Charity Shop Lego

foxinsox

Hope it's ok to start this thread here

I posted in here before and thanks to all who helped me.

Thought it might be a good idea for a thread to discuss the "treasure" you might find in Charity Shops and also maybe help me out on pricing.

I volunteer in a Charity Shop and have sold a few bits/boxes of Lego over the past while, it seems to be re-appearing out of attics quite a lot recently.

Also if any of you would be interested I might be able to come to some sort of arrangement..

foxinsox

I'll start with this:

Donated to Charity Shop today: a large box (childs toy crate) of Lego..
I haven't had a chance for a good look but it is defnitely all Lego this time!

On top of the pile of stuff is leaflet with Star Wars logo and pic..

I will try and post pics on Tuesday..


From chatting to customer it may be 1970's..

1/ Is it worth millions of €?

2/ How on earth do I figure out all the bits I have in the box?


Thanks in advance for any replies

Necronomicon

Great idea for a thread.

I'm afraid to tell you that this particular set can't be from the 1970s if it is Star Wars; the first Star Wars set was released in 1999.

If you don't have the instructions, then you can reference the Lego inventory website Peeron to try to identify the set and gather the pieces together.

As for how much the set is worth, check eBay and Bricklink (Lego marketplace) so see what price the sets are going for. Obviously you have to have identified the set to do this. Just be wary looking at these marketplaces, because you get a lot of jokers setting prices artificially high. Take time to see various auctions on the same item, to try to identify an average price it is going for.

foxinsox

^ Thanks for that. That site for instructions is good.


Do you think it would be ok to put a load of Lego in the dishwasher?

I was thinking of maybe putting it in a net bag or something first, as it is pretty manky.

Necronomicon

Yep, socks + dishwasher is a pretty common method I've never tried it mind!

foxinsox

Necronomicon wrote: »

Yep, socks + dishwasher is a pretty common method I've never tried it mind!

Well seeing as I haven't spent a fortune on it I think I'll give it a go.

I'll let ye all know how it goes.

I'll be back in work on Tuesday, I'll try get some pics up here then.

L1011

I managed to get a nearly complete (8 pieces missing) 7906 Fireboat from a charity shop for 50c recently - marked as such due to the bits missing! 5 euro on bricklink and it was sorted...

foxinsox

^^ great bargain

Ok so here is what we got as a donation:
The before picture..



So I sorted the box.. Lego, Tente and some Megabloks!
Put the bits into popsocks and put them in the dishwasher, where I hope my dishwasher doesn't die! They are being washed now.



Apologies if the pics are too big, I'm not great at posting/hosting pics online.

So it seems I have lots of Lego:

bits of police station thing with figures.
pink lego that might be a house
a red boat thing
fair few figures/people
millions of bits I've no idea what they belong to

I really don't think this is going to be easy

Do you think I should just try sell it off as a job lot?

I'll try take more pics when (if it survives) it comes out of dishwasher.

Necronomicon

Wait until it comes out of the dishwasher and see if it's at all possible to identify individual sets. At least identify all the minifigures which shouldn't be too difficult in comparison - they tend to hold the most value for collectors.

The Star Wars set is 7103 Jedi Duel. It's hard to find what it's going for online because most of them for sale are new and unopened. But there should be two minifigures if you can find them: Yoda and Count Dooku. Count Dooku is going for around $15 on his own.

foxinsox

OK - Result

Dishwashing Lego in popsocks is a success..
All the yucky/manky bits stay stuck to the nylon popsocks..
The Lego all came out clean.


Sorting it into sets is not easy..
I've tried entering some (about 6 different 4 digit numbers) set numbers into brickset.com lego.com and even plain ol' googling them (and google images)

Some of the numbers (4 digit number printed on blocks?) are coming back as no such set found? Any ideas? I have tried changing region on lego.com

I happened to meet the guy who gave them to us, he says he has more, so I might keep them at home until he gives me the rest, hopefully make up more sets.

Lego has now taken over my sitting room!

michelledoh

I'm no help to this thread really but thanks for the great idea for cleaning lego! Going to save me some time at the sink! Kids are so messy!

Necronomicon

Numbers printed on the blocks?

Maybe it was a feature of older Lego, but I can't think of any I've seen that had numbers printed on the blocks themselves.

To start you off I think it'd be good to find the pieces of 'Jedi Duel', the set I mentioned above since it's the only one that you've been able to identify. The inventory can be found here:

http://www.peeron.com/inv/sets/7103-1

foxinsox

Necronomicon wrote: »

Numbers printed on the blocks?

Yeah.. I just looked and nearly all this stuff has 4 digit numbers on them, I thought that identified the sets? I'd have no other way of knowing what belongs to what.

I've discovered if I google: lego sets using eg: 3308 it brings up lots of sets and I can kinda figure out what set I might have the most bits of.

So.. think I might have most of these sets:





Figures I have, might find a few more legs, heads etc. in the big pile



So off I go to give the Jedi Duel a try..

Necronomicon

Oh yeah the numbers identify the sets, I've just never known the numbers to be printed on the Lego bricks themselves, isn't that what you were saying?

Anyway good luck, keep us updated

Dunjohn

Wow, Fabuland. That's retro

Those horned guys along the bottom aren't Lego.

Brickset's good but for a jumbled mass of stuff like this, Bricklink might be better. Its front page looks a bit overwhelming but hitting the green "Catalog" tab near the top should get you started.

Unless the guy was an obsessive preserver (and judging by the minifigures, he wasn't), it's really unlikely that there'll be any complete sets in there. You might be wasting your time sorting it out that way.

foxinsox

Eh..

I'm wrecked and really don't think I can sort this the "sets" way!

As Dunjohn said, I really think I'm wasting my time and going blind!

I haven't played with Lego in about 30 years

So situation update:

I tried Jedi Duel - missing too many pieces..

Rolling Ranches - I made a horse box and a few archy things but seem to be missing vital parts.

At this stage I need suggestions as how to break it up to sell it.

I was thinking maybe throwing about 2 or three handfuls into a freezer bag and selling them like that, kinda trying to keep similar looking stuff together.

Maybe sell them by colour of bricks?

Maybe sell a bag of wheely bits, windowy/door bits etc?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated as I honestly I can't really be "playing Lego" anymore!

I don't think there is anything here worth trying to make a fortune on and even if the shop makes a few € on it, it helps.

Thanks for everyones input and sorry to be a failure at building, I had so planned to wow ye all with my retro experience

foxinsox

Necronomicon wrote: »

Oh yeah the numbers identify the sets, I've just never known the numbers to be printed on the Lego bricks themselves, isn't that what you were saying?

Yep that's what I was saying, it's hard to see on some but it is there on nearly all of these bricks.

Necronomicon

Don't feel deflated by it, when you have a box of jumbled pieces handed in it's always going to be unlikely that everything will have been preserved, as Dunjohn alluded to above. I just suggested going at Jedi Duel because it was the only immediately identifiable set.

I think at this stage it's nearly better to sell it as a job lot.

foxinsox

Hi all,

Sorry haven't been in here, mad busy at work..

So I split the Lego into about 6 plastic bags and stuck €6 on each!

I put them in the window of the shop today and within an hour had sold 4 bags of Lego.

One fella (9yrs ish) came in so excited and asked for the bag with the star wars stuff and the bag of minfigures.. he was so happy it was cute to see his excitement with his bargain!

So 2 bags left..

Thanks for all the advice and I'll be back if I get anymore Lego in.

ATMAddict

Any Lego in the shop these days?

I'm looking for a quantity of bricks for the town were building.

Thanks
Robert