Arne building at a LEGO event in 2006
Growing up in the 1950s
Arne was born in 1948 and grew up in the eastern part of Oslo. He has fond memories of LEGO and toys from his childhood. He remembers mainly having toys made of wood and metal to start with, and how quickly plastic started entering the market. He recieved his very first plastic toy during a Christmas Eve in the early 50's. A colourful train with multiple carriages in sturdy plastic that he said could handle a bit of rough play.
Hooked on LEGO
In 1953, the year LEGO entered the Norwegian market, Arne would have been 5 years old. The perfect age to enter the world of LEGO. He could not remember when he would have recieved his first set, but it likely was around 1953/54. He remembers recieving at least two "LEGO Mursten" sets, a big and a smaller one throughout his childhood, either during Christmas or a Birthday. Likely a 700/2 and a /4 or /6. The boxes were quickly disposed of as it was the bricks he wanted to use and play with.
The "idea leaflet" included with one of the sets was frequently used to try and build the models that were showcased. His two favorite buildings being the big church and another big building with a double roof. However the bricks he had would be nowhere near enough to auctually build them...
The church and big building seen on the left
LEGO was expensive
LEGO was and still is an expensive toy, and was at the time considered a "luxury product". So just going to the store and buying lots of sets was not an option. Arne remembers going to the store and buying loose bricks to help his building projects. His weekly pocket money at the time was 25 øre (0.25 NOK), which at the store could buy him two 2x4 bricks for 12 øre each. Yes you read that right, with his pocket money Arne was only able to buy two bricks a week. Imagine how long it would take to just build a small house!
Arne understood that this would not work for the big building projects he had in mind. So as spring came and the flowers started blooming, he went around collecting them making small bouquets of flowers. Then he knocked on doors around the neighbourhood selling the flower boquets for 15 øre each, and even some bigger ones for 25 øre each. As soon as he had enough money he would run down to the store and buy a handful of bricks. The store Arne bought his bricks from was in the white building seen on the left here: Picture link
In the late 1950s Arne remembers having enough bricks to build many of the models he would see on the LEGO sets and idea leaflets. With his pocket money he had bought lots of brown bricks, which was his favorite LEGO colour. He used them as the foundation of his buildings, and also remembers using 10x20 plates that were glued together in double and triple sizes to build on. He also had one of the plastic town plans to put the buildings on.
He also remembers being a little disappointed when the sets started only including red and white bricks, as he was a big fan of great selection of colours the LEGO bricks came in. Luckily many stores still sold such bricks loose.
Growing up
Eventually the LEGO interest did dwindle away, and a some of his old LEGO was given away. Fortunately a good amount was also kept.
A fun non-LEGO story is that Arne eventually got a weekend job at Telegrafverket (The Telegraph Agency) in Oslo, where he would deliver telegrams. He worked there for three years, delivering telegrams to the same place every weekend, that place being the Royal Palace! Sadly he did say that not once did he see the king there...
During the 2000s Arne got his interest for LEGO back, buying some sets and building a few custom models. In 2011 he joined Brikkelauget, the Norwegian LUG, and participated in a few events.
A part of Arne's collection
In 2017 he had some health complications which sadly limited the amount of energy he had to build with LEGO and move around. In 2018 I first got in contact with Arne as he joined our Pre-1975 group on Facebook. He had started sorting through the LEGO bricks he had left from his childhood, and found a specific interest in the early windows and doors. Over the years he amassed an impressive collection of LEGO windows and various clones. We spent a lot of time discussing colour variants and small details that set them apart.
In 2023 his health sadly rapidly declined, and he eventually passed away the same year in his home.
Arne's BrickShelf gallery can be found here: https://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.php?m=aha
His Flickr profile can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/163762424@N08/with/49648891347
You can also search up Arne's name in the Pre-1975 group on Facebook to find some of his posts there.
Go back and read memoirs of other people here