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An Academy Award is priceless to those who win.
But when you get down to brass tacks, a shiny Oscar statue costs roughly $400 to make, CBS News reports. Since 2016, the gold-covered trophies have been fine-crafted at UAP Polich Tallix foundry in Rock Tavern, New York, through a meticulous process beginning with 3-D models that are cast in wax and coated in ceramic shells. It takes roughly three months to produce 50 statuettes.
That's just one part of the storied history of the Oscar, which has the power to change the entire trajectory of an actor or filmmaker’s career, but has little actual market value. Here are some of the biggest secrets of the little gold man:
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Despite being Hollywood's most prestigious award, an Oscar trophy is only worth $1. That's according to Academy regulations, which state that 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." Should an Oscar recipient die, the same rules apply to any heirs who might inherit the prize.
The Academy bars winners from profiting off the sales of their Oscar statues, in an effort "to preserve the integrity of the Oscar symbol," according to the organization's website. The no-resale rule largely does not apply to Oscars given out before 1951, when the regulation was put into place. In 1999, for instance, Michael Jackson purchased the best picture Oscar given to producer David O. Selznick for 1939's "Gone With the Wind" at auction for $1.54 million.
But there are exceptions: In 2014, the Academy sued Joseph Tutalo, whose late uncle, art director Joseph Wright, won an Oscar for 1942's "My Gal Sal." Tutalo consigned the statue to an auction house. But Wright was still an Academy member when the no-resale regulations were enacted in 1951, and therefore, the bylaws still applied to him. A California judge ultimately sided with the Academy, and the winner of the auction was forced to return Wright's statue.
The statues are cast in liquid bronze and electroplated in 24-karat gold, according to the Academy. But because of the metal shortage during World War II, there was a three-year period where the trophies were made of painted plaster. After the war, winners were invited to exchange their plaster Oscars for gold-plated metal statuettes.
The Oscar statue stands 13½ inches tall and weighs 8½ pounds, according to the Academy. More than 3,000 statuettes have been handed out since the Oscars’ first ceremony in 1929, where the Clara Bow silent film "Wings" won best picture.
The statuette was designed to resemble a knight holding a crusader’s sword standing on a reel of film, according to the Academy. The prize’s official name is the Academy Award of Merit, although it has been popularly nicknamed Oscar since the mid-1930s. The moniker’s exact origins are unknown, although it’s widely considered to have stemmed from Academy librarian Margaret Herrick, who said the statue looked like her Uncle Oscar.
