About my Collecting:

Long before I made computers my profession, I was given the ability to succeed. I believe this better than average opportunity stemmed from my experiences with LEGOŽ building blocks as a child.

My grandparents bought me my first set - I don't remember how old I was or which set they gave me, but in retrospect I can see that it was truly the foundation to my ability to comprehend, diagram, understand and create - over and over again.

With the Technic series I learned how to build differential gear boxes, rack and pinion steering systems, gear ratios and reduction, and the fundamentals of a lever well before taking physics in 8th grade!

You could now classify me as an avid (obsessive?) collector of Technic and Model Team sets. I own well over one hundred complete sets (not counting the ones that were lost or destroyed when I was a child - oh the pain! :-(. Each year as LEGOŽ introduces new Technic & Model Team sets, my collection increases - I'm hopelessly addicted, but at least I charge them and get frequent flyer miles :-).

Virtually every one of my Technic & Model Team sets is in excellent or unopened condition including the box and instructions. I don't build them anymore, I just buy them and store them. My son's only four months old right now, but he'll have one heck of a learning opportunity very shortly (I'm looking forward to building these sets too).

While you won't see LEGOŽ sets auctioned at any of the renowned auctions houses (yet), I firmly believe that this toy will hold the greatest collection value of all time. Here's why:

New LEGOŽ sets are introduced every year. A set will continue to be sold for a number of years or until demand has diminished. The set will then be removed from production and you can no longer purchase it from mail order or local stores. Instant collection value! Just ask any LEGOŽ enthusiast. Those of us that stopped buying sets for a couple years, due to dating or paying for an automobile, will always resent the fact that they are missing certain sets from their collection (This gap is also known as "The LEGO dark Ages").

NOTE - My personal dark ages were caused by: forming my first company (1984), graduating high school (1985), driving, drinking and dating (1985-89), moving to Florida (1988), forming second company (1990), working fourteen hours a day and not making any money to spend on LEGO (1990-92).

One thing's for sure, as long as there are LEGOŽ collectors out there, these sets will continue to increase in value. I'm currently in the process of attempting to organize a grading system so that as future auctions come up, we know the quality of what we're bidding on. The better the condition of the pieces, box and instructions - the higher the price it typically brings at auction. So many of us threw away our boxes and lost our instructions when combining all our sets into one big pile so we could create anything we wanted. I know - when I was younger and used to build the sets, it took me over three months to reorganize my sets into their original boxes. You'll notice that collectors will even buy just the box and/or instructions to make a complete set!

 

Articles about my LEGO collecting:

Building Blocks for a Successful Business - Mary Beth's Beanbag World - September 1999.pdf

A Passionate Colector - Antiques & Collecting Magazine - August 2000.pdf