When I was at a Brixhibition show in Launceston earlier in the year, I was approached by a member of the public who had some old 1980s Lego that he was interested in selling and was wondering if I’d be interested in taking a look. Of course I was!

The piece that most interested me was the Black Monarch’s Castle from 1988. This is one of the castles I grew up dreaming about. It’s obtainable second hand fairly easily for a reasonable price – but this one was something special.

You see – the guy who approached me was the son of a Post Master.

Back in the 80s, somehow a few Lego sets had ended up at the Post Office in the dead letter section.

We’re not sure why they were there exactly, but they didn’t have an address so they couldn’t be posted, and no return address. After hanging around the post office for a while uncollected, they eventually made it into a stripy bag and into the Post Master’s shed.

Fast forward almost 25 years or so – they were rediscovered by the son when cleaning out his father’s shed. As he had no personal desire for Lego, he wanted to see them go to a collector. He had an idea what they were worth – but wasn’t out to make top dollar – just a fair price.

As it was really the castle that I was interested in – that was the first one I looked at. More to come on that in a separate post – but it was an impressive find. It had been opened and there were a few pieces missing – but the rare parts (the shields and minifigs etc) were all there and in perfect condition. You almost always have faded or scratched logos after this long – but these were in basically mint condition.

I offered him the going rate on Bricklink for a second-hand castle. He accepted happily – and I was happy with the deal. Not only did it save international postage, but as I mentioned earlier, the condition of this one was fantastic.

The castle wasn’t the only set he had though – there were 3 space sets and a box of trees.

 

I looked these up online – and made an offer. I knew it was on the low side, and so did the seller – but it was all I could offer. After thinking about it for a while he agreed.

 

The big set is an old Blacktron space base. Like the castle, it has been opened – and I’m not 100% sure it’s all there – but once again, the condition is the kicker.
 
 

 

After almost 30 years – those clears pieces still have no scratches! It’s unbelievable.

 

This is a smaller Blacktron set – and it’s still sealed!

 

Those plastic bags have not been opened!

I can still remember the smell of freshly opened Lego bags. The new ones just don’t measure up. I’m half tempted to open it just for the smell!

In theory, I could sell this to the right buyer for the price I paid for the entire collection. That would require finding the right buyer in the first place – but it should mean I got a good deal.

The small classic space set has been opened, but as always it’s in great nick.

The trees are still sealed. The box has been damaged, but not opened.

Sometimes you can still find old treasures – and it’s even better when they come looking for you :)

 

Anyway – because both Jason and Amy are somewhat rather odd, they decided to hold a costume engagement party – a Disney costume party.

Basically the rules were to come as anything Disney owns (traditional Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Muppets etc).

Jason is the guy in the middle dressed as Flynn Rider from Tangled.

Jason’s best man is Thor (Grant) and the rest of us are Jason’s Good-Enough guys: Joe (Robin Hood), Ben (Lone Ranger), and myself (Animal from the Muppets).

 

This is Tim as Emperor Kuzco  from the Emperor’s new Groove.

 

Finally catching up with some blog posts!

A few weekends ago I went on a local club run with the 4wd club. As Oscar is still sitting around waiting for some attention to fix his overheating – this meant scoring a ride with someone else.

Initially I was travelling with Gav from work (seen above stuck in the puddle) in his new-to-him GU patrol. He bought this as a toy so he doesn’t damage his main bus.

Well anyway – everything was going fine – even after Gav got towed out by Justin (in the foreground above) – until we got to the next puddle.

 

Here’s Trout demonstrating that anyone can get bogged if they try hard enough.

When helping someone else connect a winch cable, I took a slight misstep, and the bank gave way, and suddenly I was sitting in the puddle myself!

Now for context, there was still ice floating in these puddles - the first cars through had broken the ice – but they hadn’t warmed things up much!

So for a while I ran along with the convoy on foot taking photos and waiting for my cloths to dry out and warm up slightly. I didn’t really want to get Gav’s Patrol filthy so soon after he got it.

Eventually Justin and Lani (GQ Patrol in first pic) took pitty on me and let me jump in their bus. They said the seats were stuffed and needed replacing soon anyway. Thanks guys!

Unfortunately I can’t say I repaid Justin very well – at one point Lani and I were getting into his rig at the same time, and his side step broke off under our combined weight (mostly mine)!

He’d known the steps were pretty rotten already (rust) so it wasn’t a surprise – but might be the last time he gives me a lift...
 
 

 

Awesome day trip - regardless of my incidents. Next time I get stuck in a puddle, I'd rather be in a car though.