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): 60 pieces

1968 Discovery Playthings Catalog

First Year Confirmed Available: 1968(USA)

1968 Discovery Playthings Catalog

USA Only.

Most Likely Retirement Date: 1968(USA)

Because I only own the one 1968 Discovery Playthings Catalog, it's possible the set continued production for the 1969 season. However, because Discovery Playthings outright disappeared from all print media by 1970, the latest the DP60 set could've been produced was 1969. Until another catalog surfaces, we cannot confirm any date other than 1968.

Last Year Seen Available: 1968

1968 Discovery Playthings Catalog

Aliases: Lego Jumbo Bricks

Note: The DP60 number designation appears in no materials and has been retroactively applied by me. While Three Worlds sets have their catalog number as their set number, I do not feel 6F is an identifiable, memorable, or otherwise unique designation. DP60 means "Discovery Playthings, 60-piece set".

Retail Price(s): $10.00(USA)

Rarity Score(Index): 7/7

Known Box/Packing Variants

The set has no known box variants and it is not likely any exist. There may be two different versions of the contents, as the set is advertised to have red, white, and blue bricks but has appeared in the wild multiple times with red, yellow, and blue bricks.

Box/Overview

The DP60 Jumbo Bricks is likely a set you've not seen or heard of, as was the case with myself before starting this project. I first saw images of the set via The Unofficial Sets/Parts Collector Guide's Facebook, wherein Gary posted images of the DP set. That spurred me to deep dive into Discovery Playthings, leading to the creation of this article and revelations about the 704 Master Discovery Set.

The short and sweet of it is that Discovery Playthings was a store that operated within Allied Department Stores like Jordan Marsh. It specialized in educational toys for parents, specially selected and approved by phycologists. There are many parallels between Discovery Playthings and Three Worlds, if you're familiar.

In reality, these brands were incredibly ephemeral as they could not find consumer interest. Hence the rarity of such sets:

box top image

The DP60 carried similar printed sides to the 060 Jumbo Bricks set:

Contents

As mentioned above, all known examples of the DP60 have yellow bricks and would've been the first set in the US to contain them. Even the 044 Jumbo Bricks from 1969 did not include yellow bricks:

So why does the DP60 get yellow bricks? It's hard to say.

One idea is that, as Three Worlds got an exclusive turquoise attaché case, Discovery Playthings might've also asked for something exclusive. Or, more likely, Samsonite did so to be able to offer an "exclusive" set, as otherwise it'd be the same as the Three Worlds version (and that isn't to sell it to the consumer, rather to sell it to the retailer, if that makes sense). As the 704 Master Discovery Set was not exclusive to DP and contained no special elements, the yellow bricks might've been the compromise. Though why yellow in that scenario is a good question, as it is not associated with the brand as far as I can tell.

There are of course other scenarios, such as Samsonite testing to see if yellow sold differently(as they were releasing the 044 in 1969) or maybe it was a simple temporary substitution.

Regardless, no one knows.