Featured set of the day: Buried Treasure
Posted by Huw,
Today Yooha has chosen a classic Pirates set:
In the 1980’s, LEGO was not easy to get in Hungary. Somehow my father always managed to get a small set for my brother and I for our birthdays or Christmas, but there was not a huge stock of LEGO in the stores. We saw the full range in the small catalogues that were packaged with the sets, but that’s all.
Then, in 1989, our family made a day trip to Austria. Being Hungarian, it was travel to the West, something that had been difficult before then. The destination was Graz, and as the travel was long, we stopped in the small town of Fürstenfeld. Although I have not been there since, I still remember the name.
We entered a toy shop, and I stopped before the LEGO shelves...
I cannot describe how I felt. I have never seen such a beautiful thing in my life. Shelves from the floor to the ceiling, a few metres wide, it was all LEGO -- I knew I had entered heaven!
The variety of sets just amazed me. And what caught my eyes the most were Pirates sets. I didn’t know they exist until then. The theme was new and fresh, being something different to the 3 themes that existed in minifig scale until then, Town, Space and Castle. But the minifigs were so much better. They didn’t have the regular 'classic smiley' head printing, but had moustaches, beards, and even patched eyes!
And look, so many animals! Parrot, monkey, shark!
Thanks to my parents, I could choose a small set, which was 6235 Buried Treasure. It is small indeed, but every set there was fantastic. It has a monkey, and the monkey had minifig arms! It can grasp the flag pole and grab 3 weapons or tools at the same time! And there was a treasure chest, with shining gold. Real gold, can you believe it! No, of course not, but it was to me!
We ended up buying 6245 Harbour Sentry as well, so that little pirate had an enemy to fight. I guess my brother chose that one. The memories are little blurred here, as I was in a trance.
The story should be completed with 6251 Pirate Minifigures, because we ended up with that set as well somehow. As my brother could speak English by that time, I asked him to name the pirates. The captain became Forbes. I just learned many years later that it came from the Jules Verne book Two Years' Vacation. The girl was Ann, the one with red striped shirt is Henry, and the one with blue stripes is Watson (from Sherlock Holmes, maybe?).
The captain from Harbour Sentry had the name William, but the other 2 soldiers didn’t have names. I guess the pirates were more interesting and the soldiers were only background characters.
I loved pirates so much! We had some other sets later, even bigger ones, but entering the LEGO Heaven in a small Austrian town is something that nothing could outshine.
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23 comments on this article
Loved the Pirates sets! I'm hoping the Barracuda Bay success gets us a revival.
Buried Treasure was my very first pirate set. I think I was 5 when I got it. I was completely mesmerized by it. For such a tiny set it had so much playability for me. I didn’t have any other sets at the time and I played with that little pirate and monkey for hours. It embodied everything pirates to me. The clothes, the weapons, flag, a monkey and buried treasure. It didn’t get any better than that. To me it still is my first thought when pirates are mentioned. Thankfully I was able to keep up with my sets through the years and still own this one.
Pure, simple... Epic!
I am *loving* the new Featured Set of the Day editorials. Hearing devoted Lego fans of all ages talking about their favorite sets, big and small, is so joyful. Thanks!
Awesome story, and takes my childhood of going into a store and seeing an entire row filled with all sorts of LEGO sets. Maybe only getting a smaller LEGO set then ( I mean it is LEGO after all and was pricey even back then!) but those small sets were still 'large' sets in my imagination!
Great story, reminds us all why we first fell in love with Lego as children, was a big fan of Pirates growing up as well.
@BJNemeth said:
"I am *loving* the new Featured Set of the Day editorials. Hearing devoted Lego fans of all ages talking about their favorite sets, big and small, is so joyful. Thanks!"
Me too -- they are awesome, aren't they!
I have a few more in the pipeline but welcome more submissions via the contact form.
This was the set I picked for my brother for Christmas, and then I spent the rest of the time at the store staring at it trying to find a way to keep it for myself instead. I ended up buying another one later for myself.
Ah, so there are the chrome coins and monkey missing from Barracuda Bay!
I don't understand why on earth LEGO brought back the chrome coins after several years to put in last year's Heartlake Amusement Pier and not put them in any sets since.
What a lovely recollection! I think one of my favourite things about this series of articles is hearing about turning points - something perhaps there were more of in that period because the System was simpler, so every new addition could be more startling than now. And as children in the pre-internet era, we had fewer ways of even knowing how many different Lego sets might exist, especially if it was uncommon to find a big range in our countries. I can just imagine you in front of that shop display!
Wow, I have a very similar story as Huw about this set. When this set came out my family was living in Austria in an immigration camp. We were in the middle of moving out of the communist east and waiting to be accepted into a western country. Obviously money was tight. However, my mom was able to get me this set as a treat for going to the dentist (which I hated). It was my first pirate set and I was dying to get all the new pieces that came in this set, especially the monkey. I still have the monkey kicking around my collection.
Brilliantly written. I guess this was around the time of the 'Pan-European Picnic' and I can almost imagine the eye opening experience of the toy shop.
Conversely, my two pirate type sets were bought IN Hungary, albeit in 2000 or 2001.
I also had a small pirate set with figures chest and monkey! I think it was my second set? Great story
@Huw said:
I have a few more in the pipeline but welcome more submissions via the contact form."
@Huw
I wrote one, and could eagerly write another, but I don't want to be greedy. What's the word on multiple entries by one author?
I don't know if it's the lighting or the box art but I find the older Pirates sets more iconic.
Figers crossed that Pirates of Baracuda Bay sells well enough for LEGO to consider bringing back LEGO Pirates!
Loved this article, thanks for sharing! I also picked up this set in 1989 as a kid and it was just as amazing to me back then as you described here. ...and somehow I still have it today - buried treasure, castaway raft, and the black seas barracuda have crossed oceans of time...
@BJNemeth said:
"I am *loving* the new Featured Set of the Day editorials. Hearing devoted Lego fans of all ages talking about their favorite sets, big and small, is so joyful. Thanks!"
Me too, they bring back a lot of my precious memories as well. Pirates was one of my favorite themes growing up.
Does anyone remember the Lego Pirates audiobooks, I was listening to them from day to night but I am not sure if that was a German only thing?
I had to smile when I read Fürstenfeld there is a famous Austrian Song called Fürstenfeld. :)
I had a similar experience, although I grew up in Canada, where sets were readily available. When I was 11 we travelled to Europe to visit family. I was fascinated to discover all the new pirate Lego sets in stores there, that were not yet available in Canada. My parents were kind enough to buy me a small set. I chose 6245, Harbour Sentry. Later on our trip, I also convinced my parents to purchase 6255, Pirates Comic. The version I purchased came with both the English and the Finnish editions of the comic book. Later, back home, when the pirates line came to Canada, I purchased 6235, Buried Treasure, for myself. I still have all my pirates Lego in good condition, and now my children enjoy playing with them.
This was one of my first pirate sets. It became the start of me collecting the pirates and my brother getting the soldier sets.
I remember being captivated by these two tiny sets, they were my first ones of the line!
I was in Budapest briefly a few years before the so-called 'iron curtain' came down. Didn't see any LEGO, but did see some PCs. They were the same models available in the UK at the time or possibly slightly older, but were much more expensive. I expect any LEGO would also have been very dear.
Your story is amazing! Thanks for sharing with us. Cherished memories for sure. Stay safe out there these days.