Inside Tour sets at Catawiki
Posted by Huw,
Catawiki, the specialist online auction house, still holds a LEGO auction every week but nowadays it's rare that there's anything worth bringing to your attention in it.
However, that's not the case this week. There are hundreds of lots in the auction that ends at the weekend including some very rare and sought after Inside Tour sets.
- 4000008 Villy Thomsen Truck was the 2013 tour set, the year I went on it, and very few come up for sale. The current bid is €550 which is a fraction of the price of the examples on BrickLink
- 4000012 Piper Airplane was the 2012 tour set and also rarely comes up for sale. The current high bid is over €1200.
There are also a couple of SDCC minifigures up for grabs, Vixen and Black Lightning, and this year's 77906 Wonder Woman, which was not sold in Europe.
So, check it all out and see if there's anything of interest and if it looks as if there's text missing in the sentences above, and our Catawiki page has no hyperlinks under the images, please disable your ad-blocker for Brickset.com
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22 comments on this article
What's happened to your proof-reading, Huw?! :-D
Two days ago I won MiSB 7785 Arkham Asylum on Catawiki:
https://www.catawiki.com/l/41078431
I think it's the nice deal.
@Block_n_Roll said:
"What's happened to your proof-reading, Huw?! :-D"
I'm struggling to see any errors. Do enlighten me...
I assume an inside tour set is something that journalists receive when they visit the Lego vaults etc. If this was a corporate gift from Lego it seems a shame that as a thank you for being shown behind the scenes people are now trying to make ridiculous money out of it, as Lego will just stop producing (if they haven't already) such sets for those going on future inside tours.
Personally, I've never used Catawiki as they are just fueling the above explosion in ridiculously expensive sets for collectors who then just resale again inflating prices even more. This is a shame as many AFOLs would love to buy, say a space monorail or Emerald Night train to actually set up in local hall exhibitions so that children can enjoy watching, but are priced out of the market.
Curiously, I was searching for 4000012, 2 evenings ago... No instructions available but I will try my luck just by looking to some photos...
@Huw said:
" @Block_n_Roll said:
"What's happened to your proof-reading, Huw?! :-D"
I'm struggling to see any errors. Do enlighten me..."
I don't see any spelling mistakes per se but on my end, I think all the text with links (set numbers and such) is missing. Which makes some of the sentences a bit weird...
for example :
"There are also a couple of SDCC minifigures up for grabs, and , and this year's , which was not sold in Europe."
@Huw said:
" @Block_n_Roll said:
"What's happened to your proof-reading, Huw?! :-D"
I'm struggling to see any errors. Do enlighten me..."
Not that I'm a shining example of typo avoidance or evader of grammar mistakes but if you were to put a gun against my head the following stick out.
1. "...hundreds of lots in the auction that ends at the weekend...". I would have thought it would be end, not ends and at least in my head "end this weekend" reads better.
2. "...for grabs, and , and this year's , ...". Either part of a sentence would appear to be missing or there's a sneaky additional and hiding in there. Again, just in my head but "for grabs, including this year's".
3. The two Inside Tour sets you highlighted both start with "was". It feels like you intended to place names or set numbers there.
I only noticed these after going back and re-reading due to the comments. The brain skipped over them all during the first read.
Now to find out how right or wrong I am haha.
As an unexperienced Catawikier my initial feeling was they probably want to be more more restrictive about what they auction. Seems like a lot of entries that would be better left to the likes of eBay. Help make the good items stand out by not hiding them amongst so many common items.
It is entirely possible I'm missing the market they're trying to capture of course.
I assume that those of you who note missing set names etc. have an ad-blocker enabled?
It seems that AdBlock Plus is treating the links to Catawiki as ads, which is a shame.
Nice catch Huw, it was that.
@CCC said:
"No ad block for me, and it all reads fine.
"
Same here.
@audaver said:
"As an unexperienced Catawikier my initial feeling was they probably want to be more more restrictive about what they auction. Seems like a lot of entries that would be better left to the likes of eBay. Help make the good items stand out by not hiding them amongst so many common items.
It is entirely possible I'm missing the market they're trying to capture of course."
I believe this was probably true in the (very) beginning when they started their business with Lego auctions, i.e., that they 'curated' the kind of lots that went up for sale. But by now, as you say, there are indeed a lot of random lots as you would find them on eBay.
The main remaining advantage of Catawiki might be that it is less 'stressful' than eBay as you cannot (really) be outbid in the last second.
When seeing the prices investors pay for MISB sets, to keep and resell them in MISB condition, I'm always reminded of James May and his TV programme about model trains some years ago. He bought a MISB loco or wagon in a face-to-face auction, ripped the package open in front of the horrified collectors and went home to play with the train (thereby increasing the price of the remaining MISB copies).
@ambr said:
"
Personally, I've never used Catawiki as they are just fueling the above explosion in ridiculously expensive sets for collectors who then just resale again inflating prices even more. This is a shame as many AFOLs would love to buy, say a space monorail or Emerald Night train to actually set up in local hall exhibitions so that children can enjoy watching, but are priced out of the market.
"
The amazing thing about Lego is that if you want to build an Emerald train, you can. Literally nothing is stopping you. Hop on Bricklink and get some green parts and you're all set. If you want to keep the fancy packaging and the pristine box, well then that's a separate issue now, isn't it? These here aren't playsets, not quite anymore. They're collector's items. If you want to build a set, there are thousands of options out there that aren't exorbitant prices. If you want a rare, top-shelf item, then be fully prepared to pay rare, top-shelf prices. It's that simple.
God I wish these were normal sets that everyone could buy. I really like the old truck, would be perfect in my 1950s city. I am struggling though to find images of the real truck, if I search up Villy Thomsen it only comes up with this set. I assumed Villy Thomsen was like Massey Ferguson perhaps Im wrong.
The piper looks great as does the control tower. If only we got sets like that for City airport.
Does anyone know why the Piper Plane has no issue number scribbled on it? I would assume the reason that’s not the case is because it’s an issue that was given to staff rather than attendees of the tour
That looks like a really cool set, too bad it is so rare.
@Brickchap said:
"God I wish these were normal sets that everyone could buy. I really like the old truck, would be perfect in my 1950s city. I am struggling though to find images of the real truck, if I search up Villy Thomsen it only comes up with this set. I assumed Villy Thomsen was like Massey Ferguson perhaps Im wrong.
The piper looks great as does the control tower. If only we got sets like that for City airport. "
According to the preface in the instructions Villy Thomsen was the name on the company who owned the truck. It doesn't mention the brand of truck.
@fakespacesquid said:
"These here aren't playsets, not quite anymore. They're collector's items. If you want to build a set, there are thousands of options out there that aren't exorbitant prices. If you want a rare, top-shelf item, then be fully prepared to pay rare, top-shelf prices. It's that simple. "
You are technically correct, but everything in this paragraph is just so wrong.
LEGO sets should never be collector's items, they should always be stuff to be played with. I have got quite a few sets that are considered "rare". Guess what, I let my kids play with all of them. Without any hesitation or caring whether this might "destroy value".
@AustinPowers said:
" @fakespacesquid said:
"These here aren't playsets, not quite anymore. They're collector's items. If you want to build a set, there are thousands of options out there that aren't exorbitant prices. If you want a rare, top-shelf item, then be fully prepared to pay rare, top-shelf prices. It's that simple. "
You are technically correct, but everything in this paragraph is just so wrong.
LEGO sets should never be collector's items, they should always be stuff to be played with. I have got quite a few sets that are considered "rare". Guess what, I let my kids play with all of them. Without any hesitation or caring whether this might "destroy value"."
You've got every right to play with things that are rare or expensive, 100%, no one is going to stop you nor should they. But you can't put a polybag and an Inside Tour gift on the same level. They aren't. Some Lego sets ARE collector's items. You saying that they should always be something to be played with is just as silly as someone telling you that you can't let your kids play with it. Again, if you want to find something for you or your kids to enjoy that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, there are thousands of options. If there are a handful of rare sets, then no one has any right to complain. Collect if you want to collect. Play if you want to play. Collectors shouldn't get upset about sets made for people who play, people who play shouldn't get upset about sets made for collectors.
@fakespacesquid said:
"
The amazing thing about Lego is that if you want to build an Emerald train, you can. Literally nothing is stopping you. Hop on Bricklink and get some green parts and you're all set. If you want to keep the fancy packaging and the pristine box, well then that's a separate issue now, isn't it? These here aren't playsets, not quite anymore. They're collector's items. If you want to build a set, there are thousands of options out there that aren't exorbitant prices. If you want a rare, top-shelf item, then be fully prepared to pay rare, top-shelf prices. It's that simple. "
Indeed, with the sidenote that you will have to look for other colour or part options to get it at a reasonable price.
@Huw said:
"I assume that those of you who note missing set names etc. have an ad-blocker enabled?
It seems that AdBlock Plus is treating the links to Catawiki as ads, which is a shame. "
They are links via an affiliate or marketing site that redirect onwards to Catawiki. Seems they've made it onto most block lists while the affiliate links to Lego, Argos etc from the set pages haven't. Just a guess but it probably means this particular marketing group is either involved in tracking users or serving ads on the same domain.