704, 706, 710 Canister Sets
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.
Author's note: rather than separate these sets into several articles, at the moment, I'm keeping them combined as it makes more sense. They almost always appear together in all existing sources and the only difference between them is their size.
Advertised Part Count(s):
704: 165 pieces
706: 241 pieces
710: 324 pieces
First Year Confirmed Available: 1962
Exclusive to:
JCPenney (1965)
USA only.
Most Likely Retirement Date: 1965
Different from most other 1961-65 retail sets, the canisters had no adjacent replacement for the 1965 season, but whether or not production of the canisters continued into 1965 or if what we see in 1965 is the overstock is unknown. Remember, the Shwayder Detroit plant responsible for packing USA LEGO sets closed in 1964. Regardless, the latest these canisters would've been produced is 1965, as that was the end of the 'LEGO System' branding for USA Samsonite.
Last Year Seen Available: 1966
The Daily Breeze, March 23rd, 1966
Aliases:
165-piece set/241-piece set/324-piece set,
Starter/Intermediate/Advanced Set
Retail Price(s):
Discounted Example(s): $1.97-$5.27 (1966)
Rarity Score (Index): (5/7) (considering finding one with a complete body and its lid)
Known Box/Packing Variants
At this time there are no known variants. I suspect there could be different versions of the material used in the cardboard between seasons, but such is extremely difficult to determine/convey without more physical examples to compare against.
Box/Overview
The canister sets come in at an interesting time for LEGO Samsonite, as they'd just completed their first season under immense time constraints (starting production by October 1961). These exclusive canister sets were the natural next step, focusing 1962 primarily on expanding sales.
One such new distributor in 1962 was Sears. They will have a plethora of exclusive sets much later (as well as JCPenney) which both stores carried alongside the normal line of sets. It's important to note that LEGO sets that appeared in catalogs were not the only LEGO kits available at the time. Assortments varied across locations, and catalogs rarely reflected their retail assortments.
Each canister is the same relative width, the only difference between each is the height (and the set image, obviously).
The 704 reuses the 703's box art.
The 706 reuses the 708's box art.
The 710 reuses the 711's box art.
As all the canister sets are similar (and I only own one), I'll take you through the mid-range option: the 706.
Each canister set is a cardboard tube with metal ends. The set would be unsealed via a string, meaning lots of potential for destructive opening. Hence why many examples are outright missing their top and part of its image. My example suffers from this, as over an inch of the capsule is outright missing:
And below is the 710, by far the hardest to source with its original cap. The vast majority of surviving examples are missing it entirely:
Contents
This is an example of the 704 and 706's canisters and inventory. Note the majority red/white parts common in basic sets of 1961-65 (and really the rest of them too):
My 706 canister is very empty and is obviously incomplete, but it at least came with the manuals. I'd date mine to sometime 1963-1964:
Should I collect this set?
I have a bit more of an affinity for the canister sets, as they have a hint more of charm than the tube tall box sets, but I'm not sure if they're worth the headache trying to source. I think they'd look rather nice displayed together, what with their different sizes and such, but beyond that they aren't incredibly appealing to me.
It's odd, but my interest is more geared towards sets like the 725, which have endless mystery and variants and things to explore. These canister sets, while an interesting footnote, just don't have much surrounding them to catch my interest. The Swiss LEGO canister sets from Europe are much more interesting comparatively, in my opinion.
Definitely wait for a good one with its top if you so choose, as I feel that's an incredibly important piece.