450 Basic Set
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): 450 pieces
First Year Confirmed Available: 1965 (USA)
I’ve written an extensive article about the 1965 wave in particular.
1966 (Canada)
The 003, 450, and 615 are the only US 1965 sets to have released in Canada in 1966.
Star Phoenix, November 10th, 1966
Most Likely Retirement Date: 1971 (USA)
The 450 set was a permanent member of the basic set line introduced in 1965 and was in continuous production until the cancellation of the LEGO license in 1971. It appears in an idea book used throughout 1970-1971.
1972 (Canada): There is no evidence of a Canadian production beyond 1972.
Last Year Seen Available: 1973 (Canada)
Edmonton Journal, December 7th, 1973
Aliases: No. 450 Basic Set, 450 Piece Set, Deluxe Builder Set
Retail Price(s): $10.95 (USA) / $13.95 (Canada)
Discounted Example(s): $6.88 (1966), $7.99 (1970), $10.44 (1973)
Rarity Score (Index): 2/7
Known Box/Packing Variants
As with other 1965 sets that were produced into the 1970s, the 450 Basic Set has several box variants. Estimated dates of production are given below to help date examples. Note the list below is not exhaustive:
The original (1965-66) will have a drawer/sleeve style box, two patents, and "AGES - 4 TO 8":
Then in ~1967-68 it had a drawer/sleeve style box, two patents, and "FOR ALL AGES".
In ~1968-69, it had a drawer/sleeve style box, eight patents, and "FOR ALL AGES".
Then in ~1969-70 it was given a tabbed box/single piece gray tray, eight patents, and "FOR ALL AGES". 1970 examples will also have the sticker relaying that some parts are produced in Denmark:
For ~1970-71, the tabbed box was updated again to print directly on the box that some parts are produced in Denmark.
This set has at least one Canadian version, this is the best image I have of one:
There might at least be one more Canadian version with a tabbed box (or the above is a tabbed box, it's hard to tell).
It also had at least one plain mailer box variant through JCPenney:
It can be identified via the stamp on the side. The original owner also wrote the catalog number for us:
Box/Overview
The 450 Basic Set was the largest style box produced by Samsonite, though obviously not the largest set. The 004 Master Builder Set was the same width and length but had two trays instead of just the one the 450 set had.
It follows the same design given to other 1965 sets:
Below is a comparison of the two types of boxes you'd expect from most 1965 basic sets. The earlier drawer/sleeve version is on top and the tabbed box(which used the single piece gray tray) is on the bottom:
Contents
As usual, the image shown below is a general guide, not to be taken as law.
Below is a 1965-66 drawer version:
And then a 1970 gray tray version:
