Actors and music stars are honored with prestigious trophy statues but they cost less than you’d think – one award even has zero value.

Hollywood stars work tirelessly for decades to earn industry recognition in the form of golden statuettes, aka award show trophies. It’s normal for winners to sob with happiness during acceptance speeches, but wait until they find out their esteemed award is worth less than their red carpet fashion. Cue the tears of sadness.

Real award statues worth: Oscars, Grammys, Emmys and more

Oscars

The film industry’s most prestigious honor, an Oscar, is handed to the top actors and productions of the year. As the self-proclaimed most-recognized trophy in the world, the Oscar statuette is a golden figure perched on a round black base, but the entire award isn’t constructed of 100 percent gold.

Made of solid bronze and plated in 24-karat gold, the figure reportedly costs $400 to make, but its value drops to just $1 due to the Academy rule book.

Winners are required to sign an agreement stating if they want to sell their trophy, they must first offer it to the Academy, who may pay $1 for the statuette.

“Award winners shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the Oscar statuette, nor permit it to be sold or disposed of by operation of law, without first offering to sell it to the Academy for the sum of $1.00,” the rule reads. It has been in effect since 1951.

Oscars awarded before 1951 are exempt from the rule, therefore Michael Jackson was able to splurge $1.54 million on Gone With the Wind’s Best Picture award from 1940.

Emmys

Television engineer and film editor Louis McManus designed the Emmy Awards known today. Modeled after his wife, each golden lady takes five-and-a-half hours to create. It is molded and coated in nickel, copper, silver, and gold, bringing the production value to $400. Society Awards is the company behind hundreds of famous awards, including the Emmys.

The 2024 show featured 26 categories, meaning at least $10,400 was spent on statuettes, excluding group winners.

Golden Globes

The Golden Globes‘ trophy – made of marble, zinc, and coated in gold – is another creation from Society Awards, and it reportedly costs the Hollywood Foreign Press Association $800 per unit. According to GoBankingRates, the premium price point accounts for the skilled artisans who create each trophy, as per MarketWatch.

Unlike the Oscars, winners can opt to sell their accolades. In 2013, an auction sold the late Marlon Brando’s 1955 Golden Globe for the movie One The Waterfront for $65,500.

Grammys

The Grammys are the music industry’s top award, but it costs less than a Spotify Premium Family subscription ($16.99) to make! Each gramophone is made of a zinc alloy, dubbed Grammium by its creator, and is gold-plated.

Marca states the award costs just $15 as it contains no precious metals, though it takes at least 15 hours to create one. But once they are handed to winners, their market value plummets to $0 as the Recording Academy prohibits reselling.

Despite the banning, some golden gramophones have floated into auctions. In 2004, Sotheby’s sold the 1986 Grammy for Best Spoken Word or Nonmusical Recording won by Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison for $187,200.

11 years later, the Grammy awarded to The Champs guitarist Dave Burgess at the first-ever award show in 1958 was sold for $62,500.

Related Topics

MORE CELEBRITY STORIES

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmroaSuwaqwwaKrZ5ufonxzfJFtZmlpX2h%2BcK3WmqmdZaOdvLh506umqaCZmsBur86sq2aZXaG8tXnTqGSmmZuaeqPB02aroZ2pp7Juw86rq6GklajAbrvSnJirq12pvG6z0ZqkprGjZA%3D%3D