Seems like they could have replaced the two slopes and the plate w/ bar with a single 1x2 brick in the center, and just plop the saddle down on the ledge behind it.

I have this one since childhood. Simple little set, but I love it and have it built and on display in my Classic Castle diorama.

Very odd looking coconut

@PurpleDave maybe the treasure is nitro, since it's secured so well.

Last 6 Months Sales:
Used: 15 sales, $24 average
New: 1 sale, $379
Money laundering?

I always wanted one of those hinged harness pieces. Also, since the minifig isn't a Black Knight, I guess the set name doesn't apply anymore? It's a Black Falcon's treasure now.

I really like the grey treasure chest! How many other sets did it come in? A lovely little set this, I wish we still got nice sets like this.

Neat little set that can be as seen or hooked up to the horse as well to make a horse and cart, along with a fairly unique gray chest all for Im guessing 5- 7.50 USD retail (maybe less) at the time?

The Black Knight is clearly not a great boss to his underlings; this poor footsoldier has to pick between riding the horse but leaving the treasure behind or hitching up the treasure but having to walk the whole way. Poor planning, BK!

@WesterBricks said:
"Last 6 Months Sales:
Used: 15 sales, $24 average
New: 1 sale, $379
Money laundering?"

Nah. Someone just REALLY wanted a brand new light grey treasure chest and those 4738/4739 parts were unique to 6011, so took a deep breath and coughed up.

Great set! A fantastic addition to the Black Falcons!
The updated version can be found in 21325 Medieval Blacksmith!!

I love the box art of these older sets. Nothing to distract you from its beauty.

This set IS a treasure!

I have two copies of this set. Those saddle clips sure were fragile. Same for the connection points between the two halves of the treasure chest.

Nice Castle set.

As a child, I had the complete run of Castle sets from 1984-1993… or at least I thought I did until adulthood when I discovered this set on Ebay. It did not appear in any US catalogs and I don’t recall ever seeing it on store shelves. There were other Castle sets like that too, that I had not seen in the US but I managed to get them (6067 Guarded Inn through Shop at Home, 6023 Maiden’s Cart and 6055 Prisoner Convoy on a trip to Canada), but this one I had never seen. Was it exclusive to all regions except the US?

@Brickchap said:
"I really like the grey treasure chest! How many other sets did it come in? A lovely little set this, I wish we still got nice sets like this."

None. This was the only set it came in. They are relatively cheap for a unique piece. A little over $2 (NZD) for a full chest.

31 years later , the Black Knight traded the unique grey treasure chest for a mech : 70326 : The Black Knight Mech

@cm5878 said:
" @WesterBricks said:
"Last 6 Months Sales:
Used: 15 sales, $24 average
New: 1 sale, $379
Money laundering?"

Nah. Someone just REALLY wanted a brand new light grey treasure chest and those 4738/4739 parts were unique to 6011, so took a deep breath and coughed up."

I doubt the sealed box was opened after being purchased. The sealed box is what makes it expensive and, to some, collectable.

I had this set, and this early version of the chest mould didn’t hold up well to play- the amount of wear on the lid hinge meant the lid could only rest on top. I presume the later mould with the gap in the chest walls was to avoid that.

Wait a minute...
There's more than one Black Knight?
https://brickset.com/article/95162/random-set-of-the-day-black-knight

*The* Black Knight on *the* black horse?

@MCLegoboy said:
"Wait a minute...
There's more than one Black Knight?
https://brickset.com/article/95162/random-set-of-the-day-black-knight"

There are many minifigures within the Black Knights theme. Not all of them are necessarily knights though. Whether there is one Black Knight or multiple is not so clear. He / they are also known by other names depending on where the set is from (such as the Dungeon Master).

However, this one is actually a Black Falcon. From the title of the set, he has the treasure (chest) belonging to the Black Knight.

Honestly, I don't really get what the printed shield on the torsos of the Black Falcons is supposed to represent. Are they medieval footmen with printed sweatshirts?

In the UK, the Black Knight was the leader of the faction that today is known as the Black Falcons. There are similar references in the UK titles of 6021 and 6073.

@CopperTablet said:
"Honestly, I don't really get what the printed shield on the torsos of the Black Falcons is supposed to represent. Are they medieval footmen with printed sweatshirts?"

It's called a surcoat, an outer garment that was commonly worn in the Middle Ages by soldiers. It was worn over armor to show insignia and help identify what side the soldier was on. In the battlefield the surcoat was also helpful with keeping the sun off the soldier and their armor which helped prevent heat stroke and heat exhaustion.

@TheOtherMike:
Sounds like the light-grey treasure chest is pretty rare, so that’s valuable in its own right.

@Kynareth :
Yes, the slots allow the sides to flex open so you don’t scrape the nubs right off of the lid with repeated assembly/disassembly. This was a design that might have been fine if kids just attached the lid and thereafter treated it as if it was a living hinge, but it’s silly to think kids aren’t going to ever take it apart. By the time of Bionicle, they’d even devised designs to prevent disassembly, and there were tutorials on at least three methods for extracting the brains/eyes from Toa Mata heads.

@CCC:
With the conical helmet, I would figure this guy isn’t even a knight, but more likely a member of the city/castle guard.

@Nikolaevna:
A surcoat would hang down below the knees. As depicted on minifigs, it would most likely be a tabard, which ends closer to your waist. The Yellow Castle minifigs definitely had tabards, since they were often open at the sides to make it easier to put them on or take them off when wearing full armor. This looks more like the older style, where it was a legitimate coat.

When I look at this, all I can see are possibilities. Who is he? Whose treasure is it? Where is he going? Where are his compatriots? Is he a hero or a villain? Is his horse strong and true, or will it fail him? How long will his journey be? What will he encounter when he sets off into that great burning orange beyond?

Do children still play like this? Lego obviously doesn't think so. The questions today are: What movie/TV show is this from? Which movie scene is the set going to depict? What about the app?

Lego builds are so much more complicated now. But Lego lost sight of the fact that theirs was a toy for both building and imagining. The magic of Lego from this era wasn't the builds. What got me hooked for life was how a $4 set like this was a ticket to years of imagination. The building system guaranteed that all additions connected together and exponentially increased the imaginative potential. The value reward was so disproportionately lopsided against the cost (which was much higher at the time!) that it didn't make sense to spend money on anything else. They got a customer for life.

Just for reference for those who are confused by the description of Black Knight v Black Falcon - in the early days ie 1984 releases to about 1986, what is now known as the Black Falcons faction was described as the Black Knight. When the Falcons were being retired, a third armoured faction was introduced (after the release of the Forestmen) to take on the Lion Knights/ Crusaders - they had the blue dragon shield and were then called from 1992 onwards the Black Knight, which is why there is a distinction now. If you look into CAS175 minifigure, you will see that he appears for the Black Falcons and the Black Knights at different points (eg 6073, 6085), so there is a measure of continuity between them, which is the subject of several theories. This chap, though, is a foot soldier tasked with carrying a nice treasure chest :-)

@AllenSmith said:
"Lego builds are so much more complicated now. But Lego lost sight of the fact that theirs was a toy for both building and imagining. The magic of Lego from this era wasn't the builds. What got me hooked for life was how a $4 set like this was a ticket to years of imagination. "

What makes you think they have lost sight of toys being imaginative too? You can buy a cheap CMF and imagine their storyline, and also build things for their adventure with other bricks.

@CCC:
Some people just can’t stretch their imagination enough to come up with original stories if they’re using characters that someone else has already told stories about.

Ah! This set (which I do not own), takes me back to the earliest days of my Interneting life...

https://www.lugnet.com/~1850/lonefalcon/

@PurpleDave: And then, of course, you have kids like Andy, who was perfectly willing to have Buzz Lightyear be best friends with a sheriff from the Old West. (Granted, Woody had pre-existing stories, but there's no indication that Andy knew about those.)