRU etc, etc. we have an affiliate relationship with Catawiki and this is disclosed on the page that's linked to at the bottom of every page.
We receive a commission when users sign up as a seller or buyer at the site, which is why we publish an auction round-up most weeks. After all, it takes time and money to run Brickset and every little helps keep it online and free for everyone to use.
Nobody is forcing you to read the article: if, once you've read the headline, you decide it's of no interest, you are free to skip over it to the next one!
And, nobody is forcing you to buy or sell at the site: if you think its prices and fees are unacceptable, use another trading platform!
When I looked at this list and saw I have 4 of these sets, I realized how lucky a person I am.
Lol Amen to @blogzilly!
Perhaps people want to start paying a fee for the use of Brickset? I would rather doubt it. I am sure there are those that would but I'm guessing the majority would not.
What's catawiki?! I guess it is a better place to buy expensive Lego sets. I only buy from bricklink and eBay
Excellent collateral to justify my purchases. "See, we'll easily get our money back if we need sell it." ....As if I'd sell my collection, lol.
I'd much rather buy Lepin for retired sets than pay anything like these ridiculous prices. It's a shame that Lego has come to this, Lego is meant to be a building toy not an investment, if people boycotted these sales rather than paying stupid amounts it might drive prices down and help put an end to this investment culture.
Hello, there is a typo:
"set ing their" (should be "set in their")
Thanks, Huw! One of the things I like best about this site is your engagement and participation.
Listen to @blogzilly. Man speaks the truth.
And sincere thanks to Huw and the rest of the brickset team for all their time and effort and complete lack of compensation and (often) gratitude from us for all the content and services they provide.
Ah well, guess I wasn't the only one getting scr*wed by Catawiki when I was still new to Lego. Never buying anything there again! Always looks like they artificially mark up the prices,
I'm thankful I have no interest in any of the above mentioned rare sets, whether or not they are expensive. At one time, I was interesting in the CC and Eiffel Tower, but after review, I realized I didn't care about them that much. Not that I would have paid any of those prices anyway.
@Huw : I think you probably need to take a step back from the minefield of controversial cans of worms that you've opened by your callous disregard for the unfathomable whims of the more easily affronted sections of the userbase. How dare you have the bare-faced audacity to secure non-intrusive revenue streams in order to provide an excellent *free* service?! It's just not fair!!!
:-)
Not wanting to offend anyone, as it looks like it's gone all defensive, but it's a bit clickbaity to call this an article when it's really a list of things sold on an auction site. I waited until the end to find the analysis, the insider view, the content, the opinion.
I couldn't find it (as in there isn't any), and I didn't know beforehand, so I've wasted my time. You don't call the Amazon discounts page an article...
And this is coming from someone who loves the site, the forum and everything else about it (including the Amazon listings).
I've only got two of these- Market Street and Cafe Corner- although their pieces are mixed in with the general mountain of bricks so I've ruined any value they had, except for building and playing with of course.
The Statue of Liberty is the surprise I think. I don't recall the set being particularly well regarded when it came out (except for the advent of big, detailed sculptures being a new departure for Lego) and I seem to remember that set being reduced quite a lot to shift them from the shelves.
The Statue of Liberty set is rare and that alone bumps up the value, just about all of them are now firmly in the hands of collectors who don't want to sell them.
Lepin need to clone it and I'm surprised they haven't yet as they have done Sydney opera house, tower bridge, Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal!!!
It really annoys me when people with absolutely no interest in Lego go and empty the shop shelves of certain sets and stockpiling them creating a false demand and then selling them on for extortionate prices!!! I suspect that's where many Saturn V rockets are now, luckily I got one early from John Lewis. Lego are starting to fight back at these investors by keeping certain sets in production for longer such as the VW camper and Tower bridge to hopefully allow everybody who wants one to get one.
I don't care for Catawiki as like others I think they artificially inflate prices in order to gain more profits. Lots of sets that can be had much cheaper at ebay, Bricklink etc.
That being said, I don't mind these articles as I can ignore whatever doesn't interest me. And I can fully appreciate that Huw and the team behind Brickset - who are doing an absolutely brilliant job imho - need to secure every bit of funding they can get. I can't stress enough how much I value Brickset and all of its features - especially when considering the fact that they are totally free!
About the mentioned sets, I don't have any of them, but I don't regret that at all. It was an interesting experience I had with the Green Grocer. I always wanted that set so much after coming out of my dark ages, but the prices on the secondary market seemed ridiculous. In the end I got the Lepin version, built the set, and it even resides next to my real Lego modulars in my display. But after having built it I realized that it didn't come close to the newer modulars like the Parisian Restaurant, Detective's Office or even Palace Cinema. And I came to the personal conclusion that many of those older sets would have been great to buy at RRP (or the usual discounts current sets frequently get), but that they don't in any way justify the prices they command on the secondary market - unless you only buy them as an investment of course. But my personal opinion is that Lego is to be built and either played with or displayed and enjoyed - not bought and stuffed in the cupboard waiting to be resold to make a fortune.
Speaking of which, the Saturn V is scheduled to be back on the shelves by September at the latest, with a proposed product life until at least the end of 2018, according to reliable sources at TLG. Seems they really just totally underestimated the demand for this particular set. Not that they couldn't have seen this coming though...
I have 8444 Technic Air Enforcer in an unopened box. Is anyone interested? Is this a set worth putting up for auction?
Brinklink is good enough, thx!
I have absolutely no problem with brickset advertising sites like catawiki as it generates income for brickset.
Brickset is quite simply the best Lego site there is and Huw and the team do an absolutely stellar job keeping it running and free to use, if that comes at the expense of having a few sponsored or non sponsored ads that's fine by me!!! Just keep up the good work.
Awesome list! If possible I'd enjoy seeing a list like this with price to part, I'm guessing the cloud city would be up there!
I cant believe I actually own all these sets, except for the gold brick. I want to sell 2 of them: Death Star II and the Carousel. Any takers? I'm the original owner, I've assembled them so they're not MISB, but I do have the boxes and original instructions.