World famous, the LEGO brick is an iconic and essential toy that continues to seduce new generations. In this holiday season, many orders of LEGO have been made to Santa Claus (we have contacts !). To pay tribute to this brand of toys ‘like no other’, a company with an exceptional destiny, here is a little anecdote.
First of all, a small recap.
LEGO is a brand of construction toys created in 1932 in Denmark by Ole Kirk Christiansen.
Its name comes from the Danish « leg godt » which means « play well ». Although its creator did not know it, LEGO also translates into Latin as « I assemble », a nice coincidence !
The LEGO brand first designed wooden toys (mainly cars) before injecting plastic into its first construction kits. In 1958, the company improved its 1952 brick model and filed a patent for the « interlocking brick ». It allows to follow the instructions of construction or to let free the imagination of the children. LEGO sets cover many different worlds, from animals to houses, vehicles and of course characters. On this subject, the very first character was marketed in 1974. It was very big and not proportional with the LEGO environment, unlike those produced afterwards. Compared to the LEGO worlds, Ole Kirk Christiansen had only one restriction : avoid war themes. Even today, soldiers can only be found in the special editions of Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Toy Story.
A company ‘like no other’, which could be described today as avant-garde.
At LEGO, employees are expected to be « big kids ». It’s important that they stay connected to their childlike souls to be able to imagine and create brick sets that will appeal to the masses.
As a thank you to its long-time employees of more than 25 years, the LEGO company in Hohenwestedt gave them a very special gift : a gold LEGO brick. This exceptional jewel was given 1 or 2 times every year between 1979 and 1981. This LEGO is made of 14 carat gold and weighs 25.65 grams. It has the same shape and size as a classic plastic LEGO ‘2×4 original’.
An Italian employee auctioned it on Catawiki in February 2017 and managed to sell it for €18 498 !
This LEGO is slipped into a black, plastic, LEGO branded jewelry box. The auction started at €1 000 and reached very exactly €18,498 at the 40th bid. The buyer would be a British collector, Catawiki revealed.
The 14-karat gold LEGO brick is a very rare piece. According to information from the Danish brand, only 10 copies of these « LEGO jewels » have been published and distributed. There would be 9 left to be part of the family heritage or, why not, potentially accessible via future auctions …
