Oscar Statuettes Under The Hammer

Fifteen Oscar statuettes are to be auctioned off online only two days after this year’s Academy Awards.
Despite the ban imposed to prevent the resale of these coveted awards a loophole has allowed the Oscars won for classics such as Wuthering Heights and Cavalcade to go under the hammer.
Currently winners sign an agreement, which states they can only sell their Oscars back to the Academy for the nominal sum of $1 (63p). However the awards up for auction can be legitimately sold because they were presented prior to the Academy imposing a ban on their coveted gold honours being resold.
It is expected that the sale of these Oscars will fetch in the region of £1.27m if they are all purchased.
Previously the Oscar Orson Welles won for writing his film Citizen Kane raised of half a million while the Best Picture Oscar presented to Gone With The Wind in 1940 fetched twice that amount when it was purchases by the late Michael Jackson.
(LB)