12 Facts You Didn't Know About the Oscar Statue

Some stats will tell you that the Oscar is worth anywhere from $400 to $1.36 million (Steven Spielberg purchased Bette Davis's 1938 Best Actress Oscar for $578,000), but due to a 2015 court ruling that mandates any resale of a statuette first be offered to the Academy for $1, an Oscar is technically worth only that: $1. As far as cost for production goes, the statues are made for around $400 a piece. Talk about poor resale value.

Initially named "the Academy Award of Merit," it's still a bit of a mystery where "Oscar" came from. One prevailing rumor holds that academy librarian, and eventual executive director, Margaret Herrick joked about the back of the statuette looking a bit like her Uncle Oscar.

The Academy didn't adapt the name until 1939, but it was widely popular as early as 1934 when a reporter referred to Katharine Hepburn's first (of 4) best actress wins as an "Oscar" success.

Ever notice that "Oscar" grips a sword? That's because the original design for the statuette featured a knight posed above a reel of film, to represent a "crusader" of the industry. The concept, designed by MGM art director Cedric Gibbons, has simplified over the years to become the poised golden man we know today, but the sword still remains.

...and three months to make all 50. From 1982 until 2016, a Chicago-based factory, R.S. Owens & Company, manufactured the statuettes. Before then they were manufactured in Batavia, Illinois. Now they're made about an hour and a half outside of New York City, at Polich Tallix, a fine art foundry.

They were later found in the garbage by a junk dealer. Every year since, the Academy has had an extra set made that's locked safely in a vault—just in case.

The extras accommodate the possibility of a tie or multiple winners per category. In order to guarantee secrecy, the awards aren't engraved with the winner's name ahead of time. Instead, separate plaques are created for each individual nominee, and once the winner has accepted his/her award, the appropriate plaque is affixed to the Oscar. Which means no one knows just who or how many winners there are on Oscar night until that fateful envelope has been opened.

Beneath that sheath of 24-karat plating is actually bronze—not gold.

For three years the prizes were made of painted plaster, but the winners were later given gold and metal replacements once the war had ended. It's safe to assume they have a shorter shelf-life than the pewter and gold statuettes of today.

Today it's a classic photograph of Oscar winners sharing a kiss with their award but it wasn't always a go-to celebrity pose. Although we're sure winners gave their Oscars a peck in private, Audrey Hepburn popularized the idea of kissing your Oscar when she won hers in 1954 for her role in Roman Holiday.

The award ceremony created the Academy Juvenile Award as a way to honor talented performances by child actors without having them compete with adults. Actress Shirley Temple won the award in 1935 for her role in Bright Eyes. The special "mini-oscars" were not given out every year as there wasn't always a contender, and the Academy eventually stopped issuing the special award in 1962.

This isn't counting the surplus Oscars that don't go home to winners. (Those are saved for the next year.)

The statuettes are dense, clocking in at 8.5 pounds and 13.5 inches tall. It must be pure adrenaline that allows winners to fling them around in their joy on stage.