Rare Gold Lego Listed for Just $14.95 at Pennsylvania Goodwill Store Fetches a HUGE Amount at Auction
A rare Lego piece found at a Goodwill store has been purchased for nearly $20,000 at an online auction.
The Bionicle Golden Kanohi Hau mask, manufactured in 2001, was found by employees at a branch of the nonprofit warehouse store in DuBois, Pennsylvania.
The 14-carat gold Lego mask weighed 26.14 grams and was one of 30 of its kind made at the time.
The mask was offered for a base price of just $14.95 Buy good will but following the discovery, the rare item was previously bid on for as much as $33,000.
The Bionicle Golden Kanohi Hau mask, manufactured in 2001, was found by employees at a branch of the nonprofit warehouse store in DuBois, Pennsylvania
The 14-karat gold Lego mask weighed 26.14 grams and was one of 30 of its kind made at the time
The mask had been listed at Shop Goodwill for a base price of just $14.95, but following its discovery, the rare item previously saw bids for as much as $33,000.
Chad Smith, Goodwill’s vice president of e-commerce and technology, said WTAJ: ‘There are 30 of the golden ones. They make some silver and some platinum.
‘We’ve been talking about it all week. I actually haven’t even had a chance to think about it yet, but it’s pretty amazing.
“It just goes to show that you never know what you’re going to find on shopgoodwill.com.”
Some of the 30 pieces were donated to LEGO employees and the rest were awarded through a competition in 2001.
The mask is part of Lego’s Bionicle collection and, according to the toy manufacturer, the collection has “inspired a wide range of interconnected media including books, films, TV series, comics, video games and other licensed products” since 2001. and the original end of the line in 2010.
Some of the 30 pieces were donated to LEGO employees and the rest were awarded through a competition in 2001
The mask is part of Lego’s Bionicle collection and, according to the toy manufacturer, the collection has “inspired a wide range of interconnected media including books, films, TV series, comics, video games and other licensed products” since 2001. and the original end of the line in 2010
But despite its enormous popularity, the mask went unrecognized by Goodwill store employees
Jessica Illuzzi, Social Media & PR Coordinator for Goodwill Industries of North Central Pennsylvania, said, “We didn’t know what we had when we found it. It came in a box full of random jewelry from the State College store. So it had already been processed through donations there’
‘A combination of the words ‘biological chronicle’, the BIONICLE line featured characters that were a combination of both mechanical and organic elements. The line proved to be a cultural phenomenon, enriched by a long-running story about the Matoran universe that extended far beyond the toys themselves,” as described by LEGO.
But despite its enormous popularity, the mask went unrecognized by Goodwill store employees.
Jessica Illuzzi, Social Media & PR Coordinator for Goodwill Industries of North Central Pennsylvania, said, “We didn’t know what we had when we found it. It came in a box full of random jewelry from the State College store. So it had already been processed through donations there.
‘I think it’s really cool that there are so few, but it’s also pretty cool to discover the research behind it. And then the final step is to find the right collector to really take that with him.’
This discovery comes two months after a Virginia woman unknowingly found one of the rarest works of Italian art during her serendipitous vase shopping at her local Goodwill.
Jessica Vincent, 43, was browsing her local Goodwill when a 12-inch Murano glass vase covered in burgundy and green brushstrokes caught her eye.
She suspected there was something special about it and made a purchase for $3.99.
Jessica Vincent, 43, was browsing her local Goodwill when she found a 12-inch Murano glass vase wrapped in burgundy and green brushstrokes and bought it for $3.99.
The piece was estimated to sell for $30,000-50,000 when it went up for auction on December 13, but instead went for $107,100.
‘It was so unusual. It had such a quality. I knew it was a good piece of glass, with the mark on the bottom,” she said. “I knew he was coming home with me.”
After some research when she got home, Vincent was shocked to learn that the piece was a 1940s design by influential Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa, part of the Pennellate series he designed for Venini, a centuries-old glass workshop on the island of Murano .
In an effort to learn more, Murano uploaded a photo of the vase to a Facebook group and became even more excited by the response.
Members rushed to help her identify the rare item – some even started offering money to buy it.
One member even offered her $10,000 for the vase, but she declined; others suggested contacting Wright’s Auction House in New York.
When it went to auction on December 13, the piece was estimated to fetch between $30,000 and 50,000, but instead sold for $107,100.
In July 2023, a Kentucky man struck gold after discovering more than 700 rare gold dollars buried in his farm in what experts have dubbed the “Great Kentucky Hoard.”
One of the coins in the collection – an 1863 $20 Gold Liberty – is pictured. The piece usually fetches a six-figure sum at auction
The unidentified man filmed himself digging up the loot – all minted between 1840 and 1863 – exclaiming: ‘This is the craziest thing that ever happened.’ In the photo: the entire collection
The unknown person filmed himself digging up the loot – all minted between 1840 and 1863 – exclaiming: ‘This is the craziest thing that ever happened.’
One of the discovered coins – an 1863 $20 Gold Liberty – could fetch up to six figures at auction, experts say GovernmentMint said. The collection contains 18 of the extremely rare pieces.
It means that if each of them owns at least $100,000, the owner can get a payday of $1.8 million. And that does not apply to the hundreds of other rare coins in the collection.
Archaeologists speculate that in the 1860s the “treasure” belonged to wealthy Kentuckians, who were known to have buried vast sums of money to protect it from a Confederate raid during the American Civil War.
The coins were authenticated by the Numismatic Guaranty Co. (NGC), which assessed them as being in ‘extremely good to mint condition’.
It is unclear exactly where the land is located, but it is believed to belong to the man who excavated it Living Science.
Experts estimate that 95 percent of the treasure consists of gold dollars, including $1 Gold Indians, $10 Gold Libertys and $20 Gold Libertys.
The coins are believed to be linked to the Civil War, when many people hoarded their money due to the rise of bandits, bootleggers and gangsters.
So far, the identity of the person who purchased the Bionicle Golden Kanohi Hau mask is unknown.