10294 LEGO Icons Titanic | LEGO Titanic – A great LEGO Investment?

The LEGO Titanic has captured the imagination of builders and enthusiasts worldwide, paying homage to one of the most iconic tragedies in history. The ship, which was thought to be unsinkable, set sail on its maiden voyage, traveling from Southampton, England, to New York City on April 10, 1912. On board were over 2,200 passengers and crew, little did they know that in the early hours of the 15th of April, over 1,500 people would lose their lives as the ship tragically sank. The story of the Titanic has been turned into many books, movies and musicals over the years and so it is not surprising that LEGO also released their tribute to it with LEGO 10294. As a model, we think this is an unbelievable set, will it be the start of more Titanic LEGO Icons sets to come?

Set Details

Launched in November 2021 the LEGO Icons Creator Expert set is an authentic scale model, designed in 3 sections. Each section, bow, mid-section and stern is separated in its own box, detailed with the line drawings covering all the faces of the box showing different angles of the ship, focusing primarily on the section you’re building. One of the largest LEGO sets ever created, the ship measures over 135cm long and 44 cm high. With 9090 pieces the level of detail is loyal to the original, with over 300 portholes, distinctive funnels, the bridge and lifeboats being represented. Cross sections reveal dining rooms, staircases, cabins, steam engines and more.

The ship is a great build, and while you might think that many specialist parts would be used, this is not the case, apart from new vinyl flags and some bow lettering. Typewriter keys are used for the Titanic lettering, with no stickers to be seen. Some might also think that there is an absence of mini figures, but this shows the LEGO design to really be about the model of the ship.

The set really is a true icon and will appeal to a wide variety of LEGO and history lovers, although if building, rather than investing, a large place to display the finished model will be needed!

Investment Potential

If you were looking at just the numbers then it seems difficult to recommend the Titanic set as a LEGO investment currently. The set has only been in circulation for just under a year and it is likely that it has at least 2 more years and possibly as many as 4 years availability before being retired from retail sale. If this holds true, we expect the value to remain close to the level of the RRP until it is retired, at which time we can expect to see an uplift in value. Obviously, an earlier than expected retirement would lead us to be more inclined to buy this as a LEGOs investment sooner.

On the other hand, there seems to be very limited availability of the set at retail (if you are looking to buy then set up a stock notification on the LEGO site here) and in the longer term, especially once the set is retired from retail sale, then this iconic model is expected to continue to prove popular and should become a decent investment for the longer term as demand holds strong and supply wanes.

Theme Analysis

In general, the LEGO Icons theme is not a category that instantly springs to mind when looking for LEGO investment sets, although there are definitely some exceptions within it. It contains 72 sets across 10 different sub-themes covering quite a broad set of subject matters, many of which are still currently available for retail sale.

We have taken a look at some of the sets within the theme and they show the varied performance that can be found within. The pick of them is clearly LEGO winter Holiday Train (10254) which retired in 2019 with an RRP of £70 and has more than doubled in value to £158, total growth of 126% in just under 3 years! (33% annualised growth). The other end of the scale can be seen by LEGO Sydney Opera House (10234) which retired with an RRP of £250 in 2016 and has seen just 16% growth to £291 since (3% annualised growth).

Comparable Set Analysis

Looking at some closer examples within the LEGO Icons theme, again we can see a wide range of growth across the various sets with more confirmation that this is a set pickers theme for LEGO investments and not one in which to buy all/any models as LEGOs investments.

LEGO Big Ben (10253) has seen 90% growth since retiring in 2016 (12% annualised growth), LEGO Taj Mahal (10256) has seen just 7% growth since retiring in 2020 and LEGO Roller Coaster (10261) has seen 12% growth since retiring in March 2022.

Conclusion

The continued retail availability along with the disappointing annual growth figures from the Icons theme along with the price point at nearly £600 mean in the short to medium term there are better LEGO investment options out there.

Currently we would only recommend this set as one to build if you fancy the challenge of over 9,000 pieces and a finished model at over 1m long! As an investment, there is definitely long-term potential but less so in the short term, so the timing of purchase closer to the sets retirement from retail would be the best approach, along with revisiting the financial performance of some of the other comparable LEGO Icon sets.

April 2024 Update

Its 18 months now since we wrote this preview of LEGO Titanic and actually very little has changed with our view. This is still very much a set to build and display if it is in your price range and you have the room to display this massive model. As an investment, it is very much still a case of wait and see, especially as LEGO 10294 is now not expected to retire until the end of 2026, so has well over 2 years more at retail sale. With this long left ahead of LEGO retirement (for such a large and

expensive LEGO investment set) this is still on the back burner as a possible LEGO investment. In its favour, supply is still closely controlled with it being a LEGO excusive (and often going out of stock for short periods at a time), demand is still strong and the model remains as iconic as ever.

If you are looking for LEGO icons sets to invest in currently then we would definitely steer you towards those expected to retire in 2024. Those currently are:

• LEGO 10274 – LEGO Ghostbusters ECTO-1
• LEGO 10283 – LEGO NASA Space Shuttle Discovery
• LEGO 10303 – LEGO Loop Coaster
• LEGO 10304 – LEGO Chevrolet Camaro Z28
• LEGO 10306 – LEGO Atari 2600
• LEGO 10308 – LEGO Holiday Main Street
• LEGO 10320 – LEGO Eldorado Fortress
• LEGO 10321 – LEGO Corvette

At Investabrick we have written articles about many of these LEGO Icons sets which are soon to become retired LEGO. Our pick as LEGO Investments would be LEGO Holiday Main Street (10308) and LEGO Eldorado Fortress (10320) and you can find these LEGO investments articles in the Articles Current Sets tab.