A 14-karat gold Lego piece sold for $24,501 Goodwill’s online auction house on Wednesday. The Lego piece is the gold Kanohi Hau mask from Lego’s Bionicle line, produced in the 2000s.
Of course, this is no ordinary Lego piece – the company produced a number of plastic versions of the various Bionicle masks, but only a few dozen of the gold pieces. which were reportedly given away during special Lego promotions. Lego held several competitions over the years with golden Bionicle masks as prizes: one competition asked children to build websites, while the other involved a lottery with Cartoon Network. It’s not clear how many solid gold masks have been given away, but the vice president of e-commerce and technology for Goodwill Industries of North Central Pennsylvania estimated by Statistics Netherlands that the number was around 25.
Unlike typical Lego sets, the Bionicle line consisted more of action figures than anything else. Yet they could be constructed into robot figures, finished with various masks. The Bionicle line was retired in 2005, brought back in 2015, retired again in 2016, and partially returned in 2023, with a small Bionicle set only available for a limited time. The gold mask being auctioned at Goodwill is of the character Tahu. Lego gave away the masks in Lego brand jewelry boxes.
“We didn’t know what we had when we found it,” said Jessica Illuzzi, spokesperson for Goodwill Industries of North Central Pennsylvania. told CBS affiliate WTAJ. “It was in a box full of random jewelry from the State College store. So it had already been processed through donations there.”
This is actually the second time this particular gold mask has been auctioned. Earlier this month, Goodwill sold it for $33,000, but the winner never paid. The gold alone is worth almost $1,000. The auction has been running since February 16; With five hours to go, the price rose to $16,000 before jumping to the final $24,501. It is likely one of the most expensive Lego pieces ever soldeven though it didn’t reach $33,000 this time.