For folks within the movie trade, profitable an Oscar isn’t simply seen as an honor, however as a surefire solution to increase one’s profession. Regardless that there are a lot of tales surrounding Academy Award curses, taking house a trophy for Greatest or Excellent one thing steadily interprets into larger monetary compensation for the recipients, no less than on the subject of the Massive 5 classes. In response to Enterprise Insider, brokers and managers estimate a 20% increase on an actor’s paycheck after they win an Academy Award. And that’s to not point out the monetary advantages of getting the phrases “Academy Award Winner” in a film poster. Nevertheless, on the subject of the golden statuette per se, there isn’t that a lot cash to be constructed from having an Oscar at house. In actuality, if an Oscar winner ever tries to promote their award, they may most certainly earn nothing however a single greenback. Oh, and the customer will most certainly be the Academy itself.

When push involves shove, Oscar winners don’t truly personal their Oscars. In a manner, they merely borrow the awards from the Academy for an indeterminate period of time. Ever since 1951, these fortunate few that handle to win their much-coveted trophy from the Academy of Movement Footage Arts and Science are fully forbidden from promoting it to 3rd events, no less than not with out first providing it to the Academy for the sum of $1. They’re additionally barred from disposing of the Oscar in some other manner, whether or not throwing it within the trash or donating it to charity. The rule, which is written within the Academy’s rules, additionally applies to a winner’s heirs. However how and why did the Academy resolve to restrict the fabric rights of Oscar recipients on the subject of their awards? What did the Oscar commerce seem like within the days earlier than 1951? And, most significantly, can you continue to legally purchase an Oscar?

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The Academy Launched a No-Promote Oscar Rule to Its Rules in 1950

Nicely, the how and why of the matter is definitely fairly easy. In 1950, with a view to keep away from the award from dropping its status, the Academy launched a no-sell rule to its e-book of rules. Earlier than truly taking house the award, recipients should signal a contract that obligates them to supply their trophies again to the Academy for the sum of $1 previous to attempting to promote or in any other case get rid of them. The identical goes for “the heirs and assigns of Academy Award winners who could purchase a statuette by reward or bequest.”

The rule, nonetheless, solely applies to Oscars that got out from 1951 onwards. Thus, those who have cash to spare and are looking out for an Oscar would possibly nonetheless get fortunate: many pre-1951 awards have been purchased and bought legally in recent times. A well-known case is that of Harold Russell, the one actor to ever win two Oscars on the identical ceremony for a similar position. In 1992, Russell bought the Greatest Actor in a Supporting Position trophy that he received in 1947 for his position in The Beast Years of Our Lives for $60,500. The story goes that he wanted the cash to pay for his spouse’s medical bills. Russell stored the honorary award he obtained for being an inspiration to World Warfare II veterans. Following his demise, in 2002, it was revealed that the customer was producer Lew Wasserman, who returned the statuette to the Academy.

Is There Nonetheless a Marketplace for Previous-Time Oscars?

However, in keeping with The Guardian, the fashionable Oscar commerce kicked off for actual in 1993, when Vivien Leigh’s 1939 Greatest Actress award for Gone With the Wind went up on the market for $563,000. In 1999, Michael Jackson purchased the film’s Greatest Image trophy for $1.54 million. The statuette went lacking in 2016. Thought-about by many Hollywood’s most timeless love story, Casablanca’s Oscar for Greatest Directing, awarded to Michael Curtiz, is presently within the possession of David Copperfield. The magician purchased the 1943 award in 2003, for $232,000. He reportedly retains the trophy in his bed room as a supply of inspiration.

In 2011, Citizen Kane’s Greatest Screenplay Oscar, received by Herman Mankiewicz, was auctioned for $861,542. In response to the Reuters information company, the award had been put up for public sale beforehand, in 2007, however failed to fulfill its reserve worth. The trophy comes with a form of peculiar story: after being reported lacking by Orson Welles’ daughter, Beatrice, in 1988, it reemerged in a 1994 public sale. The vendor was a cinematographer that claimed Welles had given him the trophy as cost for a job. Beatrice sued and received the statuette again, however was in flip sued by the Academy when she tried to public sale it herself in 2003. Since Citizen Kane was awarded its Oscar previous to 1950, in 1942, Beatrice received the lawsuit, and the trophy went on sale. The heirs of silent film star Mary Pickford didn’t have the identical luck as Welles’ daughter once they tried to promote her Greatest Actress Oscar for the 1929 film Coquette, alongside an honorary award she obtained in 1976. Like Beatrice, they have been taken to courtroom by the Academy, who efficiently argued that the contract Pickford signed within the ’70s coated each statuettes.

There have additionally been instances of trade members, other than Wasserman, who’ve purchased Oscars on the public sale market simply to present them again to the Academy. In 2011, Steven Spielberg purchased Bette Davis‘ 1938 Greatest Actress Oscar for Jezebel for $578,000 and returned it to its unique proprietor. Fifteen years prior, he did the identical with Clark Gable’s 1935 Greatest Actor Oscar for It Occurred One Night time. Kevin Spacey additionally returned to the Academy the 1945 award obtained by George Stoll for his work within the rating of Anchors Aweigh.

Talking with The Guardian, auctioneer and appraisal knowledgeable Caroline Ashleigh estimates that about 150 Oscars have been put in the marketplace both brazenly or secretly over time. In 2012, a set of 12 Golden-era Oscars have been bought for $3 million to an undisclosed purchaser. The commerce continues to be going sturdy: in July 2022, Heritage Auctions bought the Greatest Cinematography trophy received by Clyde De Vinna for the 1928 film White Shadows within the South Seas for $228,000. As soon as extra, the identify of the customer has been stored secret.