MOST of us have owned a collection of Lego in our time.

Perhaps you had a variety of bricks which you kept in a Quality Street tin.

Or maybe your collection was more substantial, with outer space and street scene sets.

But however impressive it was, it’s unlikely that it came close to Andy Watts’.

Because the 37-year-old computer programmer from Hampshire has probably the biggest collection of Lego minifigures, or minifigs, in the country: 1,500 different ones.

Like most children, he went through various collecting phases, gathering up Smurfs and Star Wars figures among others for a while before losing interest.

He also had his own Lego collection, which he gave away, which largely consisted of construction sets.

In fact it was only some three to four years ago that he became an avid collector of minifigs.

But he’s certainly made up for lost time!

“I got back into Lego, selling it on the Internet for a small income. I had lots of figures coming in and I just started collecting them,” he says simply.

Like so many collectors, Andy doesn’t have a definitive answer to the question of why he has devoted so much time, energy and money to his collection.

“For their size they’re really well designed and they’ve got a lot of individuality,” he says.

“I have two sons, aged 11 and twoand- a-half. They both like Lego.

They always help me with sorting it out. I think it encouraged my interest to collect something the children could get into as well. I could be collecting samurai swords but it wouldn’t be something I could share with my boys!

“When you’re collecting something like children’s toys you have to have a certain frame of mind to take any ridicule you might get along the way.”

Andy catalogues all his figures before putting some into storage and others on display. His collection includes figures from 1978, when minifigures were first launched, up to new ones. They vary in price from 20 or 30 pence for the type that might feature in a town scene to £70-£80 for more collectible figures, such as Star Wars characters.

Many of the figures cannot be bought new individually but are sold in sets, pushing the price up.

“I’d like to think I wouldn’t go over £100 for a figure,” Andy laughs.

“Although Lego released a special edition gold plated figure a couple of years ago which is selling at just over £100 – I might push the budget up for that one.”

Andy’s favourite figure in his collection is a vampire which comes with its own coffin and is also a big fan of the Star Wars figures.

So far Andy’s collection has been for his personal pleasure but this year he is currently photographing every one of his figures so that they can be catalogued on his website, minifigforlife.com, for others to enjoy and is also planning to take at least some of the collection on the road, to collectors’ fairs and shows.

“I have fallen out of love with other things I’ve collected,” he says. “I think this is the first time I’ve collected something as an adult, where I’ve obviously got the funds to keep the collection going. I think as a child you often collect things but don’t have the purchase power to go anywhere with it so you give up. I think I’ll stick with Lego though – I don’t think I’ll ever fall out of love with it.”