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): N/A

First Year Confirmed Available: 1967 (USA)

1967 Dealer Catalog Insert

USA Only.

Most Likely Retirement Date: 1970

Discussed below.

Last Year Seen Available: 1972

The Patriot News, November 23rd, 1972

Aliases: LoveLand Carrying Case, Carrying Case, Lego Carry Case

Retail Price(s): $2.97 - $3.97 (USA)

While many newspaper ads discounted to under $5 proclaim a $10 RRP, I believe that was deceptive marketing rather than ever having sold at that price.

Rarity Score (Rarity Index): 3/7 (for an example without a tag)

Box/Overview

Even though this is an empty case, I have a lot to say.

Beyond what we covered above, the most important thing about the 501 Carrying Case is that it was NOT originally advertised as a LEGO product. It belonged to LoveLand, Samsonite's own (shortlived) toy brand. LoveLand was used to market their non-LEGO products under from 1967-68. In 1969, Samsonite's toy lines branched off into pre-school toys and board games, leaving the 501 case orphaned and very difficult to track.

Yes, the case appears in many LEGO materials such as the 1968 Kraft promotion or was used for several LEGO Samsonite Sets (i.e. the 502 Deluxe Set With Case), and the tray is specially designed to hold certain LEGO elements, but I'm talking in terms of marketing. The handle and tag makes it very clear it was not originally intended as a LEGO product but instead belonged to the LoveLand brand. Hence why the cases have "LoveLand" on their handle:

This image has been republished with permission from Daan's Samsonite. Please check his page for more images of this set as well as other rare items.

I clarify all that because for over a decade, the common story in the LEGO Samsonite sphere was that the LoveLand case was named after the factory as a sort of homage. Such is technically true, but that assumption crucially missed the clarification that LoveLand was an actual brand for Samsonite to market their own products under rather than using the Samsonite name. Until 1969 at least, when they dropped the LoveLand name entirely and began marketing their newly expanded toylines under Samsonite, presumably for consumer confidence.

I am curious, however, if the tag was changed in 1969-70, if it was omitted entirely, or some other third thing. Interesting to think about.

Anyways, the real issue with this set is that's production is a nightmare to track via ephemera. The latest solid source is the 1968 Dealer Catalog Insert, but I have half a dozen newspaper adverts all the way to 1972 with stores still carrying the empty case.

So when did it retire? Hard to say.

The 501 was available in the 1968-69 Kraft Promotion, but missing from the 1970 Kraft Promotion. The Kraft case set was still available for order, but we're really only considering the empty case here. Though presumably, for as long as any case set was available, there'd be no reason to not have the empty case available for retailers as well.

While we have several newspaper appearances after 1970, I'm not comfortable with asserting any later production at this time.

Contents

This set sold empty, but if you really want to be technical, it had two pieces: the removable, single-piece tray and the key. And if you're really technical, it always included a tag as well.