Oscar winners are presented with golden statues upon victory, but how much do the trophies cost? Surprisingly, not a lot.
23 golden statues are up for grabs at the Oscars 2023 on Sunday (March 12). Everything Everywhere All At Once leads with 11 nods, including four of the coveted Big Five: best picture, best director (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), best actress (Michelle Yeoh), and best screenplay.
Yeoh’s co-stars, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, and Jamie Lee Curtis, are also up for best supporting actor and actress.
Winning an Academy Award is the most prestigious honor in Hollywood, and although lucky nominees are treated to the six-figure Everybody Wins gift bag each year, the golden trophies are surprisingly worth much less.
How much do Oscars cost?
Oscar statuettes reportedly cost $400 to produce and have been crafted by New York-based foundry, Polich Tallix, since 2016.
Winners, however, are prohibited from selling “or otherwise dispose of the Oscar statuette… without first offering to sell it to the Academy for the sum of $1.”
Once a winner passes away, the award can be inherited by their family, but they must also follow the same regulations.
The rule was declared in 1951 and is reinforced “to preserve the integrity of the Oscar symbol.”
At least 16 Oscars have been purchased in its 95-year history. 15 statuettes sold for over $3 million at a 2011 auction. The star of the show was Herman Mankiewicz’s 1941 best screenplay award for Citizen Kane, fetching $588,455.
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Michael Jackson also splashed $1.54 million for Gone With The Wind’s best picture Oscar from 1940.
Since these statuettes were presented before 1951, they are exempt from the rule.
What are Oscars statues made of?
the trophies are crafted of solid bronze and plated in 24-karat gold.
Polish Tallix introduced a modern creation process by first creating digital scans of the original 1929 statuette. The design is then 3D-printed and molded, before being cast in wax.
The design is coated in a ceramic shell and fired at 1600F, therefore melting the wax and leaving the shell only. They are cast in liquid bronze and sanded to a mirror polish finish before receiving the 24-karat gold treatment.
The Oscar figure depicts a knight holding a crusader’s sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes, to signify the five original branches of the Academy (actors, directors, producers, technicians, and writers).
It is 13.5in tall and weighs 8.5lbs.
Although its official name is the Academy Award of Merit, it is believed to have been dubbed an Oscar after Margaret Herrick, an Academy librarian and eventual executive director, claimed that the knight resembled her Uncle Oscar. What a way to be remembered!
In other news, Oscars 2023: How much do the Academy Award statues cost?
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