The DuBois Goodwill was turned upside down when a rare 14-karat Lego piece was given to the donation center last month. At first, the employees were unaware of the potential worth of the piece but that quickly changed when the piece was receiving bids of over $30,000.

The 14-karat Bionicle Golden Kanohi Hau Lego mask was initially created in 2001, and only 30 were ever produced. Five of the gold masks were given to employees, while the rest were entered into a customer giveaway. Although the piece is less than an inch in diameter, it became a highly desired piece for Lego collectors.

Goodwill’s Vice President of Ecommerce and Technology Chad Smith said he was shocked to see the piece sell for over $18,000 dollars. Initially, the DuBois Goodwill had its jewelry experts verify the authenticity of the metal, and once they realized it was real gold, they knew it was something of value.

“We initially listed it online for $1,000 dollars, but well within a few hours, the bids were above $10,000,” Smith said. “I guess it spread word of mouth within the Lego community because we were getting calls and emails putting in their bids.”

It was unlike anything Smith had ever seen before in more than 20 years of working at Goodwill.

Smith said the initial auction, which reached a bid of $30,000 dollars, had to be shut down due to fake accounts and scammers. Once he relisted the item a few days later at $6,000 dollars, the piece erupted once again with bids from all over the country.

“We had to make sure the people buying the piece were real because so many fake accounts had been created to get a hold of the mask. I think the scammers just drew more attention to the piece and made people in the Lego community want it more,” Smith said.

The auction was put on Goodwill’s reselling website, Shop Goodwill, and had bids placed up until the final minute of the auction.

“It’s a strategy game for the auctions because you want to put a high bid at the end to try and outbid everyone else,” Smith said.

One lucky individual out of California played their cards right and won with a successful strategy. Their final bid, placed within the last minute of the auction, outbid the previous highest bid by $1.

All of the proceeds from the auction go toward funding Goodwill’s program that encourages and promotes helping those with disabilities find jobs. Whether it is within Goodwill or another company, Goodwill takes a portion of the proceeds to help those with disabilities and disadvantages find work and gain work experience.