Arts
09:42, 16-Dec-2018
1947 best-picture Oscar sells for nearly $500,000 at auction
Updated
09:37, 19-Dec-2018
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One Academy Award trophy sold for nearly 500,000 U.S. dollars and the second for well over 200,000 dollars in a rare auction of Oscars that ended Friday in Los Angeles.
A best-picture Oscar for “Gentleman's Agreement,” the 1947 film starring Gregory Peck that took on anti-Semitism, sold for 492,000 dollars. A best-picture statuette for 1935′s “Mutiny on the Bounty” fetched 240,000 dollars.
Both were outpaced by an archive of papers on the origin and development of “The Wizard of Oz” that brought in 1.2 million dollars.
The best-picture Oscar for "Gentleman's Agreement," the 1947 film starring Gregory Peck that took on anti-Semitism, sold for 492,000 U.S. dollars, in a rare auction of Oscars in Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 14, 2018. /AP Photo
The best-picture Oscar for "Gentleman's Agreement," the 1947 film starring Gregory Peck that took on anti-Semitism, sold for 492,000 U.S. dollars, in a rare auction of Oscars in Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 14, 2018. /AP Photo
Auction house Profiles in History announced the results after four days of bidding on Hollywood memorabilia that brought in more than eight million dollars in total.
Other items sold include a TIE fighter helmet from the original “Star Wars” that went for 240,000 dollars, a Phaser pistol from the original “Star Trek” TV series that fetched 192,000 dollars, a hoverboard Marty McFly rode in “Back to the Future II” that sold for 102,000 dollars, and a golden ticket from “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” that brought in 48,000 dollars.
The “Mutiny on the Bounty” Oscar price came close to auction-house projections, but the “Gentleman's Agreement” statuette brought in more than twice what was expected, for reasons that are not clear. The buyers of both Oscars and “The Wizard of Oz” document chose to remain anonymous.
The best picture statuette for 1935's "Mutiny on the Bounty" fetched 240,000 U.S. dollars, in a rare auction of Oscars that ended, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 14, 2018. /AP Photo
The best picture statuette for 1935's "Mutiny on the Bounty" fetched 240,000 U.S. dollars, in a rare auction of Oscars that ended, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 14, 2018. /AP Photo
Auctions of Oscar statuettes are very uncommon because winners from 1951 onward have had to agree that they or their heirs must offer it back to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for one U.S. dollar before selling it elsewhere. The academy has said it firmly believes Oscars should be won, not bought.
Neither of the Oscars sold this week approached the record of 1.5 million dollars paid by Michael Jackson to acquire David O. Selznick's “Gone With the Wind” Oscar in 1999.
(Cover: File photo shows several of the Oscar Winners of 1947 (L-R): Darryl Zanuck, producer of Best Picture winner 'Gentlemen's Agreement,' Best Actor winner Edmund Gwenn, Best Actress Loretta Young, Best Supporting Actor Ronald Colman, and Best Supporting Actress Celeste Holm, February 25, 1948. /VCG Photo)
Source(s): AP