A 14-karat gold Lego piece sold for $24,501 at Goodwill’s online auction house on Wednesday. The Lego piece is the golden Kanohi Hau mask from Lego’s Bionicle line, which was produced in the 2000s.
Of course, this is no ordinary Lego piece — the company produced a bunch of plastic versions of the various Bionicle masks, but only a couple dozen of the golden pieces, which were reportedly given away during special Lego promotions. Lego held several competitions over the years with gold Bionicle masks as prizes: One contest asked kids to build websites, while another was a sweepstakes with Cartoon Network. It’s not clear how many solid gold masks were given away, but Goodwill Industries of North Central Pennsylvania vice president of e-commerce and technology estimated to CBS that the number was around 25.
Unlike typical Lego sets, the Bionicle line was more action figures than anything else. Still, they were constructable into robotic figures topped off with different masks. The Bionicle line was retired in 2005, brought back in 2015, retired again in 2016, and partly returned in 2023, with a small Bionicle set available just for a limited time. The gold mask up for auction at Goodwill is from the Tahu character. Lego gave the masks away in Lego-branded jewelry boxes.
“We didn’t know what we had when we found it,” Goodwill Industries of North Central Pennsylvania spokesperson Jessica Illuzzi told CBS affiliate WTAJ. “It came in a box full of random jewelry from the State College store. So it had already been processed through donations there.”
It’s actually the second time this particular gold mask has been up for auction. Earlier this month, Goodwill sold it for $33,000, but the winner never paid up. The gold alone is worth nearly $1,000. The auction has been running since Feb. 16; with five hours to go, the price was up to $16,000 before jumping to the final $24,501. It’s likely one of the most expensive Lego pieces ever sold, even though it didn’t reach $33,000 this time.
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