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This is largely what pushed me to finally implement a section of this site to report "news", and I'm very excited to share it with you today. I think it's a very appropriate place to start with this, as you'll see soon enough.

If there's anywhere where significant ground can still be made, Canadian Samsonite is the place. They had all their own paperwork, boxes, even manufacturing quirks, but all for a relatively small market compared to the US. So not only are the materials already in smaller quantities, but they also don't normally leave the Canadian sphere. Thus historians and collectors, primarily based in the US or in Europe, have previously had a lot of trouble researching Canadian Samsonite, myself included. Hence why you may come across a lot of contradictory information, as everyone previously has made assumptions to fill that gap and many have since turned out to be misled.

But that isn't what we're here to discuss today. We have several new reveals to go over, including one I thought I'd never see in my lifetime. But let's start small. I've finally scanned my first full Canadian catalog:

If you click the image, there's a link to view the full catalog (or at least there will be when I get around to adding metadata). I'm not exactly sure of the date of this booklet, but I'd put it between 1965-67, as that cover above is similar to the 1964-65 idea book for the US market(there are two different styles, this is the later update, seen in many 1965 sets):

But the Canadian version has the 1961-65(US) supplements, "Building Toy" (which means 1965+ for US), a registered trademark symbol for Samsonite but not LEGO (which could be key in precisely dating the idea book, we just don't have enough gathered yet), as well as the 001 and 002:

But oddly, it doesn't mention any other sets. This makes me think it's from 1966, but that's not as conclusive as I'd like. But as a bonus, the idea book also reveals that Canada sold the 401 large wheel supplement, something I've never confirmed was available in the US. It's the small things.

Regardless, I've also finally obtained images of the 1961 pamphlet for the Canadian market:

It's not as high quality as I'd like, but it's a start. The best thing is that it confirms the 246 was available for the Canadian market after all. Keep in mind that these materials have only just been archived in full for the first time, and I look forward to continue to collect these things to share as time goes on. These are things that absolutely deserve to be preserved.

Speaking of things being preserved, we've come across the holy grail in all of LEGO Samsonite just this week. There are only two sets I've never seen surviving images of: the 042 Jumbo Brick Pull-Toy (whose box is virtually unknown to have survived, but we have plenty of images) and the 750 Educational Set. Technically I'd seen images of the cardboard box variant, but I'm talking the original wooden box variant.

No surviving examples were known until now:

I've got more photos as well as information to go over, but I'll just do so in 750 Educational Set as it'd be easier. There's quite a bit to discuss, but it's simply a relief to finally have more than one image of the set to use, and it's an example in phenomenal condition. Usually the label on the top has separated, been torn, etc., but this example is one of the best cared for wooden case Samsonite sets I've ever seen. There's some restoration work done to the hinges, but that's something you'll see with virtually every example.

The above example also came from Canada, making it even more rare of an appearance. US examples, should any ever be found, will say "Printed in the USA" on the sides and have the registered trademark symbols as well as patent text. That's not a guess either, that's what we see with 7100s. But now that I think about it, I don't know that I've ever seen any 7100s from Canada, not that I've ever really been looking. Something to check for, but they'd be very, very rare.

With that, I'm also on the lookout for more Canadian representation, as there are a ton of sets/packs/promotions after 1973 to cover. I'm not sure how we're going to handle it yet, but our current system is completely untenable. I think it's reasonable to have everything up to 1973 on the same page, but after that we need something better. I'm not sure I'll collect all Samsonite sets from 1973-1988 (the last year they held distribution rights in Canada), but I'd like to at least compile them and acknowledge their existence. Beyond that, there's usually not much to say about them specifically.

Instead, they as a whole can help corroborate timelines and such, as you can see with this baseplate pack, it was released in 1986, after the Beatrice Foods takeover of Samsonite:

I've also just become aware of something called "Lego Design News", specifically prepared for the Canadian market. According to this membership card, there are at least eight issues (which you can view in a limited capacity on BL: https://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?pg=2&catString=462&catType=B&v=2, but I hope to archive them in full, readable form one day):

So we've only just begun, but it's also a bit of a crossroads. I don't have unlimited money, and many collectors I speak to either only primarily own US Samsonite materials or are not willing to publicly share their collection (which is a completely valid thing, it's their collection). I've been generously offered leaps of help by Stratford Bricks and other Canadian LEGO enthusiasts, which will be relevant again onsite soon as we have even more Canadian materials currently on the way. But this is a slow process, so it'll likely be several years before this site is anywhere near competent with Canadian information, especially in the 1970s and 80s. I'm only now realizing how big that realm is.

But the advantage we have is that there really isn't competition and there likely will never be. You may point to something like Gary's Unofficial Collector's Guide, but that's not exactly comparable to what we're building out here. We've got a very narrow scope. Gary is responsible for all LEGO history, which means he can't focus in and become intimate with everything in a specific niche. We get to go into gross detail, and I like doing so. There's a certain joy to noting where a set lies in the larger line, or where its DNA comes from, instead of just acknowledging set name, number, piece count, year released, and availability. We get to connect all the site's materials together, make comparisons, and even make discoveries, ones that would be difficult to convey in an encyclopedia format.

And don't take that as a dig at Gary, I respect the hell out of his work. It's largely what inspired me to do my own thing here, in which I've been able to make immense progress in a stagnant field.

I figure this is a good place to wrap up, as I've covered everything we needed to as well as tangented immensely at the end there. As always, I'm working to make the site more organized, so I'm going to be moving things around in the coming months (hopefully by the end of 2025) so that we have a means to address Canadian Samsonite and not bury either side.

Probably next, along with updating the 750's articles, I'll be working on completing the abridged Samsonite history (as that's good for site analytics, the goal is to be on the first page of most relevant searches, but this is my first foray into SEO), as I feel it's a topic general audiences would be interested in. I also want people who are not too far in the Samsonite realm to be aware of the meta, that there is a lot of decades old assumptions still dominating search results, so the more people we can get to be aware of that (even if they don't agree with everything onsite), the better. It's a wedge into a larger change, at least that's the hope.