The most expensive LEGO sets 2023

Looking for the most expensive LEGO sets in the world? Better prepare your wallet; some of these brick-built beauties will set you back thousands of dollars. Some are particularly rare LEGO sets; others are key targets for LEGO investors; others simply contain one or two individual parts that’re worth a bundle online. Whether you’re looking to build the most valuable set collection, or just want to gawk at the prices, read on to find our full list of the most expensive LEGO on the market in 2023.

This isn’t the sum total of our brick toy wisdom, mind. You might also enjoy our guides to the biggest LEGO sets available, the best LEGO sets for adults, or – for the scruffy nerf herders – the best Star Wars LEGO sets on offer. Need the latest thing? Try these new LEGO sets. Or, if trends aren’t your thing, here’s the best LEGO sets of all. For now, though…

The most expensive LEGO sets in 2023 are:

LEGO Space Command Centre

For a very broad sweep of fans, the LEGO Space Command Centre, and the rest of the nostalgia-inducing classic ‘Space’ line, capture the very heart of what LEGO is. Launched in 1978, it’s visual styling and theming continue to influence modern sets, with it sitting front and centre of 2014’s LEGO Movie thanks to the role of Benny the ‘1980-something Space guy’. Ask anyone to imagine a LEGO minifigure, and a good number of them will conjure up a vision of an astronaut with the planet logo on their chest; the star of LEGO Space.

All of that might explain why the LEGO Space Command Centre is worth a little over $10,100 (£8,300) today. On launch in the US, it retailed at $24.99. Offering a moonbase, astronauts and space buggies, it’s rather charmingly primitive by today’s standards. But in capturing so many childhood memories, it is both the most expensive and most defining LEGO set money can buy.

LEGO Batman: The Tumbler

If you’re super into your Batman lore, you’ll already know that the Tumbler is the name of the off-road military vehicle Bruce Wayne uses in the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy. If you didn’t already know that, you may know the car by its more common name – The Batmobile.

There are many different versions of LEGO Batman: The Tumbler in the brick-i-verse. More common sets like the LEGO Batman Tumbler Set For Adults can be picked up more easily from online retailers for around $260 (£200). However, the rarest of the rare is The Tumbler: Joker’s Ice Cream Surprise, which comes with a sugary escape vehicle and the Clown Prince of Crime himself. It’s clear from second-hand sales of The Tumbler: Joker’s Ice Cream Surprise that crime does, in fact, pay – this version of LEGO Batman: The Tumbler has fetched as high as $1,500 (£1,146) on eBay in 2022.

LEGO Statue of Liberty

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled bricks yearning to build free.” Okay, so maybe that isn’t exactly what it says on the LEGO Statue of Liberty, but it probably would if it was large enough to have a readable plaque. This is a symbol of freedom that you can fit on your table without having to take a trip to New York.

Once again, there are multiple LEGO sets designed to imitate the great American landmark. The 21042 model from LEGO’s Architecture series is still available from the LEGO shop for a meagre $118 (£90) – while the 3450 LEGO Statue of Liberty sold for a whopping $1,661 (£1,366) at the close of 2022.

LEGO Millennium Falcon

There are few pieces of Star Wars memorabilia more iconic than the LEGO Millennium Falcon. In fact, this entry in the guide is so memorable that you can still order a box from the LEGO store – but you will have to backorder it, and it’s going to cost you around $900 (£700).

Under $1,000 for one of the most expensive LEGO sets of 2022 might seem like small fry, but the relative scarcity of this set means that the second-hand sellers are the ones really driving up the price. The 75192 Collector’s Set – which LEGO calls “the largest, most detailed LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon model we’ve ever created” – is the box to beat, which has sold on eBay recently for anywhere between $500 and $1,750. Heck, someone is even trying to sell the instructions alone for $60.

Lego Castle (1978 variant)

LEGO builders that can remember the late 1970s and early 1980s will remember that time when LEGO Castle sets were vibrant yellow. The most famous of those castles is the 1978 variant, which was one of the most coveted on release, and is now one of the most expensive. The set’s value in mid-2022 hovered around $9,900 (£7,800), according to LEGO pricing site Brick Economy – should anyone find one in like-new condition.

The reason for its value? It was the first of the eight ‘classic castles’ released, and like the LEGO Space Command Centre up top, it utterly captures so many childhood memories of LEGO. It’s just that most of us grew into adults without a spare eight grand to put down on LEGO. Not to worry! If you can bear an unboxed played-with version with a part or two missing, you could scoop this LEGO Castle for less than $360 (£300). A… bargain?

LEGO Cloud City

The most expensive LEGO sets list concludes with – you guessed it – even more Star Wars. First appearing in Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, Cloud City is the floating mining colony where space opera fans first met Lando Calrissian on-screen for the first time.

While (once again) there are multiple iterations of LEGO Cloud City, it’s the 10123 set that has the most eye-watering price. Not currently available from retailers, second-hand hunters were paying about $790 (£950) in 2020.

In late 2022, the value of a like-new set had climbed to $3,270 (£2,700). By January 2023, spot prices had soared to over $9,500 (£7,609). After a thousand-dollar price dip in February, as of April 2023, the top end price is at an all-time high of $9,762 (£7,821).

And there you have it – LEGO pricing can offer a tempting investment opportunity; and a troubling volatile market.

LEGO wooden toys

We’ll end on a fun and fascinating one. We won’t list a single set here – because we’re talking about the LEGO wooden toys the company made from 1932 until 1960, before it moved on plastic.

The 1935 LEGO Duck might be the most famed. Multiple LEGO ‘Quacking Duck’ toys were made in the 1930s and 1940s, but it is the 1935 that was and is the most iconic, pushing its value today to $2,000 (£1,649). Indeed, it’s so popular that in 2022 LEGO released a plastic brick version, set 40501 – officially named The Wooden Duck, of course.

There are a host of other gorgeous wooden LEGO toys from that era, from fixed axle yo-yos to absurdly stylish VW Vans. And the beautiful LEGO Chevrolet Bel Air Car Nr 600, which in 1957 set a new standard for the toy firm’s wooden line, even featuring real rubber tyres. The LEGO Bel Air doesn’t sell often, but tends to command around $1,000 (£824). We can but dream!