21029 LEGO Architecture Buckingham Palace

Like most architecture sets in the series, the LEGO Buckingham Palace instruction booklet is beautiful, 124 pages of high-quality card-stock printing. The first few pages contain information and pictures regarding the history and design of the Palace itself. Features the neoclassical facade of the palace's east wing and includes the Royal Standard flag, forecourt and palace gates, plus a section of the Mall with Victoria Memorial, red double-decker bus and a black taxicab. While these vehicle models are quite small and may seem insignificant, they add a lot to the entire model by adding a sense of scale to Buckingham Palace in the background.

The complete model occupies an almost square base, the footprint of the set is 24 x 26 studs. The elaborate gate to Buckingham palace is represented quite well with these LEGO lattice windows. The sideways plates are pretty ingenious and make for a great visual effect when it’s all completed. The sense of scale thanks to the Memorial and vehicles outside are also very clever, which makes for a very sophisticated and well thought out design.

It was retired in November 2018 with a lifespan of 26 months. The current value for a new and sealed Buckingham Palace is estimated around $110 today with current average yearly gain of about 17% but will level off in the next year closer to a 11% annual growth making it a solid investment. On the open market, a used set will fetch in the range of between $60 and $81 depending on the condition.