Hi!
I have some questions about the color scheme on early cubes. I have what I think is an early politechnika cube which looks like this.

I wonder if the color scheme in the beginning was randomly, and if, when came a standard scheme.

/Andreas Andersson

I have one like that too. The stickers look identical in shape (no rounded edges) and in vinyl color, except my yellow and green are switched relative to yours.

Chandler

You do have a Politechnika cube there and a nice example by the looks of it.

I have several of these cubes (Politehcnika & Pentangle) and the stickering varies on all them. I believe there was no set sticker scheme to follow with the very early production of Magic Cubes and hence each cube could vary. I also understand it was not unusual in those early days for two sides to have the same sticker colour applied by mistake. These details are in David Singmaster's notes.

A standard approach to stickering came about when Ideal Toys got involved, late '79 early '80. Generally speaking, cubes produced in Hungary tended to have white opposite yellow whereas the Hong Kong / Asia production favoured white opposite blue.

There are some other colour schemes produced - I've seen orange next to red for example (I have a Mako one like this) but these seem less widespread (and probably command a higher price for it).

May I ask about the Politechnika Cube......How to identify it's a politechnika Cube or not?

Well, firstly it will say on the light blue box (if it comes with one) along with the paper insert. The first Pentangle distributed cubes were from Politechnika, so that is another box indicator. However, if no box the usual identification process is as follows:

1. Square cut stickers sometimes differing in shape (supposedly hand cut).
2. Raised strikes ruunning through the middle of the edges (from rough moulds). Visible in the photo above.
3. Colours of the stickers. The really old ones (circa '78) have a mustard yellow colour for the orange side and a brighter yellow for the yellow side. Later the flo orange came into place. The shades are different on pretty much all colours to the second generation Rubik's cube.
4. The stickers are very thick, sometimes more of a matt finish than shine.
5. The corners and edges have cap covers.
6. The plastic mouldings are pretty thick so the cube is very heavy.
7. It doesn't really twist that well!

That's about all I can think of.

Thanks for the answer.



I can recomend these thread. maybe not the whole answer but interesting reading about early cubes.

http://twistypuzzles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=15620&hilit
http://twistypuzzles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=12715&hilit


/Andreas Andersson

I got to thank both of you, andand & aleutien. I'm always hoping to obtain one Politechnika Cubebut I'm not really sure how to identify it. Now I get more information. Thanks guys~