The finer points of Lego street architecture
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No town is complete without street architecture and true to its authenticity, the Lego Town Set includes:
Street signs
Streets lights
Trees
A petrol pump
First cab off the rank is the very cute petrol pump and ESSO sign that belongs with the ESSO filling station.
The ESSO sign and pump that accompanies the ESSO filling station (missing a red cap from one of the poles).
Included in the Town Plan were six street signs - we were lucky enough to have 18 street signs, another indicator that additional stand-alone boxes were purchased.
They can be identified as late 1950s or early 1960s as they have a solid base, it was not until the mid-1960s that street signs had a "clickable" base - meaning they could be secured to a plastic Lego baseboard and would stay in place.
The flat base of the street sign.
The street signs were available in stand-alone boxes (set #232).
Next, the street lights:
The street lamps (the one on the right has lost its 'light') - we seem to have two slightly different grey/silver colours - the one on the right is a lighter, shinier metal colour.
But unlike the base of the street signs they have a Lego "clickable" base.
The base of both styles of the lamps.
Much like the street lights, the collection seemed to have some trees from the original Town Plan Set and some of a later vintage.
Trees included in the Town Plan Set.
The tree on the left with the flat base is from the Town Plan Set.
The one on the right (above), is from a later period, most likely the mid 1960s. It does seem though that while the base configuration changed, the styling on the tree itself stayed the same throughout the 1960s.
The trees, street signs and street lights were all available as separate box purchases.
Box artwork for the "add-on" boxes. (The right box is the back and is the same artwork used on all boxes)
The top of the boxes indicates the contents and the set number.
Something strange we couldn't piece together was the flags in the collections. We felt the "clickable" bottom suggested they were later than 1962 (given the street signs and the tree bases), however when we looked on the back of the baseboard we could clearly see there were flags included in the inventory list...
Country flags - Town Plan or not? Given the slight difference in the width of the pole and the shape of the flag we think it's more likely these are from the mid to late-1960s.
The flags, as part of the inventory list on the baseboard.
POSTSCRIPT #1
In April 2018, one Lego fan came to our display and said he had some vintage Lego if we wanted it - we sure did! It was an assortment of bricks which is always fun but included were some original Town Plan set flags. The flags included in the #810 set were angled and "wavy" in design, the straight, rectangle shape came into sets in the mid to late-1960s. The earlier version also had a thinner pole.
Flags from the #810 set
Flag from the mid to late-1960s on the left and one from the #810 set on the right.
We still include the mid-1960s flags in our display, as well as the newly acquired #810 set flags.
CONFIRMED IN THE COLLECTION:
1. Basic Building Set #040
2. Town Plan Set #810
3. Cars included as part of the Town Plan set #810 plus additional cars purchased individually
4. Trucks included as part of the Town Plan set #810 plus additional trucks purchased individually
5. Minifigs - Policemen and accessories (included in the Town Plan Set)
6. Minifigs - Cyclists and motorcyclists #270 (x2 extra sets)
7. Trees #230 (4 to a box so at least 3 additional sets)
8. Street signs #232 (4 to a box so at least 3 additional sets)
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