Oscar statuettes are present every year at the Academy Awards galas.
Over the years, fans may have wondered whether it is possible for actors to sell their statuettes.
In 1951, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) introduced a rule to prevent winners from selling the awards.
The Academy’s rule that prevents this
According to the Academy’s rulebook, if a winner wants to sell his or her Oscar, he or she must offer it to the Academy, which may pay one dollar for the statuette.
“Academy Award winners have no rights whatsoever in the Academy copyright or goodwill in the Oscar statuette or in its trademark and service mark registrations,” reads the rule.
“Award winners must comply with these rules and regulations. Award winners shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the Oscar statuette, nor permit it to be sold or disposed of by operation of law, without first offering to sell it to the Academy for the sum of $1.00.
“This provision shall apply also to the heirs and assigns of Academy Award winners who may acquire a statuette by gift or bequest.”
The statuettes that have been sold
However, some celebrities have opted to bypass this rule and buy a statuette for a very high amount.
Herman Mankiewicz‘s statuette for Best Screenplay for ‘Citizen Kane’ was sold for $588,455.
In 1999, Michael Jackson spent an exorbitant 1.5 million dollars to buy the statuette for ‘Gone with the Wind’, which won the Oscar for Best Film in 1939.
Actor Harold Russell sold the Oscar he won for his role in ‘For the Best Years of Our Lives’ in 1944 in exchange for 60,500 dollars in order to pay for his wife’s illness.