Why Oscar winners can't sell their awards

Some fun facts about Oscar statuettes:

The prize is 13 and a half inches tall and the prize weighs about eight and a half pounds in total. The statues are made of solid bronze and covered with real gold. During the metal shortage during World War II, the Oscars were made of painted plaster, although winners were allowed to exchange them for bronze awards when the material was again plentiful.

It is said that giving away too many Oscars can tarnish the gold, so Oscar winners should be careful with them. Statuettes are made art foundry in Chicago called Polich Tallixthe same firm that did the Roy Lichtenstein work and the Korean War Memorial in Washington, DC

The statuettes don't technically belong either voters or to the people who defeat them. Indeed, beginning in 1951, the Academy instituted a new rule prohibiting recipients from selling their Oscars at any price. It was important for the MPA to keep its image intact and maintain the prestige of the Oscars. According to their own rulebookOscar winners are not allowed to sell or dispose of their statuettes without first offering to sell them back to the Academy… for $1. This rule also applies to people who inherited their statuettes from deceased relatives or were given the statuette as a personal gift.

Some Oscars have indeed ended up on the black market in the past, but for the most part Oscars will only be seen in museums, studios or the homes of talented people.

Quoting the entire academy rule, it reads:

“Academy Award winners do not have any rights to the Academy's copyright or goodwill with respect to the Oscar statuette or its trademark and service mark registrations. Award winners must comply with these terms and conditions. Award winners may not sell or otherwise dispose of the Oscar statuette, permit it to be sold or alienate according to law without first offering to sell it to the Academy for $1.00 This provision also applies to the heirs of Academy Award winners and trustees who can obtain a statuette by gift or bequest.

Of course, some Oscars have hit the market.

Marca website listed the fact that Michael Jackson bought back in 1999 The Oscar that the film “Gone with the Wind” received as the best film. He paid $1.5 million for it. Before the sale was ruled on, actor Howard Russell, winner of 1944's “The Best Years of Our Lives,” sold his Oscar for $60,500 to pay his wife's hospital bills. An Oscar won by screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz for his work on “Citizen Kane” also went to auction, selling for $588,455.

Report by CBS News discovered that in 2007 someone had tried to sell two Oscars that Mary Pickford won in the 1920s. The Academy sued the seller and won, taking back the statuettes. in 2014 via Reuters reportThe nephew of Oscar winner Joseph Wright (for the art direction of “My Gal Sal” in 1943) actually auctioned off his uncle's Oscar for $79,200. When the academy found out about the sale, they also sued the seller and the auction house. They won that case too, and the Oscar had to be returned to them. Bad luck to the buyer, whoever it was.

Famed director Steven Spielberg, wanting to do right by the Academy, once tracked the Oscars won by Clark Gable for Gone with the Wind and two Oscars were won by Bette Davis for the films “Dangerous” and “Jezebel”. He bought the Gables at auction for $607,500 and the Davis pair for $758,000. However, Spielberg was not a collector and gave the Oscar to the Academy. I don't think he accepted the $1 buyback for them. It happened in 2002 and reports the Los Angeles Times.

In 2012, Yahoo! reported that David Copperfield, a wealthy magician, sold his Oscar for a whopping $2 million. It was director Michael Curtis who won the Oscar for his work on Casablanca, and Copperfield reportedly bought it in 2003 for $231,500.

Since the no-sale rule for the Oscars wasn't passed until 1951, most stories of black market statuettes involve awards won in the 1920s, 1930s, or 1940s. If you've seen any of the newer Oscars in person, they were most likely donated or loaned to a museum for display.

Unfortunately, there is no official data on how many Oscar statuettes are currently missing. This would require a lot of research and investigation and a lot of leg work. However, if the Academy is looking for someone to do such a job, there are likely plenty of qualified theaters around the world who would be happy to contribute. Like the academy itself, its fans probably want the body to retain its prestige.