Bricks on Display: a collection of interlocking building bricks
Posted by Huw,
LEGO is of course the market leader and dominant supplier of interlocking building bricks nowadays, but before it achieved that status in the 1960s there were dozens of different manufacturers producing similar bricks, made using a variety of materials including rubber, wood, and a mix of formaldehyde and milk!
Brickset member Carlos José Baragaño Móner became fascinated by their history and this article presents the result of his painstaking research and subsequent quest to acquire as many different examples as he could.
My name is Carlos José Baragaño Móner, I work as a furniture designer at Calcher Global Solutions in Valencia, Spain. At 30 years of age, I am currently in charge of the design and development of the furniture for most fast food franchises in the EMEA area. I recently joined the Valbrick association (Valencian Community LEGO Association) and I have also won several global and national awards for my decorative ceramic work.
I've been building with LEGO for as long as I can remember and as a young child my parents used to buy me sets meant for older kids which I would assemble in record time, to the surprise of my family. The more pieces the set had, the more I enjoyed and currently enjoy assembling them.
I love designing, prototyping, creating, testing myself, assembling, watching assembling videos, reading over assembling manuals, etc. I'm always working on inventing and designing new things. For example, I came up with a game for Burger King in which you had to assemble a restaurant by putting together the different modules on a numbered base, where all the interiors had a high level of detail.
I have never stopped assembling LEGO. Furthermore, I became a Product Designer because my dream has always been and still is to this day, to someday work for the company.
Through the years I have worked more and more towards construction sets (I feel like they are one of the key inventions throughout history), since they are technical, sophisticated, constructive and educational tools that help both kids and adults expand and develop mentally.
While enquiring about the idea of how the concept of bricks was reached (since, from my point of view it's an unparalleled invention, and when you work as a designer the curiosity regarding the origin of things is innate and to a certain extent even obsessive), I discovered that LEGO based its work on another brand's toys to develop its Brick (Kiddicraft). However, they improved considerably the quality of the materials used, the moulding, number of pieces, and their fit.
This initial discovery made me want to learn more about the origins, so I kept enquiring and found an extensive list of kind of companies that would either disappear or move on to build other things before and after the creation of LEGO, such as Hilary Page, Viceroy, Meccano, Dietel, Auburn, Premo rubber, and Rubber specialities, that had up to that time based their work on each other in order to make and improve construction toys.
These new findings made me want to set myself the goal of creating a collection that included all the original pieces from each of these companies. It took me 7 years to put it all together, and finally I am ready to show it to the world.
I have managed to retrieve Bricks created that date from 1920 to 2022, that were created using different materials, shapes, sizes, moulds and types of fit. Some are clay, magnetic, pressed paperboard, Bakelite, resin, wood, and each with its own unique fit, including sideways, magnetism and pressure.
After completing the task of collecting the sets, I became curious about the origins of each of them, which led me to a worldwide search with the help of museums, libraries, historians and even town halls, which allowed me to find the original patents for each of them.
Once i had the patents, the sets and my personal curiosity, i decided to make a 3D printed display case which would include a piece from each set, along with their imprint, name, date and some hidden features. All of these ideas, along with months of hard work and constant improvement, finally yielded my finished project "Bricks on Display".
The “Bricks on Display” consists of a 3D printed base built using the powder printing technique. Its dimensions are 280x190x40mm, and inside each cavity you can find the imprint for each piece, where each space has been made-to-fit, making the task of assembling the display an engaging and entertaining game that requires you to find the perfect fit for each piece.
Additionally, the base has been made to look like a LEGO piece. On the back you can find the imprint of the 4X2 brick, and it is designed to be hung on a wall as a decorative item (the bricks are selected and ordered based upon their appearance/size and imprint).
The display also has a transparent acrylic lid which has the laser engraving of the name and patent date for each piece. The current design (which is undergoing an improvement process) for fastening the lid with the base of the display is by using LEGO Technic pins which, once fixed, help maintain the pieces in place so nothing is loose, and can hold the weight of the whole display.
The bricks
Now, let's take a look at every brick in detail: I have ordered this list as they appear in the display case rather than chronologically.
Lino Method-1958
Interlocking plastic bricks clones of the early LEGO Mursten. With upper hollow studs and socket connection between the studs and two inner rows. Sold under the brand "DIPLOM", "LINO Method" and "PUWI". Made by: Deluxe Game Corp. USA.
Montini-1960
Interlocking plastic bricks clones of the early LEGO Mursten. Made from softer plastic. With upper hollow studs and socket connection between the studs and 45° inner rows. It has the name of the brand engraved on the surface. Made by: Tiel, Holland.
Día Block-1962
Interlocking plastic bricks clones of the actual LEGO brick. With upper studs and socket connection between the studs and two inner rows. Made of ABS. They use the double-ridged backing system, instead of the tube LEGO system. It has a dragon logo mark engraved on the surface. Made by: Kawada Co. Ltd, Tokyo, Japan.
Brick Jouef-1966
Interlocking plastic bricks clones of the actual LEGO brick. With upper linear engraved studs and socket connection between the studs and 8 small inner rows. Jouef is a French toymaker known for its line of HO trains. Made by: Jouef, France.
Rasti-1966
Interlocking plastic bricks clones of the actual LEGO brick. With hollow studs with a protruding ring and elastic clamps beneath. When connected, the clamps would click in place, locking on to the stud rings, the locking was so strong that the bricks had to be separated with a small crowbar supplied with the boxes. It has the name of the brand engraved on the surface. Made by: Modellspielwaren Dr. Hasel & Co, Germany/Argentina.
Polly Hobby-1969
Interlocking plastic bricks clones of the actual LEGO brick. Hollow bricks with upper studs and socket connection between the studs and holes beneath. Looks like an inverted LEGO piece. It has the name of the brand engraved on the studs. Made by: Walter Schnabel in Moeglingen, Germany.
Kiddicraft bricks-1947
Interlocking plastic bricks, upon which the LEGO Automatic Binding Brick is based. Hollow bricks with studs for socket connection and slots for inserting printed cardboard elements, plastic doors and windows.
Kiddicraft's Hilary Page studied child psychology and the benefits of play in education. He started manufacturing wooden toys, but realised the advantages of plastics to produce colourful, hard wearing non-toxic toys. He became a pioneer in the manufacture of plastic toys and introduced the new material in his designs in the late 1930s.
A sales representative for the ‘Injection Moulders Ltd., London’ who Hilary Page worked with, took examples of his Self-locking Building Bricks to a trade exhibition to demonstrate what their moulding machines could create. LEGO took samples of the bricks and after purchasing a machine employed a toolmaker from Copenhagen to copy the design to metric dimensions.
Both Page's and LEGO's ranges initially faltered, but LEGO persevered with the development of the brick and started exporting to America, while Page moved on to other new ideas. LEGO went on to remove the end-slots from its bricks, put its company name on the top of each stud, and improved the material and the now familiar tube interlocking system.
Page took his own life in 1957 fearing business failure with a new product launch of miniature grocery products without realising that the LEGO company made copies of his designs. In 1981 LEGO acquired all residual rights to the Hilary Page & Kiddicraft brick designs to help support their legal cases against people who were infringing their designs. Made by: 'A Hilary Page design', Kiddicraft, England.
LEGO-1949
Interlocking plastic building bricks that can be joined by the brick-and-knob connection.
Made by: LEGO Group, Denmark.
Domus-1949
Interlocking plastic bricks clones of the early LEGO Mursten. With upper hollow studs and socket connection between the studs and one inner row. Sold under the name of "Domus Modellbaukasten". Made by: Gnadlinger, Anton and Klein, Hans Austria.
Pebe-1955
Interlocking plastic bricks clones of the actual LEGO brick. With upper studs and socket connection between the studs and two inner rows. They could be interlocked with LEGO. It has the name of the brand “Pb” engraved on the studs. Made by: Paul Bernhardt in East-Germany.
Plasteck-1956
Interlocking plastic bricks clones of the actual LEGO brick but smaller. With upper studs and socket connection between the studs and inner spiky rows, studs with engraved cross marks. Sold under the brand "PLASTECK" and "FORMO". Made by: Kunstoff Verarbeitung of Werner Wind in Gotha, East Germany.
BOB-1947
Brick made of pressed, partly coloured sandstone with wood/plastic accessories. With dimples on the top and concave hollows on the bottom to allow location. The name comes from “Bauen ohne Bindemittel”, which means Building without binders. Made by: Bellmann & Seifert Waldheim Sa., inventor: Heinrich Huft.
Kiddicraft cubes-1939
Plastic Hollow square blocks, sold under the name of Bri-plax. With studs on the top and hollow on the bottom to allow location rather than interlocking. There are various types/materials depending on the country of manufacture. It has the name of the brand engraved on the base. Made by: 'A Hilary Page design', Kiddicraft, England.
Kiddicraft large bricks-1953
Interlocking plastic bricks, double the size of Kiddicraft's (and LEGO's) bricks. With upper studs, slots (for insert small card/plastic doors/windows) and socket connection. There are various types/materials depending on the country of manufacture. It has the name of the brand engraved on the base. Made by: 'A Hilary Page design', Kiddicraft, England.
Batima-1924
Building bricks made of a composition material (casein plastic). With hollow studs on the top and concave hollows on the bottom to allow location rather than interlocking. A 2×4 Batima brick weighs about 10 times our current 2×4 LEGO brick, with dimensions of 38 mm x 30 mm x 6 mm. Made of the early casein plastic "Galalith" (formaldehyde and milk) like duroplastic. Made by: Louis Cousin and the Beeusaert company, Belgium.
Erector Brik-1944
Building bricks made of a composite material, based on the Meccano Briks but bigger. With dimples on the top and concave hollows on the bottom to allow location rather than interlocking. Made to combine with the Brik-Tor line, to cover the outside of models constructed with the Erector set. Hoping to duplicate the process of construction in the real world. Originally, they were called "Brik-Tor", sort of a portmanteau for "Brick Constructor". Made by: The A. C. Gilbert Company, New Haven, Conn., USA.
Meccano Brik-1938
Building bricks made of a composite material. With dimples on the top and concave hollows on the bottom to allow location rather than interlocking. Meccano is known as manufacturers of metal construction toys, using perforated metal shapes, nuts and bolts to assemble all sorts of things. Made by: The Meccano Company of America, USA.
Bombo Magnet-1963
Bricks made of a metal plate with studs, a magnet, and its plastic cover. The plastic "grid" on the underside leaves exactly room for the elevations of the upper metal plate ensuring that bricks can be built precisely on top of each other. First presented at the 14th Toy Fair in Nuremberg. Made by: BOMBO GmbH in Bad Honnef am Rhein, Germany.
Block city-1953
Interlocking plastic bricks which interlock by inner side friction of square studs on the top and hole on the bottom. Sets came in tubes and boxes with names like “The New Yorker”, “The Chicagoan”, “Rolling Hills” and “Suburban”. The bricks were 1/16:1 scale of cement blocks, the red pieces 1/8:1 scale of bricks. Block City is the direct precursor to Exin Castles Architecture. Made by: Tri-State Plastic Molding Company Inc., Plastic Block City, Inc, Kentucky, USA.
LockBricks-1955
Interlocking plastic bricks opened on one side/base and with studs/base edge on 45° angles. These bricks were made to connect laterally, they fit sliding, very difficult to disassemble them. They have no tolerance, they tend to break with changes in temperature and time or in the disassemble process. Made by: Airfix, UK.
Idema-1949
Interlocking plastic bricks which interlock by inner side friction of round studs on the top and round holes on the bottom. With holes to allow a string to be passed through aligning the holes, to fasten the bricks together. The bricks were made of a Bakelite-like plastic and were not hollow. Made by: IDEMA Spielzeugfabriek, Germany.
Idema Plastik-1956
Interlocking plastic bricks which interlock by inner side friction of round studs on the top and round holes on the bottom. With holes to allow a string to be passed through aligning the holes, to fasten the bricks together. The bricks were made of an ABS-like plastic and were hollow. Made by: IDEMA Spielzeugfabriek, Germany.
Nogi-1968
Interlocking plastic bricks which interlock by inner side friction of round studs on the top and round holes on the bottom. Consist of a whole series of brick modules to form structures or mosaics. Quercetti is an Italian factory of educational toys, creator of the game the pegs. Made by: Alessandro Quercetti, Italy.
Märklin Plus-1973
Interlocking tiny plastic bricks with spheric studs and socket connection between the upper spheric studs and inner rows. The dimensions of the elements were 1/2", they tried to market Märklin-plus as a supplement, a replacement of the Märklin metal construction kits. Sold also under the name of Minex. Made by: Märklin, Germany.
Dietel-1947
Interlocking tiny plastic bricks, based on a small-scale brick of positive connection by thin pins. With cylindrical studs and socket connection between the upper cylindrical studs and holes on the bottom. The cardboard boxes displayed an artistic image as if it were a framed painting. Made by: The old Dresden company of DIETEL, Bad Arolsen (West Germany).
Auburn-1959
Interlocking plastic bricks, Sta-Lox cloned their bricks to make their own. Hollow bricks with upper square studs and socket connection between the studs and holes beneath. It has grooved vertical lines on the sides. The bricks were made from vinyl. Made by: Auburn Rubber Company, Inc., Auburn, Indiana, USA.
Viceroy-1958
Interlocking plastic bricks, made by a Canadian company famous for the manufacture of rubber toy balls. Hollow bricks with upper square studs and socket connection between the studs and holes beneath. It has the crown logo of the brand engraved on the base. Made by: Viceroy Manufacturing Co. Limited, Canada.
Main Street-1957
Interlocking plastic bricks which interlock by inner side friction of hollow/perimeter studs on the top and hole on the bottom. Like the block city bricks, but the studs are hollow with a nestable perimeter. Scale of 1/32:1 of blocks and windows, an actual house would be 32 times the model. Made by: Gibbs Automatic Moulding Corp., USA.
Boycraft-1939
Interlocking rectangular brown/grey rubber bricks. Direct copy of Auburn Rubber Building Bricks, which are basically the same as Minibrix/Bild-o-Brik. With upper studs and socket connection between the two studs/lugs on the top and two holes on the bottom. The difference between Aub-rubr and Boycraft is slight tolerances and a pronounced chamfer on the upper studs. Made by: Sears, Roebuck & Co, USA.
Aub-Rubr-1938
Interlocking rectangular brown/grey rubber bricks. Direct copy of Minibrix/Bild-o-Brik rubber bricks. With upper studs and socket connection between the two studs/lugs on the top and two holes on the bottom. The difference between Aub-rubr and Boycraft is slight tolerances and a pronounced chamfer on the upper studs. Made by: Auburn Rubber Company Inc., USA.
Minibrix-1935
Interlocking rectangular rubber bricks, with studs/lugs on the top and holes on the bottom, clones of the Bild-o-brik rubber bricks with upper and under marks to stabilise the rubber injection, it was the most technically developed of the rubber bricks.
They were suppliers of shoes, they came to know of a new style of rubber shoe heel called the "convex-concave" (used on the Minibrix). Instructions with blueprints for each model with the floor plan and elevations of the finished model. They measured 1in x 1/2in x 3/8in. Years later they made colour versions of the bricks. Made by: Premo Rubber Company, Petersfield, England.
Bild-o-Brik-1932
Interlocking rectangular brown rubber bricks, they were the first rubber bricks on the market. With upper studs and socket connection between the two studs/lugs on the top and two holes on the bottom. It differs from the others rubber bricks because it doesn't have a recess in the lower holes and because it has semioval studs. Made by: Rubber Specialties Company Inc., USA.
Brickyard Suply-1973
Interlocking soft plastic bricks, clones of the Auburn bricks but bigger. Hollow bricks with upper square studs and socket connection between the studs and holes beneath. Like the Auburn bricks, it has grooved vertical lines on the sides. Made by: MI Toys - Molenaar Inc., USA.
Mino Bambino-1959
Interlocking plastic bricks, clones of the Viceroy bricks but bigger. Hollow bricks with upper square studs and socket connection between the studs and holes beneath. As in LEGO, they were made for different ages with different sizes (Mino, Medium and Macro). Made by: Dick Schouw DS Plastics, Zeist, Germany.
Marvel Brix-1965
Red plastic bricks with raised corners which interlock with underside of bricks in the row above. The bricks have no top surface so from above appear as frames rather than solid bricks. They are made from a very hard plastic and do not bind together. Made by: Frank Pinto Enterprises, USA.
Pennybrix-1964
Red plastic bricks with raised studs which interlock with underside of bricks in the row above. Sets are accompanied by an illustrated story booklet entitled "Periwinkle builds a house". The brand name comes from the cost at that time of the set (1 Penny). Made by: Triang by Minic Ltd, UK.
American Plastic Bricks-1947
Plastic bricks with vertical grooving on the outer faces which simulates smaller bricks. With studs on the top and cylindrical hollows on the bottom to allow location rather than interlocking. Later they will become Playskool Building Bricks. Brand name "Elgo" engraved on the base. Made by: Halsam Products Company, later Elgo Plastics Inc., later Playskool, Chicago.
American Bricks-1939
Wooden bricks with vertical grooving on the outer faces which simulates smaller bricks. With studs on the top and cylindrical hollows on the bottom to allow location rather than interlocking. Later will be made of plastic, and later on they will become Playskool Building Bricks. Made by: Halsam Products Company, later Elgo Plastics Inc., later Playskool, Chicago.
Hidden underneath
Three smaller bricks are hidden underneath larger ones.
Nanoblock-2008
Interlocking plastic bricks clones of the LEGO Modulex brick. Original name Nanoburokku. The bricks are 1⁄8 the size of Kawada's Diablock line. With upper studs and socket connection between the studs and two inner rows, made of ABS. They use the double-ridged backing system, instead of the tube Lego system. Made by: Kawada Co. Ltd, Tokyo, Japan.
Modulex-1953
Interlocking plastic building bricks from the LEGO Group. Intended only for architects. Same interlocking system as the LEGO ones but not compatible with the LEGO System. Smaller ABS LEGO bricks, the ratio is 1:1:1, (5 mm), while LEGO have a 5:5:6 ratio. Modulex parts could officially be cut and glued. First studs had "LEGO" written on them, later was changed into "M" (for "Modulex"). The name "Modulex" comes from the 1:20 scale (that represented 10cm), "Module X". Made by: LEGO Group, Denmark.
Pebe mini-1955
Interlocking plastic bricks clones of the Modulex Brick by LEGO . With upper studs and socket connection between the studs and two inner rows. They could be interlocked with Modulex. It has the name of the brand “Pb” engraved on the studs. It uses a 1:100 system. Made by: Paul Bernhardt in East-Germany.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone that has made this project possible (family, friends, museums, sellers… and many more), and I would like to give a special shout-out to Brickset, for allowing me to exhibit my work. Just as LEGO did so many years back when they developed the Brick, I continue to look for ways in which to improve the “Bricks on Display” with every single set I discover each day.
If anyone is interested in learning more about the display, contributing more pieces or making a comment, please contact me via Instagram. At the moment I don't have in mind to commercialise the “Bricks on Display” piece, but if there were a lot of people interested, I could consider making several copies, despite the fact that they would have a high price!
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95 comments on this article
Interesting stuff!
Fascinating.
Holidaying in spain as a child I had loads of Tente.
I still keep it as a separate collection to my Lego.
Very interesting article! Always good to see more unusual posts like this on Brickset, I thoroughly enjoy reading them.
Great article!
I had a big box of Mino Bambino blocks in my childhood years (+- 1986) We got it from my dad's work as a 'santa claus' holiday present.
Spent quite some time building with them... good stuff. For me back in those days, these blocks were as good as the LEGO sets i had.
Nice article. I had no idea some Belgian company manufactured their own blocks.
Great job, no doubt. Congratulations!!! Being a Spanish builder, I am surprised by the non-inclusion of TENTE...
Well I am pretty sure as kids we had the montini bricks as well as Lego. I distinctly remember the 45 degree ribs on the underside, that they were softer than normal Lego … and … how infuriating it was that the two systems weren’t completely compatible. Thanks for the memories :-)
Awesome article! One of the best I read on BrickSet. Great work indeed and thank you for sharing!
That Burger King game es estupendo too and also loved your Ceramic work!
That 3D printed case is very fit and ingenious as well.
Out of curiosity, it is the 1st time I see someone referring to the 2x4 LEGO Brick as 4x2. That's interesting!
Any plans to expand your work with notable modern brands as Tente, Cobi, Megabloks, etc?
That's a great initiative. Well done.
Any idea who made these ones? https://mobile.twitter.com/StackBrix/status/751013435081711617
Montini was made by the company Berco-Lux in Tiel, Netherlands.
They also made Monti bricks, which were very similar to Bambino.
Bambino and Mini-Bambino were made by Dick Schouw DS Plastics in Zeist, Netherlands.
Really interesting article, and nice ceramics!
Fascinating!
I have to say though that Holland is not the country. It's the Netherlands. Holland is two out of 12 provinces (North Holland and South Holland).
@FARLANDER said:
"Great job, no doubt. Congratulations!!! Being a Spanish builder, I am surprised by the non-inclusion of TENTE..."
I had some Tente here in California, late 70s or early 80s. I still have it. Kind of an interesting system.
The article is interesting, but the presentation order makes no sense. It’s not alphabetical, or chronological. Some related designs are clumped together, while others are scattered about. On a guess, the case was made to fit the bricks after they were collected, but before they were thoroughly researched.
I also know of at least two brands that are missing, but I don’t have much info, and anyone who might be able to tell me about them is probably long dead. My grandparents had some old toys in their basement, which my brother and I would play with when we visited. One style looked like giant LEGO 2x4 plates, but with studs that were much narrower in relation to the whole. They came in red and white. The other had an elongated hexagonal shape (like someone took a 2x4 and clipped the corners at 45° so the ends became points), and the ends had either a vertical C-shaped tube, a vertical rod mounted along one side with a thin water of plastic, or they formed a 90° corner. Vertical connectivity consisted of pins near the other four corners on one side, and sleeves the pins fit into on the other. The bricks were all red. There were also yellow window frames with knobs on both ends that would wedge between the pins or sleeves.
@PurpleDave said:
"The article is interesting, but the presentation order makes no sense. It’s not alphabetical, or chronological. "
I am sure Carlos will explain his reasoning but it looks fine to me. The top two rows are LEGO-compatible, the next row is larger examples, then the lower rows are the incompatible ones.
I suspect aesthetics played a large part in deciding how to order them and that is important given it's primarily a display piece.
@Ridgeheart:
Hal Elliot and Sam Goss formed Halsam in 1916 in response to Lincoln Logs. They later created the Elgo brand to make plastic toys. The name has nothing to do with the word LEGO, and it predates The LEGO Group. Elgo ended up being bought by Playskool, who revived the toy line at some point.
Seeing all these really crappy looking bricks makes me appreciate Lego even more.
What a great project and article! Quite a few knockoffs I remember from my childhood (early Eighties) and from fleamarket or thriftshop finds. Now I feel sorry I tossed them, I see now even a small collection of look-a-likes in such an awesome display would look great.
I think BIC (from the lighters and ballpoints) also released bricks and slopes to build houses or castles in round cardboard barrels, but I might be wrong..
Fantastic work Carlos! This a fascinating read. Thank you for sharing with us.
This was a fun read and looks like an enjoyable project. There were a few areas that might need to be addressed factually or that warrant further investigation - biggest one would be Hillary Page’s lack of knowledge of the brick. Haven’t checked the history section of LEGO’s website lately, but the used to have a line on Kiddicraft saying that they reached out to him for whatever reason, and LEGO received a reply “wishing them luck.” The actual letter wasn’t shared, so whether or not that was a sincere statement on his behalf isn’t clear.
I would love to connect with the author but do not have Instagram. I have been collecting lego and construction toy ephemera for 6 years now, including a lot of files on various construction toys, including ones that are “LEGO-like” or compatible. A lot of ones that aren’t on this list.
I would guess the author has more and this was framed around this display piece, but it’s a wild world out there in terms of what exists!
A truly fascinating article. Thanks for sharing the history that has brought us all to where we are now.
For anyone interested in the various toy building systems Architecture on the Carpet is a good read. It describes various 20th century toys for building houses and relates them to different architectural styles. The different toy systems were fascinating and included Lego and Minibrix.
If you’re ever near Petersfield, Hampshire they have Minibrix on display in the local museum and I believe you can play with them.
Lego......Hire this man!
Cool collection. What about Jekca Bricks?
https://www.jekca.com/Bricks_de
I wonder what the collection would look like with later knock-offs added. Like COBI, Tyco, Megablocks, etc.
A few part photos:
Pebe, lots of interesting designs
https://flic.kr/p/suSrg6
Monti
https://flic.kr/p/SYqwp8
Montini
https://flic.kr/p/FQsHcp
Excellent article. Anybody remembers TENTE ,quite similar to Lego but each stud had a tiny hole in it ? I remember having a few sets of that brand : a cargo ship, and a bunch of space sets vehicles, with little astronauts figurine? Main color was white, with also blue, red parts, and maybe green plates...
Where’s mega blocks
@lippidp said:
" @FARLANDER said:
"Great job, no doubt. Congratulations!!! Being a Spanish builder, I am surprised by the non-inclusion of TENTE..."
I had some Tente here in California, late 70s or early 80s. I still have it. Kind of an interesting system."
Tente was very popular in Spain in those years. Lego was expensive and hard to find in spanish toy stores, and Tente filled the construction gap for spanish children.
More info about Tente here... https://www.latenteteca.com/
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in Calif. in the 80’s. My brother and I received Tente bricks as gifts from my parents’ friends. The Tente sets were of cars. This article and brick display had me wonder where my Tente toys are now …
I had some Bambino before I got my first LEGO, so that must have been around 1970.
Great article thanks, and an excellent display.
The earliest building construction toy I had pre-Lego was my Dad's Bayko which he had in the late 1930s. (Bricks weren't interlocking, but built by sliding onto metal rods)
Surprised no one has commented yet about how one of them is called 'Erector Brik'.
Just, uh, just emphasizing that a kids toy was called that.
I'll go now.
@Randomness said:
"Surprised no one has commented yet about how one of them is called 'Erector Brik'."
Bild-o-Brik was a close call too!
@FARLANDER said:
"Great job, no doubt. Congratulations!!! Being a Spanish builder, I am surprised by the non-inclusion of TENTE..."
I'm American, and I had some Tente sets that were acquired at Disney World (I think) in the mid-'80s.
¡Muchísimas gracias, Carlos! Thanks, Huw!
Great article and impressive collection and display!
I have been trying to identify a small horde of building blocks I had as a kid. They still reside at my father's house, and while they are very familiar and nostalgic to me, I had no idea what they were. They were toys my parents had presumably purchased for my older sister, so I never saw them new-in-package. Scouring the Internet had yielded nothing, but thanks to THIS ARTICLE, I now know that my dad has a small stockpile of Block City bricks! Specifically, we appear to have No. B-1000 The Villager 550-piece set!
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-1960s-block-city-1000-1727442088
We also had some of the American Plastic Bricks and, when I was a little older, obtained several of the Exin Castillos sets.
Of course, none of it topped LEGO, but it was all fun and it's nice to see the concept of construction toys celebrated in the way this article does.
Great article! And surprising to see how many of these I do recognize. We always had one Montini brick that stood out quite a bit from Lego, and also a few of those Plasteck and Mini Bambino bricks. Many other ones I have seen at school, family or friends.
My grandma had some boxes of Polly Hobby, which not only looks like an inverted Lego brick, that's also how you were supposed to use them: the system was basically 100% SNOT.
I don't think it's fair though to consider Nanoblock a clone of Modulex. Not only was there half a century in between, they are an entirely different system with fundamentally different dimensions and pieces. Interestingly though, you could do a similar thing with clones of Nanoblock, as some of the Chinese imitations do have their own variations that while compatible are slightly different.
Nowadays there are obviously so many more clones, but now that the patent has expired and most just use the exact same system that's a lot less interesting. And sure, many have their own unique pieces (Cobi...), but this collection was clearly focused on the basic brick. I'd say Loz Mini Block is one of the few that stand out by making more or less identical bricks, just at 75% of the size. But for most of the others, it would just be the exact same brick just with another brand on the studs.
Another missing brick are Nintendo's N&B blocks.
Tyco, what about tyco?
Fantastic job! Thanks for sharing!
I don't understand the ideas behind Marvel Brix-1965. What you can do with them? Stack one on the top of one another, and that's all?
Fascinating informative article.
There’s another great history review like this done by Jangbricks on his YouTube channel.
Best video he’s ever done.
@Ridgeheart said:
"Also, Playskool used to be called "Elgo"? That is just amazingly ballsy. I kind of wished they'd kept that name for the sheer testicular fortitude."
Not really, Playskool bought Halsam in the 60s. Halsam comes from the combination founders first names. Hal + Sam = Halsam. Halsam made wooden toys. When the they decide to make plastic toys in the 40s they created a subsidiarity company ELGO for their plastic toys. This is combination of the founders last names, Elliot and Goss. ELliot + GOss = ELGO. The whole thing is just a very strange coincidence.
I think one of the reasons there wasn't a conflict between LEGO and Playskool is Playskool wasn't buying the American Bricks brand they bought Halsam. I think they wanted the wooden toy line. Would Halsam and LEGO come to blows? Maybe, but who knows. There lots of apocryphal stories about Halsam and LEGO having some type of license or business agreement, but very little support it.
Thank you Carlos for this incredible labor of love, and thank you Huw for sharing this important history with so many people. The mere fact that LEGO did not invent the plastic brick is known by far too few people to this day. I have Bild-o-Briks from the 1930s which I thought were the oldest, but this is my first time seeing Batima, from the better part of a decade earlier no less! Fantastic!
@Ridgeheart said:
"Also, Playskool used to be called "Elgo"? That is just amazingly ballsy. I kind of wished they'd kept that name for the sheer testicular fortitude."
The name of Halsam Products is a portmanteau of the first names of founders Hal Elliot & Sam Goss. The ELGO Plastics spin-off, in turn, simply grabs the first two letters of each of their last names!
Incidentally, like LEGO, Halsam's original wooden toy factory burned to the ground one day. Unlike LEGO, such disaster only struck them once before they transitioned to plastics 8 years before the Danish brick.
That's really cool! I do wonder why he didn't include Duplo and LOZ though.
I’ve come across some of these in old lots. Montini for sure sticks out in my mind, but there were others not listed here too. Wonder if I should have kept them now that I know what they were. On the other hand, with the amount of ABS around here already it’s probably better I disposed of them at the thrift shops.
My dad had a collection of Elgo bricks that I (and now my kids) play with when they visit--I always thought they were Lego knock-offs (and poor ones at that--they didn't bind, only gravity held them together). Fun to learn the history of these other bricks, what a fascinating article, thanks!
Excellent, thanks for the heads up on the article.
Glad I could supply some Kiddicraft items.
I may have other brands for any future additions, small and large Tente, bygg selv and possibly others.
Stuart
@dawid said:
"Interesting stuff!"
Thank you very much :)
@Big_Jarv said:
"Fascinating.
Holidaying in spain as a child I had loads of Tente.
I still keep it as a separate collection to my Lego."
I also have, it's better to keep them separate in case they...
Missing those Legato™ Interlocking Concrete Blocks :)
Would be a bit too heavy though , the 2x4 brick the LG8 : 1600 × 800 × 800 (mm) 2400kg
https://www.eliteprecast.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/LG8-New-600x453.png
@Brick_Master said:
"Very interesting article! Always good to see more unusual posts like this on Brickset, I thoroughly enjoy reading them."
Thank you very much, it has been a pleasure to write it together with Brickset, regards
@GusG said:
"Great article!"
Thank you very much :)
@FARLANDER said:
"Great job, no doubt. Congratulations!!! Being a Spanish builder, I am surprised by the non-inclusion of TENTE..."
Thanks, and about the Tente, I had to make a choice, I have tente at home too, but the space in 3d printing is finite, and this is the best quality process that exists in 3D printing (and the biggest one with that quality)... but I had to select bricks, and I selected them by imprint, shape, history and materials and they stand out more than Tente, maybe on the 2.0 who knows...
@lORDoFtHEbOARD said:
"I had a big box of Mino Bambino blocks in my childhood years (+- 1986) We got it from my dad's work as a 'santa claus' holiday present.
Spent quite some time building with them... good stuff. For me back in those days, these blocks were as good as the LEGO sets i had.
Nice article. I had no idea some Belgian company manufactured their own blocks."
Batima bricks are the best! ;)
@darthdrauf:
True, Tyco is the reason TLG actually acquired the Kiddiecraft patent from the Page estate.
@LusiferSam:
Elgo not only beat Samsonite’s licensed LEGO sets to the US market, but I believe their name predates The LEGO Company. First rule of Lawsuit Club is don’t sue anyone who has a stronger claim than you do.
@Ridgeheart said:
"It's a fascinating read, and I feel very sorry for the fate of Hillary Page. We owe him a great debt of gratitude; without Lego's more succesful theft of his idea, we would not be here today. Well, not -here-, on this page dedicated to the better building-brick. Pour one out for Page, the pioneer.
Looking at these bricks, I can picture so many delighted grandparents and disappointed grandchildren. I mean, I see at least three clones (of clones) that I've had to pretend to be happy about, and look at what a horrible adult I've become. Also, some of these materials are just crazy. Rubber? Steel? Bakelite? Formaldehyde and MILK? Pretty metal, literally so in the case of the magnet-sets.
Also, Playskool used to be called "Elgo"? That is just amazingly ballsy. I kind of wished they'd kept that name for the sheer testicular fortitude.
Good stuff."
Thanks, and Yes, Hilary was the great inventor, although Lego improved the bricks a lot, in the end what remains are clones of clones, it's true...
@legofanboy said:
"Well I am pretty sure as kids we had the montini bricks as well as Lego. I distinctly remember the 45 degree ribs on the underside, that they were softer than normal Lego … and … how infuriating it was that the two systems weren’t completely compatible. Thanks for the memories :-)"
Yes, it's a pity that they don't fit, and you're welcome, it has been a pleasure to carry out the project
@ineedabrick said:
"Awesome article! One of the best I read on BrickSet. Great work indeed and thank you for sharing!
That Burger King game es estupendo too and also loved your Ceramic work!
That 3D printed case is very fit and ingenious as well.
Out of curiosity, it is the 1st time I see someone referring to the 2x4 LEGO Brick as 4x2. That's interesting!
Any plans to expand your work with notable modern brands as Tente, Cobi, Megabloks, etc?"
It has been hard work, thanks for the comments, I was just trying to show how I got to this point by showing my creations.
It was very difficult to obtain the measurement of each of the bricks so they could fit to the case, 3D printing also has tolerances and the possibility of error was enormous... regarding the measurement 4x2, it is a carpenter's defect, first we say the length and then the width, sorry.
And yes, I have many more to add, maybe a second part in a while, not all of them fit and the printing space is finite despite being the biggest.
@PurpleDave said:
"The article is interesting, but the presentation order makes no sense. It’s not alphabetical, or chronological. Some related designs are clumped together, while others are scattered about. On a guess, the case was made to fit the bricks after they were collected, but before they were thoroughly researched.
I also know of at least two brands that are missing, but I don’t have much info, and anyone who might be able to tell me about them is probably long dead. My grandparents had some old toys in their basement, which my brother and I would play with when we visited. One style looked like giant LEGO 2x4 plates, but with studs that were much narrower in relation to the whole. They came in red and white. The other had an elongated hexagonal shape (like someone took a 2x4 and clipped the corners at 45° so the ends became points), and the ends had either a vertical C-shaped tube, a vertical rod mounted along one side with a thin water of plastic, or they formed a 90° corner. Vertical connectivity consisted of pins near the other four corners on one side, and sleeves the pins fit into on the other. The bricks were all red. There were also yellow window frames with knobs on both ends that would wedge between the pins or sleeves."
the order of presentation does have its coherence, the 3D printing space is finite, if they are added by order it does not fit, if they are added by material they do not fit, if they are added by shape they do not fit, the current order is the only one due to optimization and various programs of materials by which it fits. Besides, visually, it maintains a structural/visual coherence that cannot be achieved with any other order, but if you have another alternative, do not hesitate to comment on it.
besides, if you know the bricks well, they are in their correct place, the ones at the top are copies of kiddicraft (whom I wanted to highlight), the ceramic ones are together and in order, the resin ones are the same, the brands that evolved their pieces are together and those that were copies of each other too.
There are many brands that are missing, I have many more, but I was not going to make a display case that would measure the entire wall of the house hahah, apart from the fact that there is no manufacturing method in which it fits...
If one day you remember that brand share it, maybe they fit in the display case 2.0
@nate_dog7 said:
"Seeing all these really crappy looking bricks makes me appreciate Lego even more. "
the value of something comes from the process it has gone through
@LegoAndWhisky said:
"Fantastic work Carlos! This a fascinating read. Thank you for sharing with us."
thanks to you for reading it and to some of you for making it possible
@Library_of_the_Brick said:
"This was a fun read and looks like an enjoyable project. There were a few areas that might need to be addressed factually or that warrant further investigation - biggest one would be Hillary Page’s lack of knowledge of the brick. Haven’t checked the history section of LEGO’s website lately, but the used to have a line on Kiddicraft saying that they reached out to him for whatever reason, and LEGO received a reply “wishing them luck.” The actual letter wasn’t shared, so whether or not that was a sincere statement on his behalf isn’t clear.
I would love to connect with the author but do not have Instagram. I have been collecting lego and construction toy ephemera for 6 years now, including a lot of files on various construction toys, including ones that are “LEGO-like” or compatible. A lot of ones that aren’t on this list.
I would guess the author has more and this was framed around this display piece, but it’s a wild world out there in terms of what exists!"
Thanks, and the Hilary/lego parts were reviewed by various historians, they are redacted with excerpts from the trial
Also, mi personal mail is "carlos.baragano.m @hotmail.com" if someone want to contact but doesn't have instagram
@FARLANDER said:
" @lippidp said:
" @FARLANDER said:
"Great job, no doubt. Congratulations!!! Being a Spanish builder, I am surprised by the non-inclusion of TENTE..."
I had some Tente here in California, late 70s or early 80s. I still have it. Kind of an interesting system."
Tente was very popular in Spain in those years. Lego was expensive and hard to find in spanish toy stores, and Tente filled the construction gap for spanish children.
More info about Tente here... https://www.latenteteca.com/
"
I am still curious why no inclusion though...
@Bricks_on_Display said:
"regarding the measurement 4x2, it is a carpenter's defect, first we say the length and then the width, sorry."
I’m thinking that varies by region, and even then may be inconsistent in many places. In the US, the standard dimensions for a 4’ x 8’ sheet of plywood starts with the thickness. Board lumber, on the other hand, is measured length first, then thickness before width, so it would be an 8’ 2x4. It is usually stocked, however, by thickness, then width, and finally length.
Cool stuff. Good article.
We had some of the American non-Lego pieces in our box when we were kids. I regret throwing them out (donations). Lego prejudice in action.
I still do that!- even when I'm impressed with some of the 'other guys' (not allowed to talk much about non-Lego on Brickset) pieces. I guess I've believed too much of the hype.
@Brick_t_ said:
"Excellent article. Anybody remembers TENTE ,quite similar to Lego but each stud had a tiny hole in it ? I remember having a few sets of that brand : a cargo ship, and a bunch of space sets vehicles, with little astronauts figurine? Main color was white, with also blue, red parts, and maybe green plates..."
Ouais je me rappelle !
Overall a throughly enjoyable article! Thank you Carlos and good luck achieving yout LEGO dream!
@PurpleDave said:
"Elgo not only beat Samsonite’s licensed LEGO sets to the US market, but I believe their name predates The LEGO Company. First rule of Lawsuit Club is don’t sue anyone who has a stronger claim than you do."
That's not correct. Halsam is much older the Lego, 15 or so years. Elgo is from the 40s, about 10 years after Lego started. Halsam started work with plastic toys before the US entry to WW2. Lego would only start to work with plastic after the war.
@Bricks_on_Display said:
" @FARLANDER said:
"Great job, no doubt. Congratulations!!! Being a Spanish builder, I am surprised by the non-inclusion of TENTE..."
Thanks, and about the Tente, I had to make a choice, I have tente at home too, but the space in 3d printing is finite, and this is the best quality process that exists in 3D printing (and the biggest one with that quality)... but I had to select bricks, and I selected them by imprint, shape, history and materials and they stand out more than Tente, maybe on the 2.0 who knows..."
Understood. Either way, great job. I hope your effort reaches the achievements you deserve. Thank you very much for answering y buena suerte!!!
@Bricks_on_Display:
Even if I were intimately familiar with every brand on here, I don't think I would have figured out why Kiddiecraft and LEGO were in the second row. Top two rows appear to be all of uniform size (or close enough to it that you could randomly reorder those two rows and they'd all still fit). The specific placement of the brick that "started it all" in the second row is what caught my attention in the first place. My inclination would have been to put the original Kiddiecraft brick in the upper left corner, or as close to dead center as possible. Now I'm guessing you dropped it down a row to keep it adjacent to the two large Kiddiecraft bricks, since they were all from the same manufacturer?
Anyways, each of the rows seems to maintain a uniform height, even if the pieces within that row are of different widths, due to the way you angled the interior walls to force each piece to center itself. So, within each row, any of potentially several thousand sequences could have been selected, but the two bottom rows are both in reverse chronological order. All I can see that might explain it is that it keeps the square pegs clumped together, but I can't see an obvious reason why the Bombo Magnet, Block City, and Lockbricks ended up on the far left side of their own row.
As for the two brands I referenced, they were just loose in whatever random container was used to store them in my grandparents' basement I don't recall ever knowing their names. Looking more closely, I think it's possible that one of the two was the APB, but I don't recall there being slots through the top surface like your example has. The other brand felt like it was made of polyethylene, which would make sense given how the tabs that held the vertical rods needed to be able to flex, so you could pull a wall made of them into curves with a range of different radii. Also, many of the tabs were broken, so they clearly didn't overengineer that brand. The elongated hexagonal shape, and the length of the tab, allows you to flex those into pretty close to a 90 degree bend, but the tabs probably couldn't handle much of this before snapping.
@LusiferSam:
I first heard of Elgo during the last year or two, but I don’t remember if it was in a print article, or a TV episode. Whatever it was presented a description of The LEGO Group/the LEGO system, and then revealed that they were instead describing the Elgo brand. I wasn’t able to find much information beyond eBay listings, so I can’t say if they got their facts wrong, or if I’m misremembering them, but I’m certain Elgo was presented as predating LEGO, though it could be a “certain point of view” take on the fact that Elgo was created as part of Balsam.
@Bricks_on_Display said:
" @lORDoFtHEbOARD said:
"I had a big box of Mino Bambino blocks in my childhood years (+- 1986) We got it from my dad's work as a 'santa claus' holiday present.
Spent quite some time building with them... good stuff. For me back in those days, these blocks were as good as the LEGO sets i had.
Nice article. I had no idea some Belgian company manufactured their own blocks."
Batima bricks are the best! ;)"
I didn't notice till now, seems they were the first! How could we not know that? Seems like a long forgotten history about the origins of bricks. I should tell everybody here ;)
Anyone remember better build? White almost translucent bricks with green roof tiles. Definitely inferior plastic, but vast number of bricks per set compared to lego.
@nate_dog7 said:
"Seeing all these really crappy looking bricks makes me appreciate Lego even more. "
What an arrogant comment.
You do realize that some of those "crappy looking bricks" are decades older than even the earliest LEGO brick, some dating back to the 1920s!
Also, I have LEGO from my uncle's childhood (late 1950s), and those pieces have all warped to various degrees by now. Even though they are genuine LEGO, they also look totally crappy!
Don't compare LEGO pieces from today with something that is up to 100 years old!
And while you're at it, you should compare modern ABS pieces (with the logos ground off) from LEGO and various other manufacturers. You will not be able to tell the difference, I can guarantee you.
Anyway, great article. Ties in to two YouTube videos I saw on the subject, one by Jang and one by Thorsten from Johnny's World.
@Bricks_on_Display
I know you're thinking of adding additional bricks like Duplo, Mega-Bloks/Construx, etc.
But also check out Nicci Bild if you haven't already. They did some studded construction plates I believe in the 60's, France, for mosaics, etc.
I saw this article yesterday. Very interesting. I just went to the thrift store and paid special attention to bricks lego or not and found a rather big bag of TENTE bricks. Which I had never heard of. I am not home yet so i didnt unpack but there seems to be lots of different bricks and they look rather new.
Fascinating read! I didn't know interlocking building bricks had been around that long, or that Erector had made them. (I really need to get around to reading my copy of Architecture on the Carpet.) I did know about a few of the brands you discussed: My dad mentioned American Brick once years ago (although he didn't mention, and isn't sure if he knew, that they started out being made of wood), and I knew about Diablock because they did a brick version of Optimus Prime fifteen years before the Lego one: https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Optimus_Prime_(G1)/toysDiablock Incidentally, New Elementary did an article on getting Lego and Modulex to work together. https://www.newelementary.com/2018/11/old-elementary-modulex-integration_15.html
@PurpleDave said:
" @darthdrauf:
True, Tyco is the reason TLG actually acquired the Kiddiecraft patent from the Page estate."
I had no idea. I had some Tyco bricks as a kid. What always intrigued me was that their "plates" were half a brick thick, rather than a third.
I had some late-Soviet or early-Russian interlocking plastic blocks in my childhood, these were really interesting. It was made at the factory my grandpa worked at, "Molot" (lit. "Hammer") in a small town of Petrovsk, Saratov oblast. And it was called "ABTOKOHCTPYKTOP" (lit. Auto[mobile] constructor, I had to use latin letters here because brickset does not allow cyrillic, luckily the word consists only from the letters that have perfect latin equivalent).
First of all, the proportions were nowhere close to Lego, most common part was 1×4 brick and IIRC it was pretty small, about 5×10×20 mm, with studs height about 1–2 mm. There were 3×3 bricks, and slopes that were 3×3 at the bottom but 2×3 on the top. There were also tiles, but no plates. There also were 6-wide car chassis with 4 wheels. The snap was good, I remember building quite a big towers out of it, more than a meter high. Maybe there are even some parts left at my grandma's apartment.
Here are a couple of photos I found in the internet: https://thumb.tildacdn.com/tild3437-6561-4833-b061-363532363133/-/format/webp/IMG_1040.jpg http://antikzolotarev.ru/d/image_134.jpg
@TheOtherMike:
Yeah, Tyco came out with their line, and TLG couldn’t do anything about it because they didn’t own the original patent. So they bought it. Then they sued, and forced Tyco to stop making theirs.
And the reason Tyco had half-brick plates was probably so they could make double-male and double-female plates, leaving enough room for studs to fit from both sides. If you tried that with LEGO plates, even recessed studs wouldn’t have room. Add the height of two sets of logos, and you’d be off quite a bit.
@PurpleDave:Thanks for the info!
@transamman6585 said:
"Lego......Hire this man!"
LEGO is still reading hahaha
@theJANG said:
"Thank you Carlos for this incredible labor of love, and thank you Huw for sharing this important history with so many people. The mere fact that LEGO did not invent the plastic brick is known by far too few people to this day. I have Bild-o-Briks from the 1930s which I thought were the oldest, but this is my first time seeing Batima, from the better part of a decade earlier no less! Fantastic!
@Ridgeheart said:
"Also, Playskool used to be called "Elgo"? That is just amazingly ballsy. I kind of wished they'd kept that name for the sheer testicular fortitude."
The name of Halsam Products is a portmanteau of the first names of founders Hal Elliot & Sam Goss. The ELGO Plastics spin-off, in turn, simply grabs the first two letters of each of their last names!
Incidentally, like LEGO, Halsam's original wooden toy factory burned to the ground one day. Unlike LEGO, such disaster only struck them once before they transitioned to plastics 8 years before the Danish brick."
Thank you very much, Bamidele.
I've been a fan of yours since you started, I've seen all your videos.
this project started thanks to the very inspiring video you made about the old interlocking building bricks.
If you can, contact me, it would be a pleasure to exchange impressions carlos.baragano.m @hotmail.com.
And as you say, this information is important for everyone to know, it is the reason why I have done this project, (I get nothing with it). Before I saw your video years ago, I thought that lego invented the brick and after your video I discovered that everything is thanks to a process.
So, thank you very much for your contribution and thanks for your videos, regards.
Super fascinating! Thank you for sharing all your research, and the display case looks great!
As others (it seems), I immediately looked for a Tente brick. I had some Tente when I was a child and I should still have a pair of them.
The lack surprised me probably because this brand was one of few non-LEGO construction sets I had (and know) in my infantry.
Still have a bunch of another kind of flat and large military green bricks too, but I don't know the brand's name. Any idea?
@Draykov said:
"¡Muchísimas gracias, Carlos! Thanks, Huw!
Great article and impressive collection and display!
I have been trying to identify a small horde of building blocks I had as a kid. They still reside at my father's house, and while they are very familiar and nostalgic to me, I had no idea what they were. They were toys my parents had presumably purchased for my older sister, so I never saw them new-in-package. Scouring the Internet had yielded nothing, but thanks to THIS ARTICLE, I now know that my dad has a small stockpile of Block City bricks! Specifically, we appear to have No. B-1000 The Villager 550-piece set!
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-1960s-block-city-1000-1727442088
We also had some of the American Plastic Bricks and, when I was a little older, obtained several of the Exin Castillos sets.
Of course, none of it topped LEGO, but it was all fun and it's nice to see the concept of construction toys celebrated in the way this article does. "
Thank you very much, it has been many years of hard work done with the best intentions/passion, I'm glad you liked it, We'll see what the future holds ;)
@Stuart9 said:
"Excellent, thanks for the heads up on the article.
Glad I could supply some Kiddicraft items.
I may have other brands for any future additions, small and large Tente, bygg selv and possibly others.
Stuart"
We keep in touch for future collaborations, thank you very much for the contribution Stuart, regards
@Euroseb11 said:
" @Brick_t_ said:
"Excellent article. Anybody remembers TENTE ,quite similar to Lego but each stud had a tiny hole in it ? I remember having a few sets of that brand : a cargo ship, and a bunch of space sets vehicles, with little astronauts figurine? Main color was white, with also blue, red parts, and maybe green plates..."
Ouais je me rappelle !
Overall a throughly enjoyable article! Thank you Carlos and good luck achieving yout LEGO dream! "
Thank you very much, who knows, for now there have not been any lego-comments hahah
@legoDad42 said:
" @Bricks_on_Display
I know you're thinking of adding additional bricks like Duplo, Mega-Bloks/Construx, etc.
But also check out Nicci Bild if you haven't already. They did some studded construction plates I believe in the 60's, France, for mosaics, etc. "
You know well, maybe the 2.0 bricks on display is on process, who knows ;), thanks for the contribution!
Tente for a 2.0? come on...
Excellent article and resource concerning building block toy history. Many new styles to me, and it seems there are even more to learn about after reading through some comments. I'm sure I will be sharing a link to this page in the future when asked about mid-century block toys on my YouTube channel. Thanks!
@AustinPowers said:
" @nate_dog7 said:
"Seeing all these really crappy looking bricks makes me appreciate Lego even more. "
What an arrogant comment.
You do realize that some of those "crappy looking bricks" are decades older than even the earliest LEGO brick, some dating back to the 1920s!
Also, I have LEGO from my uncle's childhood (late 1950s), and those pieces have all warped to various degrees by now. Even though they are genuine LEGO, they also look totally crappy!
Don't compare LEGO pieces from today with something that is up to 100 years old!
And while you're at it, you should compare modern ABS pieces (with the logos ground off) from LEGO and various other manufacturers. You will not be able to tell the difference, I can guarantee you.
Anyway, great article. Ties in to two YouTube videos I saw on the subject, one by Jang and one by Thorsten from Johnny's World."
I know you say this a lot. And, I've even asked you previously what brands you're speaking of. And, Brickset summarily deleted my comment.
Yet, my experience- in buying quite a few bulk brick lots- is that it is very easy to see and feel the difference between Lego and the others. Perhaps there are better alternatives in Germany?
I'm looking for alternatives. Lego Customer Service is just getting to be the worst. The new thing is refusing to provide replacement parts (even sticker sheets). I think I've made 3-4 requests this year. Two of them were for badly misprinted pieces. I just opened two sets with unusable sticker sheets and now my requests for replacement are being reviewed, require an extra call, and now completely ghosted (which I assume means denied).
So much for the 'best.' Lego has become the antithesis of their original intention.
I have some Montini bricks somewhere and have no idea where they came from or how they came to my house in the United States. I've played with Auburn at my grandparents' house back in the 70s and early 80s. Not sure where those went after they moved out in the mid-80s. Probably belonged to my uncle. I also have a shoebox filled with what I guess are Día Block bricks. (I'd need to dig it out and see more examples of Día Block to be sure.)
I also used to have (not sure where it went) a big box of beige stone-colored bricks called "Castle-Os". It was from Europe. Not sure how it came to me in the US. Can't find any info on them online, so I might be misspelling the name. (Overwhelmed by CastleOS operating system results.)
What an absolutely remarkable accomplishment. Many of these pieces are extremely rare and hard to track down. Your dedication and sleuthing skills are incredible.
I'm curious how you decided which brands to showcase. Lego was a clone itself, and inspired a number of other clones even from the very earliest years. What led you to include some of those clones, but not others?
@Galaxy12_Import said:
"Excellent article and resource concerning building block toy history. Many new styles to me, and it seems there are even more to learn about after reading through some comments. I'm sure I will be sharing a link to this page in the future when asked about mid-century block toys on my YouTube channel. Thanks!"
Thank you very much, it has been many years of hard work to get the bricks and their measurements and a lot of patent searches to know the exact year and place. The idea of this project is to share with everyone the story that has led us to the brick that we all love "LEGO", and yes, there are many more, share it when and how you consider, greetings and thanks.
@AllenSmith said:
"What an absolutely remarkable accomplishment. Many of these pieces are extremely rare and hard to track down. Your dedication and sleuthing skills are incredible.
I'm curious how you decided which brands to showcase. Lego was a clone itself, and inspired a number of other clones even from the very earliest years. What led you to include some of those clones, but not others?"
Yes, thank you very much, that is the point that few people have commented on, many of these bricks are impossible to find, some have gone on sale once every 20 years at enormous prices... And besides, to carry out the project I needed bricks in good condition, so they had to be very well cared sets, but after many years of searching I have obtained an original, very well cared set of each one (to obtain the exact measurements and to be able to make the display).
I have many more, but they didn't fit and I had to choose. The selection was, by imprint, by the fit of the base, material, shape and history. What caught my attention the most, and what I wanted to show was all the ways they fit in, since each company has a different one, each company has reached the same point in different ways.
And yes, in the end they are all clones of clones.
Or rather, have they all been contributing something, until creating the perfect product, or perhaps there is still something left to contribute to the current one?
Lego did an incredible job, which is why it is the current leader in construction games. and we must thank the process by which we all enjoy this beautiful hobby!
The best overview of bricks I have ever seen.
Find out more about Bambino, Monti and Montini on this blog:
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