After a cutthroat competition among the industry’s elites, only one walks away with the honor of standing on the Academy Awards stage, tears in their eyes, clutching an Oscar, which feels precious and priceless. Yet the actual value spent by the Academy to craft the statuette is quite modest. While no price can truly match the prestige attached to it, the statuette’s actual value is surprisingly lower than many would expect.

As it turns out, the price of the sword-bearing knight has been deliberately fixed, and it has been chosen to keep it unchanged for decades. And the Academy has a special reason behind this tradition.

Surprisingly, the Oscars have a strict rule that values their 24-karat gold-plated statuette at just $1. That means the award is worth less than the famous New York $1 pizza slice, which now costs around $1.25 to $1.50. This is because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences requires winners to sign an agreement adhering to a no-resale rule that dates back to 1951.

An Oscar can only be resold to the Academy and only for $1 if the winner or their heirs decide to part with it. This rule also applies to anyone who later acquires the award. As many are well aware, the Academy is quite serious when it comes to its rules and regulations.

One such is how they have banned members, such as Will Smith, over behavior it deemed inappropriate. He will not be able to attend the Oscars until 2032. Over the years, there have been several instances in which the Academy sued individuals who tried to resell Oscar statuettes and won.

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One recent case occurred in 2024, when someone attempted to sell their Oscars through Rhode Island–based Briarbrook Auction Services.

Back in 2014, Joseph Tutalo auctioned his uncle Joseph Wright’s Oscar award through Briarbrook Auction Services. Wright had won the Oscar in 1943 for Best Color Art Direction for the film My Gal Sal, starring Rita Hayworth. And the statuette sold for a handsome $79,200, as per Reuters.

Later, in 2015, the Academy sued both Tutalo and the auction house, and also urged that the award be resold back to them for $10. Ultimately, the court ruled in the Academy’s favor. Now, there have been exceptions, such as when director Steven Spielberg once purchased Clark Gable’s Best Actor Oscar for It Happened One Night for $607,500, as per the Los Angeles Times.

However, the Academy has made it clear it wants to prevent such instances and takes strong measures to follow it.

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What do you think about the Academy's strict rule over reselling of the Oscars? Let us know in the comments.