General Information

The following information has been collected from original newspapers, catalogs, and magazines, some of which are freely available for reference below. The rest can be found in the site’s gallery. No aggregate catalogs (BrickLink, Brickset, etc.) were used.

Advertised Part Count(s): 24 pieces

1964 FAO Schwarz Christmas Catalog

First Year Confirmed Available: 1964 (USA / Canada)

1964 Jordan Marsh Christmas Catalog

Star Phoenix, December 17th, 1964

Most Likely Retirement Date: 1965 (USA / Canada)

The set is still shown as available in August of 1965(via brickfetish's dealer form), and some 1965 catalogs show the 041 Beginner's Set. It's likely that the last of the 105's stock was used up by 1965. Any outstanding orders could've been fulfilled via the new 041 set.

The retirement date for Canada is much harder to demonstrate as it has no appearances after the above 1964 Eaton's ad. I don't believe it will ever have any more found, discussed below.

Last Year Seen Available: 1965

1965 May Co. Christmas Catalog

(I've excluded newspapers from this section in particular as it is impossible to tell image reuse from the set actually still being on shelves. The 1965 041 Beginner's Set was a repackaged 105, meaning even the catalog linked above could be debated.)

Aliases: Beginner's Set

Retail Price(s): $4.95 (USA) / $5.95 (Canada)

Discounted Example(s): $2.49 (1965)

Rarity Score (Rarity Index): 6/7

Known Box/Packing Variants

No variants are currently known. As the set was available in both the US and Canada, it's possible a Canadian variant existed. Similar to the 605/905, it could've printed the $5.95 price on the box as all other Canadian Samsonite sets did. At the very least, it would've stated "Printed in Canada".

As surviving boxes are few and far between, there are no examples publicly available to confirm this.

Box/Overview

The 105 marked the first release of the jumbo bricks in North America, adopting its tube box design from previously existing Samsonite sets.

When I'd originally written this article, I wrote this:

"I'm not currently sure if Samsonite themselves developed the idea of jumbo bricks or not, as there is no equivalent European LEGO element/set that I know of that predates the set. Its presence in Samsonite's line, however, continues a very interesting pattern starting in 1963."

"Not only did Samsonite release the 905 Doll Set to enter the girl's toy market, but they also released the 7100 Educational Set after attending the ASBO (Association of School Business Officials) Conference in early 1963 (see here)."

What I saw was that Samsonite was creating very unique LEGO sets to enter several different niches/markets, but the jumbo bricks were confusing as they didn't really have an origin. They just appeared, and were distributed earlier than even LEGO's own Jumbo Bricks in Europe. So who was responsible?

And now we have a bit more insight.

According to LEGO themselves, "During a visit to the company in the early 1960s, a group of teachers spots a couple of large experimental bricks and expresses their enthusiasm...One particular brick attracts the attention of the LEGO Group partner on the North American market, the American luggage manufacturer Samsonite."

Samsonite themselves identified T.G. Walker, the marketing manager for their LEGO division and a former Denver school teacher, as having "got the idea for the Jumbo Bricks and arranged to have some of Denver's pre-schools test them..." That newspaper clipping, however, also credits the design of the gears and motor pak to Samsonite as well, which just isn't true. Molds for all LEGO products were designed in house by LEGO and then sold to Samsonite, even US exclusive elements.

So I see a modicum of truth in Samsonite's newspaper in how it aligns and corroborates LEGO's own retelling of events. T.G. Walker was likely visiting Denmark and expressed interest in selling a large bricks like what LEGO was testing. It's just that Samsonite's spokesman boasted here, claiming it was all their idea.

Regardless, the 105 was at mass retail and it was definitely an attempt by Samsonite to enter the preschooler toys market.

Also, while the example above is missing its flap (as most surviving examples are), the flap was simply the same on the top and bottom:

The set was replaced for the 1965 season as Samsonite transitioned to the drawer/sleeve box design.

Contents

The set contained 12 red and 12 white jumbo bricks. There should be no surprises here:

Historical Examples

The 105 had specially prepared artwork that first appeared in 1964 and continued use well beyond the life of the 105 as with the 105's box removed, it makes an excellent substitute for the 041 and even later 044 Jumbo Bricks Set:

Also, an image from a Samsonite (showroom/booth?) has surfaced which you can find here. The image is from 1964 as it places the 105 Beginner's Set as a centerpiece, which would only make sense in 1964. The identities/associations of the people posing in the image are unknown.

Also touched on at the beginning, this set's box, while not available for very long, has a long history of reuse in newspapers after its 1964 release. The issue with that is that it's very difficult to discern legitimate sales from a simple reuse like seen below:

This one is seen in late 1969! There are a couple of points I'd like to address.

First, it's a Canadian newspaper, and the 041 never appears in any Canadian ephemera. The 105 only makes one appearance in Canada after 1964, and its the one in the image seen above.

Second, the box's picture is no different than the American version, not a deal breaker but certainly speaks against. It's also listed by a supermarket not too far from the Canadian border, meaning it's possible these are not even original pictures. Given the 041 Beginner's Set was being replaced by the 044 within the same year, it is not entirely unreasonable to imagine this ad is for a 041 that somehow made its way into Canada.

It is also, however, not unreasonable to claim the 105 continued sale in Canada beyond 1964. After all, the 605 and 610 continued as normal up to ~1970, even the troublesome 905 continued into at least 1965. It may not appear in catalogs as it may have been in a different section than the other LEGO assortment, which is not entirely unreasonable as it happened several times with Sears.

Unless evidence arises accounting for a regular Canadian distribution of the set beyond 1964, it is very unlikely the set continued production for the Canadian market beyond 1964.

My best anecdotal postulation for this discrepancy has to do with production logistics in early 1965. As the Loveland Plant open in April of 1965, it is entirely possible that the molds for the jumbo bricks were shipped to Colorado and Samsonite of Canada never reordered their own molds.

Should I collect this set?

If you get a chance (for a good price), absolutely.

Not even for the rarity aspect of it (as perceived rarity itself doesn't inherently make an item interesting to me), it's a fascinating piece as it is Samsonite's first foray into a much younger market. The box's artwork is painted, not the typical image as seen on every other box up to this point.

That approach itself was a deliberate choice made by Samsonite, but it is important to ground ourselves as it may not have an incredible story behind it.

Most 1963-64 set boxes focus on the models that the set can build. But the jumbo bricks are very simple (to be incredibly kind). They don't have much clutch power, 24 blocks are not capable of creating very interesting models, hence a unique return to the boy/girl images of 1961-62, while also keeping with the isometric drawings seen on 1963-64 styles.

It could have also been a general trend for preschool implements for the time period—I wasn't alive then so I can't really speak on that. And of course the ideas I outlined above are not the only possibilities.

While a very unassuming set, there's a lot of interesting details surrounding it.

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