The 25 most valuable Lego sets of all time, from the Millennium Falcon to the Statue of Liberty Lego bricks aren't just for stepping on and screaming in horror. They're also quite the commodity. The beloved building toy has spawned a secondary market where rare sets can be worth thousands. With the help of Jeff Maciorowski from the Lego investing site Brickpicker, we present to you the 25 most valuable Lego sets in history. Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon: $3,987.40 Statue of Liberty: $1,998.87. Imperial Star Destroyer: $1,744. Death Star II: $1,656.87. Rebel Blockade Runner: $1,199.20. Castle Giant Chess Set: $1,128.20. Y-wing Attack Starfighter: $1,067.60 Super Star Destroyer: $881.33. Vader's TIE Advanced: $673.20. Marina Bay Sands: $657.40. Get the Slide Deck from Henry Blodget's IGNITION Presentation on the Future of Digital Read Business Insider On The Go Available on iOS or Android See All Jobs »
Thanks to our partnersNo matter your age, it is easy to spend hours of fun with LEGO's imaginative and innovative building sets. While many such sets are available in stores, LEGO's line of exclusive sets is hard to come by. Whether you are a collector or simply want to relive some of your childhood LEGO memories, finding some of the rarest sets out there can be an exciting experience. Get your hands on some of the top rarest LEGO sets to build a collection that is a cut (or a brick) above the rest. Table of Contents Hide 2. Motorized Hogwarts Exp... 3. NBA Basketball Teams 6. Custom Car Garage 8. TTX Intermodal Double-... Released in 2003, the Lunar Lander is a part of LEGO's discovery sets, a series that focused on real-world space flights. Considered one of the most realistic LEGO sets related to spaceflight, this 467-piece set contains the only LEGO minifigures whose torsos display the NASA astronaut pattern. The set includes the Apollo Lunar Lander, a U.S. flag, and two Apollo astronauts.
The Motorized Hogwarts Express is an exclusive train set that ties in with the third Harry Potter movie. When built, it contains a complete Hogsmeade Station, a locomotive with a tender and coach, and a circular train track. Its 708 pieces include four minifigures: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Professor Lupin, and a Dementor. Relive the 2003 NBA basketball season with this set of rare LEGO minifigures. The NBA Basketball Teams set features five minifigures, a basketball piece, and stickers from all NBA teams. Star Justice is a rare LEGO factory set. Designed by LEGO fans, this space-themed set builds a cosmic peacekeeper ship, the Star Outpost 7, a hypersled ship, a mobile cargo transport, and four robots. Its minifigures include three star justice astronauts, a star justice robot, and a star justice commander. The Star Justice set has 895 pieces. Originally released in 1980, the Main Street LEGO set re-released in 2003 as part of LEGO's Legends series. A set that depicts everyday life on a small town main street, its 622 pieces build a car dealership, a rotating tower crane, a building under construction, a stakebed truck, a food stand, and a bench.
Designed by fans, the Custom Car Garage set is part of LEGO's Factory series. Released in 2008, it is the last of the Factory series and contains 893 pieces. When built, it features a "high-speed custom garage" with three cars and drivers, six hot rod engines, and four minifigures. The set also includes a LEGO Digital Designer CD. Based on the Wright brother's powered airplane, the Wright Flyer is a part of LEGO's sculptures set. When its 664 pieces come together, this set builds a model of Flyer 1, the first successful heavier-than-air aircraft. This set does not contain any minifigures. A member of LEGO's train series, the Intermodal Double-Stack Car is a rare set that when built forms a train car with removable containers. This car combines with other LEGO locomotives and consists of 366 pieces. For many LEGO fans, the exclusive King's Castle set brings up many fond memories. This set is a recreation of the classic LEGO Royal Knights and Knights' Kingdom sets and includes a large castle and an attack force with a ballista.
Also called the Royal King's Castle, this set contains 869 pieces. Of the pieces, 12 are minifigures that include a ghost, two mounted knights with horses, and a king. The U.S.S. Constellation is a member of the Legends series. Originally released in 1978 under the same name, this 973-piece set builds a replica of a 19th century naval ship. This set is mostly in black and white and does not feature any minifigures.Some rare Lego sets are now selling for literally thousands of pounds online, as enthusiasts snap up the popular toys. But it's not just rare pieces that are selling well, with standard sets now frequently worth more than when they were new and even old bags of unsorted bricks in demand. “With the soar in popularity of Lego with both adults and children, the effect on the values of both rare, hard to find sets and new releases has been incredible," said Bev Channell, event director for Lego event BRICK 2015, running at Birmingham's NEC this week. “It’s well worth searching through your old sets to see what treasures are hiding there.”
The bigger, rarer sets tend to be worth the most - but with Lego frequently refreshing its range that means any old set that's large enough could be worth upwards of £1,000. Currently, these are the most valuable sets: Sadly, to get the best prices for your Lego, it needs to be “mint in box” - which means not opened since it was bought and still factory sealed. The good news for people who want to play with their toys is that you can still get good returns for assembled models – as long as there are no pieces missing. The easiest Lego sets to sell are Star Wars themed, with Millennium Falcons, Death Stars and X-Wings all selling well – and some prices in the thousands. But there's much more than just Star Wars selling. A look at the best-selling kits on BrickPicker shows trains, play houses, dinosaurs, Harry Potter sets, Back to the Future Deloreans and Pirate sets all featuring. Most of the sales take place on eBay, with BrickPicker providing lists of the top selling and biggest rising prices – as well as a tool letting you compare the price of sets.
You can also search on eBay for sold prices of similar sets. If you've got a box of Lego, rather than a specific set, you can bulk-sell as well – although prices for these are a lot lower. That said, if you have the time and can split the box out by category (be it Star Wars, pirates, Medieval, Technic or whatever) these smaller – more specific - bundles will frequently sell for more than a job-lot of unsorted bricks. To get the most value, you need to be selling pristine-condition Lego toys. “As with any sort of collectible, the safe storage of the collectible is very important,” Ed Mack explains in a piece on How to make money from Lego . “Although the actual Lego brick is pretty much indestructible under normal conditions, the Lego boxes and instructions need special care.” That means quite a lot of space to store them all if you're trying to make money from them, and possibly adding the cost to your insurance. Then there are the seller fees on eBay. And the shipping costs – remember, Lego is bulky and could cost quite a bit to ship.