British Columbia
A Vancouver Island man is selling a Lego minifigurefora whooping $7,200.
'It's kind of the Holy Grail,' says Lego collector Matthew Fox
Claire Palmer · CBC
·
1 year ago Duration 1:38
Lego collector shows off rare 'Mr. Gold' minifigure
A Vancouver Island man is selling a Lego minifigurefora whopping $7,200.
Matthew Fox of Black Creek, B.C.,hasbeen collecting Legosince he was a child. Hesays at one time he owned four of the rare Mr. Gold figures. Over the past few years, he's sold three of themfor varying prices in the thousands to help fund the construction of his new family home.
He says he purchased them when they were first releasedon the secondary market in Ontario. Prices ranged from $400to $800 at the time.
"I just had this inkling thatman, these are gonna be worth something because to methey were really cool," said Fox.
"Not bad for a 10-year investment."
Who is Mr. Gold?
A number of factors have contributed to the high value placed on Mr. Gold minifigures, according to Andrew Cleary, founder of BrickEconomy.com.
Cleary created the website about eight years agoto track the value of Legoas people began to seeitas an investment opportunity.
He says scarcity is the main driver behindMr. Gold's rise in valueas only5,000 of the minifigureswere ever produced. The fact that an interested buyercould not purchase an individual Mr. Gold minifigure also contributed to itsvalue. Someone had to be lucky enough to find the blinged-out figure in a blind bag for aminifigureseries released in 2013.
Thatled to huge markups on thesecondary market, Cleary says. At the time of release, Mr. Gold was sellingfor $1,000 USon the secondary markets. Today, he isestimated to be worth over $6,500 US, well above Fox's asking price of $7,200Cdn.
"It's kind of the Holy Grail," said Fox.
"It's just one of the ones that people seem to know about, and really, really want."
Investing in LEGO
The Legoinvestment phenomena has been growing over the course of the last decade.
Researchers from Russia'sHSE Universitypublished a paper in January 2022thatfound Legoyields high returns on the secondary market.
The study, which looked at the average returns on 2,322 retired, sealed Lego sets sold on the secondary market, found that inmany cases Legooutperforms large stocks, bonds and even gold as an investment.
Charles Schell, acting associate dean for the faculty of management at Vancouver Island University, says that for anything to accrue in value, it needs scarcity and a secondary market —just like Mr. Gold.
- This Ontario firefighter has had a Lego obsession for a decade. Now his collection is for sale
"People invest in things that they find interesting and enjoy. We've got all the millennials that grew up on Lego who still enjoy it and see it as a good investment," said Schell.
"But don't confuse it with a well-diversified portfolio. There's better and safer options that provide more predictable returns."
For Fox, collecting Legoisn't just aninvestment, it's a source of enjoyment, one that he shares with his children.
"There's a creativity to it," he says.
"I can design, I can build, I can take two or three kits and put them together to make something I think is bigger or better."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Claire Palmer
CBC Nanaimo
Claire Palmer is a video journalist in Nanaimo. Originally from Ontario, she spent three years in Golden, B.C., before joining CBC. You can contact her at claire.palmer@cbc.ca
CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices|
About CBC NewsCorrections and clarifications|Submit a news tip|
Related Stories
- Top stories from British Columbia
- Popular trail races in Whistler, B.C., permanently cancelled
- Lack of Winter Olympic bids may lead to rotating fixed host cities
- 3 VPD officers cleared during investigation into disgraced detective withheld information, Crown says
