Some fun facts about Oscar statuettes:

The award is 13 and a half inches tall and the award, in total, weighs about eight and a half pounds. The statues are made of solid bronze and plated with real gold. During the metal shortages of World War II, the Oscars were made of painted plaster, although winners were allowed to exchange them for bronze once the materials were again plentiful.

It is said that if you give an Oscar too much it can tarnish the gold, so Oscar winners have to be careful with them. The figurines are made of an art foundry in Chicago called Polich Tallixthe same firm that handled the Roy Lichtenstein work and the Korean War Memorial in Washington

The figurines also technically don't belong to the voters or to the people who conquer them. Indeed, beginning in 1951, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences instituted a new rule prohibiting recipients from selling their Oscars at any price. It was important to the MPA to keep its image intact and to keep the prestigious Oscars. According to its own rulesOscar 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 extends to persons who have inherited statuettes from dead relatives, or who have been given a statuette as a personal gift.

Some Oscars have indeed made their way onto the black market in the past, but for the most part, Oscars will only be seen in museums, in studios, or in the homes of talented people.

To quote the entire Academy rule, it reads:

"Academy Award winners have no rights to the Academy's copyright or goodwill in the Oscar statuette or its trademarks and service mark registrations." Prize winners must comply with these rules and regulations. nor permit it to be sold or disposed of by law, without first offering to sell it to the Academy for the sum of $1.00 The provision shall also apply to heirs and designated Academy Award winners who may acquire a statuette with gift or bequest”.

Of course, some Oscars have made their way into the market.

The Brand website he cited the fact that Michael Jackson, back in 1999, bought The Oscar that "Gone with the Wind" won for best picture. He paid 1.5 million dollars for it. Before the no-sale rule was enacted, 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. Also, Oscar that screenwriter Herman J.

Report in CBS News discovered that, in 2007, someone had tried to sell two Oscars won by Mary Pickford in the 1920s. The Academy sued the seller and won, taking back the statuettes. In 2014, via a Reuters reportOscar-winner Joseph Wright's nephew (for art direction on 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. Good luck to the buyer, whoever he was.

The famous director Steven Spielberg, wanting to do it right by the Academy, once watched the Oscars won by Clark Gable for "Gone with the Wind" and Bette Davis won two Oscars for "Dangerous" and "Jezebel". He bought the Gables at auction for $607,500 and the Davises for $758,000. Spielberg, however, was not a collector and donated the Oscars to the Academy. I imagine he didn't accept the $1 ransom for them. This was in 2002 and was reported by the Los Angeles Times.

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

Since the no-sale rule at the Oscars wasn't passed until 1951, most stories about black market statuettes involve awards won in the 1920s, 30s or 40s. If you've seen any recent Oscars in person, they've likely been donated or loaned to a museum for display.

Unfortunately, there is no official record of how many Oscar statuettes are currently unknown. That would require a lot of research and exploration, as well as a lot of legwork. However, if the Academy is looking for someone to do such a job, it's likely that there are quite a few qualified filmmakers around the world who would be happy to contribute. Just like the Academy itself, its fans probably want the body to retain its prestige.