Special EDITIONs - 1975 to 1990 (USA)
1975
Dimensions of the box: 50.5 x 34.5 x 4.0 cm
The next special edition was 10 years later and was the #11 40th Anniversary edition. This edition was in a box the same size as the red box whose number it shared. There were 2 versions of this set available. This first was the 40th anniversary set and was replaced later with the Anniversary Edition. These sets brought about the return of ten tokens to the Monopoly game.
Because of the presence of Bill Cooke's title deeds carousel the sizes of the box of this edition are slightly larger than the standard "long boxes".
There is an orange filling up cardboard in the innerbox with the carousel in white in the centre and a picture of an early small box at its left side. A vacuum formed blue styrene plasic insert serving as the Banker's tray, contains 7 slots for the banknotes and 3 compartments for the accessories. This set came with a double supply of money and those 10 standard metallic silver-gray die cast zinc tokens. The Chance and Community Chest as well as the banknotes are the standard ones. This version of the anniversary edition has but two white plastic dice with black drilled holes.
Here is an advert from the Parker Brothers catalogue, edition 1975.
The other 1975 version was the #3 Deluxe edition in a brown leatherette case. This set had an orange bound board and wooden houses and hotels (natural bases with green and red tops glued on). This was a very special edition and came with the carousel for the title deed cards and a small box to keep your houses and hotels in safely.
Dimensions of the case: 54.5 x 30.0 x 4.5 cm
This 40 year anniversary edition was designed and develloped by Bill Cooke in 1974, who was Product Designer for over 16 years at Parker Brothers/Hasbro in Beverly, MA and Pawtucket, RI.
The title deeds carousel for the storage of banker's title deeds is Bill's invention. The circulation of this edition was around 10,000 sets.
Both parts of this leatherette case with MONOPOLY gold leafed can easily be taken apart. The inside of the compartments are black flocked styrene-vacuum formed. The back side of the gameboard is orange and MONOPOLY gold leafed as well. The houses and hotels are of white wood with respectively green and red roofs, probably made in France, just like with the game of the blue plastic case. They are in a special brown box with overprint "Houses and Hotels".
The Chance and Community Chest cards as well as the banknotes are the standard ones. The standard10 tokens are made of "gold filled or gold toned" die cast zinc. It is rather special that 3 Short Rules has been supplied with this set. There are 4 pairs of dice, made of transparent acrylic plastic: 4 red ones and 4 green ones.
1985
Dimensions of the box: 25.7 x 51 x 6.5 cm
1985 brought two anniversary editions, The #7 Deluxe Anniversary Edition and the #1 1935 Commemorative Edition. The #7 had the same board and cards as the #9, but had a plastic insert that could be used as a banker’s tray and Title Deed holder, wooden houses and hotels, and had eleven gold tone tokens. New to this set was the train token. It also included an oversized rules booklet with many colour photos and the history of the game (they didn’t get it quite right).
Ref: 73000/00001
The #1 used elements from the original 1935 edition. The quad fold board had a red, white, and black Trade Mark label on it, but with Mr. Monopoly on it instead of Darrow The board graphics were changed to resemble the 1935 board, but the prices stayed on the properties. The ten tokens were antique brass and were reproductions of the originals found in a 1935 #9. It included the same rules booklet as the #7.
The board is like one of the first every played with wooden houses, "Grand" hotels, ivory-hued dice and 1935 mint cash make this a true collector's item. It comes in a tin with a specially written Monopoly story.