Hidden treasures can sometimes be found in the most unexpected places, like a Pennsylvania Goodwill store that recently sold a rare LEGO piece.
This Goodwill store in Dubois, Pennsylvania, stumbled upon an unusual item within a donated jewelry box: a gold Bionicle mask, a part of LEGO's action figure line from the early 2000s.
"We didn’t know what we had when we found it," said a representative from Goodwill in North Central Pennsylvania during a WTAJ interview. The piece had come from a collection of mixed jewelry donated at the State College store.
Bionicles usually come in plastic, but LEGO had created special Kanohi Hau masks in gold as part of a giveaway starting in 2001.
"There were 25 that were given away, and five remained for people who actually worked at LEGO," stated Chad Smith, a Goodwill executive, to CBS News. "So 23 years later, one of these resurfaces and it’s really unique."
The auction for the 14-karat gold, 1-inch-tall LEGO piece began at $3,300. After 48 bids, it sold for $18,101.
To give an idea of its value, LEGO's Star Wars Millennium Falcon set, one of its most expensive, sells for $850 and comprises over 7,500 pieces.
Even the LEGO Titanic, one of the largest sets at four-and-a-half feet long, is priced at $680, making the gold LEGO mask's selling price all the more remarkable.
