Psst! Wanna buy an Oscar?

Some collectors are refusing to be cowed. Mario Cortesi, a Swiss movie buff, has purchased several Oscars to add to his collection of film memorabilia. His first purchase -- a 1951 Best Picture Oscar for "An American in Paris" for $16,000 from the Collector's Bookstore -- was made in 1989. Though he is reluctant to divulge the specifics of his collection, he says he bought the statuettes because of his interest in the history of filmmaking. "I bought the Oscars for myself," he says. "They are not an investment and they are not on display."

Sotherby's and Christie's have so far avoided auctioning off newer Oscars, but both houses are doing a brisk business in older statuettes. In June 1999, Sotheby's sold the 1939 Best Picture Oscar for "Gone with the Wind" to pop star Michael Jackson for a record price of $1.5 million. And, in recent years, Christie's has sold four pre-1950 Oscars for a combined take of more than $1.5 million.

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The Academy's ban has induced strange economic behavior from some very famous people. In July 2001, DreamWorks Animation co-founder Steven Spielberg -- who has two Best Director Oscars of his own, for "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan" -- purchased Bette Davis'  Best Actress Oscar for "Jezebel" for $578,000, then returned it to the Academy. The Academy promptly locked up the statuette in its vaults; it rarely displays old Oscars. Other celebrities who have bought Oscars and returned them to the Academy include actor Kevin Spacey (who paid $157,000 for George Stoll's 1945 Oscar for "Anchors Aweigh") and movie mogul Lew Wasserman.

Refreshingly, certain famous buyers are treating the statuettes for what they are: movie memorabilia. Magician David Copperfield keeps the 1943 Best Director Oscar for "Casablanca," purchased in 2003 for $232,000, in his bedroom. Though he says he both understands and respects the position of the Academy, "Objects should be where they do the most good." Copperfield says the Oscar would do more good for him--the symbol of excellence is a source of inspiration for his own work--than it would in a closet filled with other statuettes at the Academy.

Amen.

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