LEGO toys made with real gold?
smithsonianmag.com
I have always enjoyed LEGO toys since I was a kid, and when my son was old enough I had an excuse to play with them again. Since my son is now is grown up his old toys weren't anything he wanted to keep. So I found myself at a crossroads, did I just give them away to a thrift store or sell them myself. I went with the latter option. Since then I have found myself visiting thrift stores looking for two types of items, silver items that aren't recognized as silver by the store and LEGO mini-figures or sets that are pretty much complete. Silver is getting harder to find as the stores wizen up to it's value but many sell the toys dirt cheap. So I like to buy and flip LEGO toys, you can make some some extra cash for not too much work. I recommend checking prices on your phone before buying!
During the 1990's the LEGO corporation found itself with slowing sales. Throughout the 1980's they had been able to capitalize off of Star Wars sets although the profits were thin because of the large cut that went to George Lucas. As a result they began brainstorming and decided to create figures made of LEGOS rather than buildings or vehicles. This was the birth of the Bionicle line.
The new line of the classic toy was released in 2000. For the first several years sales were strong and new sets were released every six months. However, by the late 2000's sales waned and they were discontinued in 2010. They tried a couple times to relaunch them but they failed to sell well.
Near the inception of the Bionicle line in 2001 LEGO created a mask for the character Tahu that was made of 14 carat gold. That is the golden item found in my header today. Only thirty were made and twenty-five of them were given away through limited contests. The five extra were shared among the creators of the golden LEGO mask. Here's what the character Tahu looked like with a plastic golden mask.
bionicle.fandom.com
Fast forward to 2024. In Pennsylvania a Goodwill store received a donation of random jewelry items that included one of these masks in a LEGO jewelry box. Not knowing what they had they initially listed for $14.95. However bids began to flood in and it sold for $18,191. They did receive a bid for $33,000 but they failed to pay... It was hard to get any specific information on the weight of the mask, but Goodwill stated there was just about $1,000 worth of gold in the item.
Whoever donated it must have had no clue what they had and probably soon regretted it after seeing how much it money it was worth. Had it been me I would have been sick to my stomach!
Interestingly, this wasn't the only time the LEGO corporation produced gold items. From 1979 until 1981 LEGO would give out a 14 carat gold brick to employees who had been with the company for 25 years. Not a bad bonus gift. One sold in an online auction in 2017 for $19,793 making it officially the most expensive LEGO ever sold. I couldn't find any specifics on the weight of the gold or how many were produced, but I can't imagine very many employees were with the company for 25 years or more at that time!
brickfanatics.com
And just for fun, I looked up what actual plastic LEGO is worth the most money. It turns out that it is Spiderman! But not just any Spiderman, but the one given out in the 2013 San Diego Comic Con. This one you just had to be at the right place at the right time, I obviously wasn't.... This tiny piece of plastic is valued in excess of $9,500! Personally I would prefer the gold for that price tag!
ar.inspiredpencil.com
So next time you are in the thrift store make sure to check for some seriously undervalued LEGOS or silver that is being sold cheaply because the employees didn't realize it was made of precious metal. And if you happen to be one of the people lucky enough to already own some real golden LEGO parts, I am jealous!
I hope you enjoyed my post today and found it interesting. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to leave them below. Thank you all so much for your support, I really do appreciate it. Have a great week everyone!
References:
https://www.polygon.com/24079522/lego-bionicle-gold-hau-piece-goodwill-auction
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionicle
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Okay that‘s cool! I never heard of that but of course it has to exist :D
There aren't many out there, it would be cool to own one though!
My brother in law buys lots of Legos off eBay for his collection. He has tons and tons of bins. I still have all of mine from when I was a kid too.
That is cool, they are great collectibles and people pay crazy money for some of the mini-figures. I sold one for $130 not long ago.
That is pretty crazy! I think all of my mini figures were pretty generic. Those space sets they had for a while there were really awesome.
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The Japanese thrift stores are much more thorough in checking things, so I imagine they'd catch anything like that and call the person to give it back. Still—I do always look around for hidden treasures when I visit them.
LEGO is really interesting. I'm amazed at how they've been able to pivot the company and change to all these sets, half of which are for adults and super expensive. These days it seems like these lego sets have replaced modeling kits for almost everyone.
Japanese culture values honesty much more than ours I suppose which is very admirable. The adult sets are really cool nice and really expensive. I've bought some adult sets at thrift stores before, they are really well designed. LEGO really caught a nice market when they pivoted towards adults, it was brilliant move. I agree with you completely there.
Found anything interesting in the thrift stores over there?
I can feel the regret fromt he previous owner.
that is sad, not knowing the real value of the things that they have.
which actually happen most of the time.
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It may have come from someone who passed away and their kids didn't want to sort through everything and just gave it away. Who knows? I knew a guy who bought a silver coin at a garage sale, took it home and found a gold coin hidden behind the silver one in the box it came in. He tried to return the gold coin but they told him to keep it, it was a fair sale!
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LEGO is now on my Thrift checklist.
We never know for sure what comes to be a valuable collectable over time.
Great topic @thebighigg
"Spidey senses tingling!"
Those "Spidey senses" are always right! I'm glad you liked it, there are some really expensive LEGO parts and figures. Most people just think they are old junk!
I have silver Lego blocks but not gold. They were hand poured by a YouTube silver pourer friend.
I've always meant to pick up some of those, I've seen them on eBay before. That and some silver dice and bullets...
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Interesting story, @thebighigg!
I have a silver Lego piece, not from Lego.
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I've always meant to buy a silver one myself when I see them, but haven't done it yet. Maybe LEGO is missing out on a huge market, precious metals LEGO parts!
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Wow……. You just renewed my faith in shopping, thrift stores, my friend!😇👍
Only a handful of very lucky stackers have these 14 karat gold Legos…. I would love to be one of them!😇👍
You never know what you may find! Those LEGO brand produced gold pieces are so rare that I doubt I'll ever buy one. I would love to have one of those gold bricks!
I agree with you, just the traditional Lego shape is enticing, I would love to have one too!😇😊
Wow! I had no idea there was such a thing as gold LEGO. I had many of them when I was a kid and always kept them, until, during one of the many moves I've made, the box ended up getting lost. It was very sad
That's too bad it got lost! They seem to retain their value well for plastic toys, but they're fun even for adults! I wish I had a real LEGO brand gold piece, that would be the pride of my collection.
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Some crazy premium stuff I only wish to look at unless I somehow get lucky and stumble on a deal !BBH !LOL
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