LEGO 1960 Sets

In 1960, LEGO continued its international expansion and LEGO Finland and LEGO Netherlands were established. This year also marked the beginning of serious advertising and marketing for LEGO. The old boxes featuring the Kirk Christiansen children were also replaced by a new, more contemporary, box design. LEGO and their sales companies would typically out-advertise and out-market the competition and this philosophy continues to this day.

In 1960 TLG came out with an entirely new series of basic sets. Unlike all basic #700 sets since 1949, these basic sets each had their own unique picture on the box top. Some sets, such as 700/0, 700/1 and 700/3a, had two versions of the box top picture. These sets were sold in continental Europe, Britain and Australia. 25

In the beginning of 1960, a warehouse fire in Billund burned down and destroyed virtually the entire inventory of wood toys. After the fire, production of wooden toys was discontinued; the company changed its focus to the plastic building bricks and the System of Play only.