Is the LEGO Elf Club House (10275) a Good Investment Set?

4th October 2022

Each year LEGO releases a new festive set under the Creator Expert / Icons theme, with the Elf Club House being the 2020 offering. Each typically has a shelf life of approximately two years, so in keeping with this schedule, the Elf Club House will retire at the end of 2022. As there is little time left for investors to buy the Club House at retail price, in this article we consider whether you should prioritise adding this set to your collection.

The set

The Elf Club House is part of the long running Winter Village collection, which typically centres around sets depicting festively themed alpine buildings. This is LEGO's second fairy-tale-style addition to the subtheme, the first being the Gingerbread House (10267).

The completed model depicts a charming timber framed and snow-covered house where Santa's elves sleep and work. The exterior has a pleasing colour palette and is nicely decorated with fairy lights. The interior consists of two floors, and both are very well detailed. Downstairs there are some lovely touches, like a portrait of the four elves hanging on the wall, a gift-wrapping station, and an oven dispensing waffles! The upstairs includes three beds for the elves that can be tilted forwards by turning a rotating clock. A light brick at the top of the vaulted ceiling can be activated to provide some soft illumination, but unfortunately this is hardly visible from the outside. In addition to the house, there are some small accessory builds, such as a Santa's sleigh with newly designed reindeer, a Christmas tree, a computer station, and some of the elves' hand-built toys, which make this feel like a very complete set.

Winter Village sets share the same architectural style, with long sloping roofs and a wooden chalet type construction. This means they look cohesive when displayed together, which adds to each set's desirability. As a display model, the Elf Club House looks good and certainly holds up when shown on its own. The features and accessories mentioned above also make this a well-rounded play set.

The Club House has been given LEGO's 18+ branding, despite the obvious appeal to both children and adults. However, it does mean that the box art is beautifully sophisticated, showing the house set to a background of falling snow in a night sky. A set marketed for adults is a positive for its investment potential, as the majority of collectors are adults themselves.

The Elf Club House retails for £79.99 / $99.99 / €89.99 and has a piece count of 1,197. This equates to a price per piece of 6.7p / 8.4c / 7.5c, which is one of the cheapest when compared to other Creator Expert / Icons sets.

The Minifigures

The Elf Club House comes with four elf minifigures, all of which make use of the same torso, leg, and hat pieces. These parts also appear in minifigures from other wintry sets, so do not break new ground in terms of their design. Some variation other than the headpieces would have been nice as it feels like LEGO have taken a shortcut here. Because of their lack of distinction, none of included minifigures are likely to be very desirable after this set retires.

Unique Parts

The Elf Club House doesn't include any unique pieces. The rarest parts are the red plate used by the doorway, a sand yellow connector, and the 1x4x1 reddish brown sloped piece. Unique and rare parts can help bolster a set's desirability, but none of the less common parts here are present in sufficient quantity to have any influence on this set's price after it retires.

Looking to the future

Sets that play on the festive theme will always be popular, given the universal appeal of Christmas and the fact it seems to grow in significance year upon year. Sets that tie into others within a subtheme or theme, such as modular designs, will also long be desirable, especially if that subtheme or theme keeps growing. This is the case with the Creator Expert modular buildings, as the early releases in the range now fetch astronomical sums on the secondary market. Although the Winter Village sets don't connect up, they have a strong tie-in to each other due to their repeating design elements. These plus points from a collecting perspective can be seen in the price of the earliest Winter Village sets, which sell for several times their original RRPs.

Conclusion

Investment opportunity: Fair

The Elf Club House is a solid addition to a highly popular subtheme. It has a pleasing design and is full of interior and exterior detail. The timeless festive theme means this set will appeal to a range of collectors, especially those that already have several other Winter Village sets. Looking at the two most recently retired sets from this subtheme, the Winter Village Fire Station (10263) and the Gingerbread House (10267), both now sell for more than their original RRPs. However, their return on investment is small so it's not expected that the Elf Club House will skyrocket in price. So while it should appreciate in value, you are likely to see some better profits elsewhere.

Disclaimer: This article or any others on brickranker.com should not be considered financial advice and investing in LEGO is risky.

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