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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences requires all Oscar nominees to sign a contract specifying that they will not sell their statuette without first offering it back to the academy for $1.
The so-called winner’s agreement dates to 1951, when the organization began to worry about orphaned Oscars winding up in the hands of the highest bidder. No winners have sold their statuettes back, said AMPAS executive director Bruce Davis, but “we have statuettes willed back to us fairly regularly — maybe two per year — from recipients who don’t have appropriate heirs or who just want to be sure that nothing undignified ever befalls their Oscar.” The academy says it owns almost 100 such statuettes.
