The Academy Award, also called Oscar, is probably the most popular price in the film industry. The award with the “Gold boy” is one of the highest honor that filmmakers, actors and film music producers can be granted. But how much gold is really in the golden statuette?
The Oscar figure
Hardly any price is as well known and connected to as much prestige as the Oscar. Every year, all sizes in the film industry gather to distinguish the best among themselves with the golden statuettes. The Oscar is a 34.29 centimeter high and 3.856 kilogram golden knight figure, which holds a large sword in front of it and stands on a film role with five spokes, which should reflect the five original branches of the academy. This includes actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers. The official name of the award does not mean Oscar, but “Academy Award® of Merit”. The prize was created in 1927, shortly after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded. According to their own statements, the young organization met for a dinner in the Crystal Ballroom of the Biltmore Hotel in the city center of Los Angeles and advised how it could best appreciate filmic performance in order to promote them more in all facets of film production. As a result, the group agreed on the introduction of an annual award and pointed out their attention to creating an adequately majestic trophy. With the design, Cedric Gibbons, Art Director of MGM, was entrusted, who then designed the world -famous statuette of a knight who is on a film role and holds the sword of a crusader in his hands. The sculptor George Stanley from Los Angeles took over the implementation of the idea – the Academy Award was born. Today the gold boys are made by the New York manufacturer Polich Tallix. The company takes about three months to produce 50 statuettes.
Low material value, but highly ideal value
How valuable an Oscar really is depends on the perspective. If you look at the figure as an award for outstanding cinematic achievements that are only given a few, its value is invaluable. However, if you look at the processed materials and the object created, things look very different. As already expected, the trophy is not completely made of pure gold. According to the Alliance for American Manufacturing, the body of the statuette is said to consist of bronze again, as was said to have been the case with the invention of the price in 1927. For a long time, this was not the case before 2016 and the change of the manufacturer of RS Owens to Polichich Tallix. In the meantime, the material was changed and the knight made from nickel, copper and silver. However, one thing has always remained the same: the cover of the Oscar with a layer of 24-carat gold. However, since only the gold cover is made of gold, the proportion of the precious metal in the entire statuette is extremely low. This is also reflected in the material value. This is only estimated at around 300 euros. How much money you can really do by selling the trophy show past auctions. The auction of the Oscar, which Herman Mankiewicz had won in 1941 for the script for “Citizen Kane”, was said to have earned $ 588,000. An anonymous buyer for the Oscar of Orson Welles is said to have left an even higher price. His gold boy was auctioned for an incredible $ 861,542. The Academy is not enthusiastic about such changes of ownership at all. She criticizes the sale and says that Oscars cannot be acquired, but can only be obtained. If you want to separate yourself from your award today, the Academy must first offer the Oscar for a symbolic price of a US dollar for sale. It is only when this offer is unpaid that the owners are free to sell the coveted statuette to other interested parties.
Why is the Academy Award actually called Oscar?
A question that is certainly concerned with many people is probably why the Academy Award is called “Oscar”. The two names have nothing in common and at first glance there are no other obvious reasons why the Oscar is actually called Oscar. The name “Oscar” is actually a mystery and not even the Academy itself knows exactly how the naming came about. Over time, several myths have formed about the unclear and quite strange baptism of the price. The best-known story is that of the Academy librarian Margaret Herrick. At the first sight of the figure, she is said to have said that she would resemble her uncle Oscar. Other anecdotes go back to the world -famous cartoon artist and film producer Walt Disney. Before his award, he should have noticed that the Academy had considered the name “Oscar” as a name for the official name proposals and then thanked his speech for the presentation of the Oscars. Still other stories see the Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky as the inventor of the nickname, since he was said to have described the prize as Oscar in 1934, and thus five years before the official recognition of the name of the Academy. Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to determine which of these theories or whether one of the truth corresponds.
Nicolas Flohr / Redaktion Finanzen.net
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