How Much Is An Oscar Worth? $10!

"Award winners should 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 it to the Academy for the sum of $1.  This provision shall apply also to the heirs of Academy award winners who may acquire a statuette by gift or bequest"  from bylaws of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

The Academy won a victory in court just last week on the issue of the sale of the Oscar - their goal, simple: to stop the sale of Oscar statuettes by pulling out a century old law regarding damaged fruit salad jars!

The lawsuit in question involved an Oscar won by Joseph Wright in 1943 for 'Art Direction' on the film 'My Gal Sal'.  Wright died in 1985 and his Oscar was handed down to his nephew, Joseph Tutalo. Tutalo wanted to sell the statuette and gave it to Briarbrook Auctions.  It was subsequently purchased, at auction, by Nate Sanders, Inc. for $79,200.  Sanders has purchased and resold over 30 other Oscars; however, this time the Academy got tough and sued Briarbrook, Tutalo, and Sanders.

The Academy referred to its by-laws (quoted at the beginning of this post) whereby recipients can not sell their Oscars without first offering to sell them to the Academy for $10 (it was originally $1).  The agreement is also binding on heirs.  However, Academy attorneys had to go back to the 1840's to make their case, that is when English courts established what is known as 'equitable servitude' - which means that parties can restrict the use of property, and under certain conditions, these restrictions can be enforced against successive owners.

In 1919, California adopted equitable servitude with regard to land, but is an Oscar equivalent to real estate?  Yes! Says the Academy. In a 1959 case which involved damaged fruit salad jars the court held that the sale of the fruit jars could not be sold as is because under agreement the fruit needed to be removed and re-jarred.  Citing that case, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gail Feuer ruled in favor of the Academy.

The defendants argued that the Academy's policy restricted, unlawfully, the sale of Oscars by their owners. Which the Academy's attorneys countered, arguing that the Oscars were never intended to be treated as "articles of trade" and that their sale  'diminished the value of the Award". Judge Feuer, agreed and sided with the Academy. So, at least for now, all Oscar winners or their heirs need to hold on to the statuettes or they will be bought for $10 by the Academy. The defendants in the case are appealing the decision.

Hmmm...... seems to me the Academy's premise that the sale of the Oscars diminish their value is a bit superficial.  For me, $79,200 for a really no-name Oscar (sorry Mr. Wright) puts a rather high value on the statuettes and provides a good indication of their worth. It's the equivalent to a signed Babe Ruth baseball.

Best
Jim