Category:Lego accessory packs

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Lego produced a large range of accessory packs including dedicated types of parts. If you wanted more door and window pieces to make a set of houses, or extra sets of wheels, you could buy packs of just those pieces.

Packaging

The main range of accessory packs were comparatively small (around the size of a pack of cigarettes), and came in a retailer-friendly single size.

Trays

The packaging consisted of an open-topped folded card tray, and a sleeve that fitted over it: the tray had a high-visibility pack number and lineart depiction of the content theme on both short ends, so that a pile of different packs could be stacked, and the shoppers and retailer could tell from looking at the ends exactly what the packs were. The two longer sides of the tray (only visible with the sleeves removed) were also printed with pack-specific artwork, which increased the sense of value for the buyer.

Sleeves

Sleeves were interchangeable between packs. The sleeve artwork sides were high-contrast red and yellow with just the LEGO logo: One larger side showed a pair of tumbling 4×2 bricks showing the top and bottom faces (including the new improved cylinders on the base), the other showed one of a range of inspirational "educational" images, such as an architect at his desk with a child, with a set of Lego buildings in the background, or a pilot in uniform returning home to see his child clutching a Lego aeroplane.

The Packs With No Name

As well as showcasing the quality of the artwork (giving a quality, "designer" feel to fairly inexpensive and minimalist packaging), the Lego accessory packaging took the minimalist "designer" look to the extreme length of not using any text at all other than the "Lego" logo and the pack number (except a small "country of manufacture" notice)!

Frustratingly for later collectors trying to organise and describe the packs, they didn't actually have names, just numbers. Even the early single-sheet catalogues simply showed art, the pack number, and a description of the pack contents - no names.

As well as making a design statement, this also had the happy consequence that most of the packs could be sold in any market worldwide without having to have anything translated or redesigned – there was no text to translate!