Back when my youngest brother was about 5 years old, my mom bought him his first LEGO set. I don’t remember which set it was, if it was big or small, if it was a car or a plane, if it had little LEGO people or not. All I remember is that it was the beginning.

The beginning of more and more LEGO sets.

LEGO System, LEGO Pirates, LEGO Aquazone, LEGO Space, LEGO Technic, you name it, mom got it for him.

I used to think that my brother was such a spoiled kid because of all the nice and expensive LEGO sets that he got. 

Little did I know that those were meant to be investments. 

Fast forward to 2015, more than 20 years since that first LEGO set, my brother decided to send me his box of LEGO bricks and stuffs. “I’m too old for them”, he had said. “It’s time I pass it on to my nephews.“

It actually came in this box, a hodgepodge of bricks, people, animals, trees, helmets, and weapons. They had also accumulated years and years worth of dirt and dust, hence the bath.  

Whooo! So many LEGO people!

Because the big box of LEGO wealth did not contain any of the manuals nor can I count on it to be complete, I decided that I would just add them to our DIY LEGO tray and let the kids freely build away. After rummaging through the box however, I found big, notable pieces, begging to be restored and made whole again.

Lost Manuals? No problem!

I searched the net but had no idea where to start looking. I searched randomly, firing away various keywords but not really getting anywhere. I finally struck gold when I took a photo of one of the logos (the big blue circle from the photo with the box above) and Google Image searched it. That led me to this website called Brick Instructions.com. 

Would you believe that it has the instructions of all the LEGO sets that came out since 1965?! 

And the rest, as they say, is history.

A Reference for My Future Grandchildren

I was able to recreate some of the sets, albeit not with the exact color and parts as there were lots missing already. 

Like my brother, the kids may someday get tired of them and decide to take them apart so I’m listing the completed sets down, name, year, and photo. 

May this also serve as a reference for my future grandchildren (or whoever will inherit this treasure after the kids) should they ever receive that same box of LEGO wealth in its hodgepodge state as my kids did. With this, they’d easily know what to search for. 🙂

Our LEGO Collection

So without further ado, let me present to you our LEGO collection, our parents’ investment from more than 20 years ago (plus a few new ones), passed down to the next generation, and hopefully to the next ones as well.

 

 

A Worthy Investment

An article from The Telegraph (Lego, a Better Investment than Shares and Gold) actually detailed how LEGO sets are good investments, with one set garnering an ROI of as much as 2,230%!

While the sets that we have may not be worth anything (because they’re not boxed and far from pristine condition), the fact that my kids get to play with these toys from more than 20 years ago is testament enough that LEGO sets are indeed a worthy investment. 

 

A lot of toys have come and gone but these have withstood the test of time. My dad loved them when he was a kid, as did my brothers and I, as do my kids. Amazing, huh? 🙂 I won’t think twice now as to what gift to give kids this Christmas!