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This article will be a long time in the making, as accounting for every set will take a ton of effort, but I feel it is a worthy venture. It is not yet considered complete, but much is already accounted for.

Trust me, nothing is numbered the way it is for no reason. Let's start easy.

1961-65 Sets

Here we'll list the set and the original RRP(USD, also rounded to the nearest dollar):

702 Basic Set — $2.00

703 Basic Set — $3.00

704 Basic Set — $4.00

705 Basic Set — $5.00

706 Basic Set — $6.00

708 Basic Set — $8.00

710 Basic Set — $10.00

711 Basic Set — $11.00

717 Junior Constructor — $17.00

725 Town Plan — $25.00

See? Notice how the number was created by adding 700 and the RRP? Very cool! I was very excited to find this out, though oddly it seems obvious in retrospect. I only found this out as I was looking at the 750 and 7100 educational sets, which also follow the pattern:

750 Educational Set — $50.00

7100 Educational Set — $100.00

The sets are organized by theme as well, via the '7' above(I think the '7' indicates a regular set). '6' indicates a wheel set and '9' is for dolls. Why? I assume because the 705 set already existed, they changed the first number and continued the original system:

605 Wheel Toy — $5.00

610 Super Wheel Toy — $10.00

905 Doll Set — $5.00

The above three sets have canister versions. As the canister versions did not change in price(like the canister sets above 704, 706, 710 did), a '1' was added to the front like so:

1605 Wheel Toy — $5.00

1610 Super Wheel Toy — $10.00

1905 Doll Set — $5.00

1961-65 supplements do not follow the price rule. They inherited their numbers from Europe(that includes the later #400 Wheel Supplement).

The miniature car assortment, numbered 472, has two possibilities. One, it follows the RRP rule. Two, it references the number of cars within(which is anecdotally said to have been 72, but I have no way to confirm this). Given the pattern above, it's probably the price:472 Miniature Car Assortment — 72c

Lastly, the Jumbo Bricks Beginner's Set:

105 Beginner's Set — $5.00

1965 Sets (US)

When thinking about creating new sets using the above system, a problem is quickly created. For $5.00 sets, they've already used 105, 605, 705, and 905. 2XX was reserved for supplements, and 4XX didn't really have a clear designation (vehicle related?).

Five $5.00 sets were planned for 1965: 041, 205, 001, 002, and 021(six if you count the 022, which was more than likely $5.00). Regardless, the price approach, while clever, is now untenable.

So a new categorical system was created, though issues arise here and there. Let's focus on 1965 sets. There are two systems, the simplest just uses piece counts(usually for sets that are piece assortments and not tied to a particular model or theme).

120 Basic Set — 120 pieces

205 Basic Set — 205 pieces

285 Basic Set — 285 pieces

375 Basic Set — 375 pieces

450 Basic Set — 450 pieces

615 Basic Set — 615 pieces

The second system is reserved to handle special sets. Typically for this first wave a "companion set" (as I like to put it) is expected. You'll see what I mean:

001 Gears & 002 Motor Pak

003 Master Mechanic & 004 Master Builder

Then they start incrementing by factors of 20.

021 Wheel Set & 022 Doll Furniture

041 Beginner's Set & 042 Pull Toy

An exception exists for this first wave, the 005 Discovery Set. As I've gone over extensively in its dedicated article, I believe the lone 005 designation without a companion is due to its original purpose being a trial set(hence the name "Discovery") starting in 1965. I've also thought it to be a later addition to the 1965 line and was not originally planned when the other numbers were first created. Those ideas are not mutually exclusive, either.

And finally, the 695 Bulk Assortment Set oddly follows the older price = set number system (as the retail value was $6.95). While this could indicate the set was planned ahead of the 1965 sets, it is also likely this set was considered a one off set that did not fit the new system. It had no consistent piece count and there was no reason to add it to the new line's system(it was created to dump inventory from 1961-65 supplementals).

1966

The 1966 supplements no longer followed European numbering(with the exception of the 799 baseplate). This is because the line was taken down from 144 unique sets offered to just 14. They follow a very simple system, just 051-063. As they skip 050, it's reasonable to assume a supplement was cut or the slot was being saved. As the lighting device later returns and takes this slot(050), it could be that it was not part of the 1966-68 assortment on purpose and was always originally intended for 050. The 799 designation for the large baseplate comes from Europe.

There were three Sears exclusive sets that also used the new piece system, but mail/plain box order sets will have to get their own article. We're only focusing on mainline sets that were given a clear designated number here.

1967

The numbering system following part counts continues into 1967:

536 Designer Set — 536 pieces

244 Explorer Set — 244 pieces

301 Wheel Toy — 301 pieces

321 School Set — 321 pieces

060 Jumbo Bricks Set — 60 pieces

110 Chevron Station — 110 pieces

The 835 Advanced Builder's Set is a bit of a different scenario. It did not gain that 835 number until around 1970. Even though it released in 1967, its set number could not be assigned 335 in 1970 because of the 1968 release of the 335 Transport Truck. Thus the 835 designation, a much later addition when it was given a colorful box because 335 was already in use.

Sets that were shared with Europe, however, also took the same number as their European counterpart:

113 Motorized Train

315 European Taxie

316 Tractor317 Truck

319 Truck With Trailer

320 Two-Engine Plane

Some sets, such as the 501 & 502 sets, do their own thing. I've not yet identified the pattern.

501 Empty Loveland Case

502 Deluxe Set with Case

The piece count pattern also carries over to the new wave of Canadian sets:

99 Basic Set — 99 pieces

125 Beginner's Set — 125 pieces

1968

The piece count numbering continues:

326 Suburban Set — 326 pieces

223 Adventure Set — 223 pieces

704 Master Discovery Set — 704 pieces

The "sharing numbers with the big brother" also continues:

111 Starter Train Set

116 Deluxe Train Set

331 Dump Truck

340 Radio Control Tower

332 Tow Truck

333 Delivery Truck

334 Semi-Trailer Truck

335 Transport Truck

341 Warehouse

329 Antique Car

342 Terminal Building

Some sets, like the 310 Motorized Truck set, I think broke the pattern of special sets to be a little cheeky. As the 310 set has three individual sets in one box, my assumption is that the number comes from that "three in one" association. Though contrarily, the set is typically advertised as a four in one, counting the 107 Motor as another set.

I'm not currently sure of why the 107 number was assigned to the 107 Reversible Motor.

The Sears 371 Motorized Truck... I'm not sure what happened. It has 325 pieces. It's priced at $14.00. My initial guess is that it was initially connected to the part count. As the 371 set has the 332 Tow Truck bundled in the piece count, possibly it was originally planned to have the 45 piece 331 Dump Truck as well? That'd be 325 + 45=370. It's an idea.

Also, even though the next set undoubtedly existed in some capacity in 1965, we don't have evidence that the set number specifically existed before 1968, so we have to assume the set number was assigned in 1968 even though a clear line of logic can be made to the contrary:

093 Special Set — 93 pieces

1969

The special numbering system returns, incremented by twenty again! Though remember, our supplements go to 065, so now...

066 Governor Set

080 Ambassador Set

(I don't know if these are incidental or not as they have the same numbers as their European counterparts but logically follow Samsonite's numbering system by coincidence).

Similarly, the Sears exclusive 118 Train technically matches a European train set(the 119), even though the number matches the 118 (the whistle operated one).

Confusing, I know.

Speaking of Sears exclusives:

842 Town Plan — 842 pieces

And the the 322 Educational Gear Set breaks from the part count rule, just incrementing from the 321 School Set.

And more sets obviously sharing with European counterparts:

330 Jeep

343 Ferry

1970

And the shared European numbers continue in 1970:

345 House With Mini-Wheel Car

347 Fire Station With Mini-Wheel Vehicles

348 Mini-Wheel Car and Truck Set

And one set continues the piece count = set number tradition:

630 Diplomat Set — 630 pieces

Leaving two sets with very odd set number choices:

157 Four Car Auto Transport

346 Jumbo Jet

I'm not currently aware of why exactly those numbers were chosen. I can maybe reason one out for the 346, but it sounds bizarre in my head and not really in line with any established/confirmed logic.

1971

Among all 1971's offerings, two stand out to me and have gotten their own section in which we explore them in depth.

TLDR; I believe them to be Samsonite's ultimate plan with the supplements had they gotten to keep the license. As they weren't selling well(often found at half price or lower), as well as considering the line went from 144 sets to 14 and then restructured in 1968 and again in 1970, my guess is that the 166/167 packs were created to further consolidate the Extras line. Since they were first seen in 1971, meaning they were planned and in production before Samsonite knew they were losing their license, we can show this pretty well. As they were combination sets of multiple parts packs, and the highest number in the Extras line in 1970 was 065, the natural step is 166/167.

The rest of the sets will be added here at a later date.

1972

With the introduction of the cube sets(as Samsonite was losing the license and needed to offload the remaining inventory), the numbering system completely switches into a very boring one. Again, if you're interested in the Sears/JCPenney mail order version of these sets, there is a dedicated section.

With that said, there's a very easy logic to follow:

101 — Imagination Set 1

102 — Imagination Set 2

103 — Imagination Set 3

104 — Imagination Set 4

105 — Imagination Set 5

Then, for the accessories, the numbering starts again(think like binary):

110 Vehicle Accessory Pack

111 Building Accessory Pack

112 2 Giant Baseplates

Note that 110/111 likely were never produced and were instead fulfilled using 1971's 166/167 Accessory Packs.