Collecting Oscars - 1Earth Antiques and Appraisals Magazine

Yes and No

What about that story on those stolen Oscar statuettes! Can you believe they ended up in the trash? It's surprising no one tried to sell them off — the Oscar is one of the quintessential Hollywood icons.

The whole drama made us wonder just how much one of those 13½-inch statuettes would fetch at an auction.

The question fascinated us enough to ask film collectibles expert Ralph Bowman about the market value of an Oscar — and whether people actively collect them.

Producer David O. Selznick's 1939 Best Picture Oscar for Gone with the Wind.

"The problem," says Bowman, "is that most are not supposed to be sold." Since 1950, the Academy has required all winners to sign a contract prohibiting the sale of their Oscar.

Though Oscars have been sold at auction — a Gone with the Wind Best Picture Oscar went last year for more than $1 million — they've either predated 1950 or the seller has been given special permission by the Academy.

But Bowman raised an even more interesting issue. He says the statuettes are sold — very quietly — on an Oscar black market. Other Hollywood memorabilia buffs confirmed this, but, like Bowman, they were reluctant to give details.

Bowman did acknowledge that he's handled a few sales, most between $45,000 and $125,000, but he didn't want to say more.

So if Oscars can be sold for that kind of money, why throw them in a dumpster?

"There is nowhere to go with those because they have no plaques [naming the winner]," said Bowman. "They're like poison."

He raised a good point. As simply a precious metal object, an Oscar isn't worth much.

When the Academy began handing them out in 1928 they were cast in bronze, with 24-karat gold plating. During World War II the statuettes were made of plaster because of metal shortages. Today, the 8½-pound statuettes are made of gold-plated britannium, a metal alloy that doesn't have a lot of value, per se.

According to Bowman, the real value of an Oscar would be determined by which actor, actress, director, or film it was associated with.

There was one other thing we wanted to know: Why the name Oscar? It turns out, no one knows for sure. But one popular story is that actress Bette Davis said the backside of the statuette looked like that of her husband Harmon Oscar Nelson.

So, a name of unknown origin, black market sales, and 50 or so lost — and now found — Oscars. That's an awful lot of mystery for one small statuette!