SEOUL: An old LG air conditioner from more than two decades ago is suddenly the hottest commodity in South Korea right now, after a viral video showed its brand logo is made of pure gold.
This long-forgotten detail resurfaced after YouTuber Ringring Unni, a retail jewellery shop owner in Seoul, uploaded a video on Dec 11 that shows her appraising the six-letter “Whisen” logo pieces removed from an LG Electronics air conditioner model released in 2005.
In the video, the customer who brought the logo letters for appraisal said, “The logo was attached to the front of the air conditioner, and it was advertised at the time as being made of gold.”
After analysing the pieces, the YouTuber confirmed that they were indeed gold and offered an appraisal value of 713,000 won (S$623). Altogether the six letters weighed just under 1 “don”, she told the client in the video.
A “don” is a South Korean unit of gold weight equivalent to 3.75g. According to the Korea Standard Gold Exchange, 1 don of gold was quoted at 890,000 won on Wednesday (Dec 17).
After the video went viral with more than 1 million views, another customer visited the jewellery shop on Dec 15 with another Whisen logo, which the YouTuber later featured in a follow-up video. In the second clip, the appraised value of the gold logo piece was 748,000 won.
According to LG Electronics, a limited run of 10,000 Whisen air conditioners bearing gold logos were sold in 2005, celebrating the brand’s position as the world’s top-selling air conditioner brand.
Social media users have been buzzing over the video, prompting many to hunt for old Whisen air conditioners.
“My grandmother’s air conditioner is really old – I should check whether it’s Samsung or LG,” one user wrote on X.
“LG turned air conditioners into a gold investment 20 years ago,” another user wrote. - The Korea Herald/ANN
