Once a year, the whole world awaits with awe the next ceremony of presenting the most honorable movie award - the Oscar figurines. In February of this year, the eighty-fifth, in fact, anniversary ceremony was held. And the very first one took place back in 1929, and Emil Yannings for the best actor in the film “Last Order” and Janet Gaynor for the best female role in the film “Seventh Heaven” received the main prize. It is worth noting that at that time much fewer applicants fought for this figurine than now. However, the beginning of a good tradition was laid - and for the past 85 years, cinema workers have not receded from it.
What is the Oscar made of? Despite the fact that everyone calls it gold, it is not made of this precious metal. A figurine of a knight with a sword standing on a reel of film is cast from Britain. This alloy, which includes copper, zinc, antimony and tin, is first poured into a special casting mold, which is made in advance. When the workpiece cools and hardens, it is taken out of the mold, after which the technological casting elements are removed, ground and polished.
Further, the Oscar figurine receives a nominal number, which is engraved on a stand and subsequently recorded in the archive of the United States Film Academy. After the numbers have taken their place, the knight’s figure is immersed several times in a galvanic bath, covering it with layers of molten copper. The next step in the manufacture of the figurine is a coating with a layer of silver. And the most crucial moment completes the procedure - covering the future award with 24-carat gold, because of which, in fact, the Oscar received the nickname “golden”. That’s probably all. It remains only to fasten the figure to the disk of black marble, whose diameter is 13 cm. In total, the Oscar figurine has a height of 34 cm and weighs about four kilograms. The manufacture of each of the 55 figures necessary for the ceremony takes about twenty hours.
Surely the actors, actresses, scriptwriters, sound engineers, and all other cinema workers who have received this prestigious award are proud of it. After all, this means that they were recognized as the best by millions of viewers. Many celebrities already have several Oscars. But are these golden weighty figures really standing at the stars in the most honorable place? If this is the case, then, for example, in the house of actor Cube Gooding the Younger, the “red corner” is the wine cellar, while Jodie Foster and Susan Sarandon have a bathroom. Hilary Swank holds his two figurines in a bedroom on a bookshelf, and Tom Hanks is among football awards and family trophies.
An interesting fact is that since the 1950s, the Oscars have been secretly forbidden to auction or simply sell. More precisely, this can be done, but only after the prize winner offers it to buy each member of the film academy for one dollar. If no one buys, then you can, with a clear conscience, put up a reward for sale. It is believed that the Oscar figurine is priceless, although its cost is 400 dollars. Well, this is not difficult to understand, because with the receipt of this award, the income of its owner will grow rapidly. It is quite true that the actor who received this award will demand higher fees for his participation in a particular film. And the Oscar itself is not a cheap figurine, because the minimum price that is assigned when selling it is equal to the cost of gold of the same weight as the prize.