A handful of pre-1951 Academy Awards shattered expectations on the block, proving how much is an Oscar statue worth when collectors chase Hollywood relics instead of scrap gold.

Orson Welles's 1941 Best Original Screenplay award sold for $861,542 in December 2011 after decades of legal fights. David Copperfield reportedly finished second in the bidding war.

Michael Jackson paid $1.54 million in 1999 for David O. Selznick's Gone with the Wind Best Picture Oscar — still the highest publicly reported price for a single statuette at auction.

Bette Davis and Clark Gable statuettes have reportedly changed hands at six-figure prices when estates liquidate pre-1951 trophies. Each sale reset chatter about how much is an Oscar statue worth.

Post-1951 winners face the $1 buyback clause, so fresh statuettes almost never surface at auction. That scarcity keeps pre-war sales central to how much is an Oscar statue worth headlines.