1970

In 1970 there were 37 LEGO sets produced overall.

Based on the 37 sets released for that year, the retail value was $170.33 with a current value of $11,786.40 for the combined new/factory sealed sets. As of present, the best performing theme for 1970 is currently Minitalia which has seen an average annual growth of upwards of 9% to date. All together 1970 saw the release of sets covering 6 themes and 9 subthemes with LEGOLAND having the highest release count of 13 sets.

By 1970, LEGO grew to over 1,000 employees. The LEGO Group started the process to regain the LEGO license from Samsonite in the United States market after the founder of Samsonite, Jesse Shwayder, died. By 1973 LEGO will take control of all US LEGO sales. As LEGO continues its European growth, in Italy, the Italian Parliament restricts the import of LEGO products and LEGO responds by creating their own Italian manufacturing subsidiary called Lego Minitalia. In 1970 LEGO produced their first sets on the Minitalia theme which were essentially Basic systems. In total from 1970 until 1975 there were 21 Minitalia sets produced. During the same year, the long-running Town Plan theme was discontinued as this was part of the phasing out of multiple scaled models.