Teenager finds 'holy grail' of LEGO figures that fell from ship during a storm in 1997
A thirteen-year-old boy has found a LEGO octopus on a beach in Cornwall, England. This is considered the 'holy grail' of a huge collection of LEGO figures that fell from a cargo ship during a heavy storm in 1997.
During the storm, around five million LEGO pieces ended up in the sea at Land's End in Cornwall. Among those millions of pieces were 352,000 flippers, 97,500 diving tanks and 92,400 swords. The octopus is the rarest, with 4,200 pieces.
In the years since, collectors have found several LEGO pieces, but the octopus has often remained elusive. Thirteen-year-old Liutauras Cemolonskas is the leading collector with a collection of no fewer than 789 LEGO pieces.
He collected these over the past two years, his father told the regional news agency PA Media. "The octopus was the most sought after piece from the beginning. We did not expect to find this piece because of its rarity."
During the storm, around five million LEGO pieces ended up in the sea at Land's End in Cornwall. Among those millions of pieces were 352,000 flippers, 97,500 diving tanks and 92,400 swords. The octopus is the rarest, with 4,200 pieces.
In the years since, collectors have found several LEGO pieces, but the octopus has often remained elusive. Thirteen-year-old Liutauras Cemolonskas is the leading collector with a collection of no fewer than 789 LEGO pieces.
He collected these over the past two years, his father told the regional news agency PA Media. "The octopus was the most sought after piece from the beginning. We did not expect to find this piece because of its rarity."
A collector wants to draw attention to the problem of plastic in the sea.
Cemolonskas and his father discovered a spot on the beach of Marazion. Two days later, Tracey Williams, the most famous collector and initiator of the LEGO Lost at Sea project, happened to find another LEGO octopus. This project aims to collect many LEGO bricks and create awareness for plastic pollution in the sea.
“The high tides and gale force winds have caused a lot of plastic to wash up on this beach, including many LEGO bricks,” she told PA Media. "There's something magical about finding the octopus. I found one in 1997 and then again 18 years later."
Meanwhile, the thirteen-year-old boy from Cornwall continues to search. He has set his sights on finding one of the 33,941 dragons that fell overboard.
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