Back in 2001, a limited series of golden LEGOs were released. Over the following decades, sightings of the toys have been rare.
Recently, one showed up at a Pennsylvania Goodwill store. It was put up for auction and sold for $18,101 as of Thursday evening, per the Goodwill website.
“Truly a unique, rare, collectible piece!” the site said. “Item was previously bid up to $33,000 but was unpaid for so it’s been automatically relisted.”
According to CBS News, the gold, helmet-shaped piece was found in Dubois, Pa., where it was mixed into a box of donated jewelry. Since it doesn’t look like a typical LEGO block, the piece was able to blend in with the other donations.
“Originally this was done in 2001,” Chad Smith, the vice president of e-commerce and technology for Goodwill in North Central Pennsylvania, explained about the LEGO. “It was a giveaway, and there were 25, I believe, that were given away and five remained for people who actually worked at LEGO. So 23 years later, one of these resurfaces and it’s really unique.”
Goodwill describes the helmet as a 14K yellow-gold LEGO Bionicle Hau Mask that is 1 inch long, tested with a Mizar electronic gold tester. Susan Earls and her son Austin, LEGO enthusiasts, said that the “Bionicle” toy is a controversial one in the LEGO community, according to CBS.
“It got a lot of mixed reactions,” they said. “And there are still people that don’t like Bionicles, just die-hard LEGO fans that don’t like it at all.”
However, she said that she and her son were fans and that she was sure it would find a buyer. LEGO said that the construct-able action figures were launched in 2001 and that they “spawned an entire world of lore told through movies, TV series, comics, books, and video games, inspiring a dedicated fan base.”
Per the Goodwill website, bids on the LEGO ranged from $3,310 to the winning $18,101.