Collect BRIO long enough and you’ll eventually come across an item that can’t be found in  catalogs. These are the last frontier of collecting because you don’t know what you don’t know.

This phenomenon of non-catalog items isn’t unique to BRIO. Typically, they come about because of a specialized market—a starter set produced for a particular retailer, for instance—or a late-year bundle intended to package up excess stock (some toy collectors call these “Frankenstein sets”, as they are a mishmash of repurposed parts). Since they aren’t intended for wide release or a long shelf life, it’s impractical to go back and add them to catalogs even in the digital age: the product must still be photographed and the catalog layout must be updated.

Non-catalog items sometimes include unique parts, and it’s these sets that are the most coveted. For example, look at BRIO starter set #33142.

This set does not, to my knowledge, have a name. It was probably a 1989 or 1990 set based on the suspension bridge, cargo ship, and plastic container pods.

The yellow container pods in this set are nearly identical to the backs of the ambulance in 1988’s Hospital Set, shown on the right, just in yellow and with a metal disc added on top (though you can see the ring for the disc insert in the ambulance part).

The “loads” are simple, beechwood blocks.

There is some parts re-use going on here, but what’s most interesting of course is those yellow pods as they are unique to this set. BRIO didn’t re-use parts to make these pods: they re-used a mold. Making the metal casting for the plastic mold was probably a significant expense, and this let them get more life out of it.