expire-images:2008-10-16

Own Orson's Oscar

Filed under: Auctions

We've seen Oscars auctioned off before and one thing is for certain, who the Oscar went to, and for what movie, has a great impact on the price of the statue. The Oscar that went to Orson Welles for the 1941 epic "Citizen Kane" is being auctioned off by Sotheby's on December 11. Welles won the Oscar for screenwriting with Herman Mankiewicz. The Oscar has quite a past. It was believed to be lost for a while but turned up in 1994 in the hands of a cinematographer who had worked with Welles tried to sell it at Sotheby's. Welles' youngest daughter, Beatrice, sued Sotheby's and the cinematographer and then tried to sell it only to be sued by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences which likes to keep Oscars off the market. In fact, since 1950, the academy has required Oscar winners to give it the first right of refusal to buy back an Oscar for $1. This Oscar was given before then and so is outside the rules. In 2003, Welles sold the Oscar to the Dax Foundation, a nonprofit group that supports various educational, health and other causes. The Dax Foundation is selling the Oscar. It is estimated that it will sell for $800,000 and $1.2 million. It has a ways to beat the number set by the best picture Oscar for "Gone With The Wind" which sold in 1999 for more than $1.5 million.

[Thanks, Lana]

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Tags: auction, charity, citizen kane, dax foundation, expire-images:2008-10-16, orson welles, OrsonWelles, oscar