165 pieces ANCHOR BLOCKS are the king of stackable building blocks. Made of fabricated stone in sandstone, slate, and terracotta, these silky smoothe blocks are archetecturally sound enough to build castles, cathedrals, fortified cities, and houses of all kinds -- both from the plans included in each wood-box set, and straight from your young architect's imaginagion. These are heavy and substantial building pieces. Originally manufactured in Germany more than a century ago, the antique sets are often found still in near perfect condition because of the high quality of the stone blocks. In fact, these sets draw auction prices up to 10 times the cost of these contemporary sets. Production ceased during and around the time when Germany fell out of commerce with the rest of the world, and when plastic building sets came onto the market in the 1960's. Luckily, you can't keep a great product down -- and new sets have been manufactured since the mid 1990's in Germany and have been available in the US since Christmas of 1997. New sets continue to be introduced each year, with a goal of re-instituting all 1800 shapes and sizes of blocks originally created by Richter at the turn of the last century. (age 8 and up....) Availability: Usually ships the next business day. AR-10a$208.50 ********************************************* REACH US BY EMAIL AT purcifuls@yahoo.com OR BY PHONE AT (806) 239 2927 during business hours. IF YOU DON'T GET A LIVE PERSON -- JUST KEEP TRYING! THIS TIME OF YEAR WE TAKE LOTS OF CALLS!! ********************************************************* BE SURE TO CLICK THE GLOBE ICON AND GO TO OUR FRONT PAGE FOR CURRENT SPECIAL OFFERS AND COUPONS!!! ********************************************************* FOR COMPLETE SHIPPING DETAILS (what kinds are offered, how long it takes, how to choose etc....) CLICK THE "SHIPPING INFO" BUTTON on the left side of any page. ********************************************************* To find out about Purciful's Policies -- privacy, security, returns, placing orders by mail and phone, or just about us -- go to the ABOUT PURCIFUL'S AND POLICIES link -- it's in the column of purple buttons on the left side of every shopping page!