Rare 1942 Oscar to be auctioned in East Greenwich/ Poll

SOURCE:Province Journal
PUBLISHED ON: June 19, 2014

Now you, too, can have your own Oscar. And you don’t have to act, direct, write, film, edit, compose or design.

But you will have to pay.

A 1942 Oscar statuette belonging to art director Joseph C. Wright will be sold at auction Monday by Briarbrook Auctions in East Greenwich. Wright won the Oscar in 1942 for color art direction on the film “My Gal Sal.”

The Oscar belongs to Wright’s nephew, who lives in Cranston and wishes to remain anonymous.

Oscars rarely come onto the market. Since 1950, Oscar winners are required to sign a contract agreeing that if they (or their heirs) ever want to sell an Oscar, it must first be offered to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for $1.

So only Oscars awarded prior to 1950 are ever sold — at least in public.

“It’s something you don’t ever run into,” said Nanci Thompson, owner and auctioneer for Briarbrook. “The Academy is very diligent about pursuing lawsuits if they hear about an Oscar awarded after 1950 being sold.”

Thompson said she originally went to the home of Joseph Wright’s nephew to look at some Gorham silver. Then she saw the Oscar on a table in the living room.

“I said ‘Is that what I think it is?’ ” Thompson said.

It was.

So Thompson asked if Wright’s nephew would consider consigning it for auction. He agreed after Thompson researched how much the Oscar could be worth.

And how much is that?

The price can vary widely, depending on whether the Oscar is associated with an iconic film or actor.

Michael Jackson bought David O. Selznick’s Oscar for “Gone with the Wind” for $1.5 million in 1999. Steven Spielberg bought two Oscars, one awarded to Clark Gable for “It Happened One Night,” the other awarded to Bette Davis for “Jezebel.”

He paid $607,000 for the Gable Oscar in 1996 and $578,000 for the Davis Oscar in 2001, and donated both back to the Academy.

Wright’s Oscar is not in that range. Joseph C. Wright worked on more than 80 films between 1923 and 1969. He won two Oscars, both in 1942, for “My Gal Sal” and “This Above All.” He was nominated for 10 more, including “Guys and Dolls” and “Days of Wine and Roses.”

Born in Chicago, Wright died in California at the age of 92.

Thompson said the worth of Wright’s Oscar can be gauged to some extent by the prices paid for fellow art director Richard Day’s Oscars. Day worked with Wright on both his Oscar-winning films.

Thompson said two of Day’s Oscars have been sold, one for $53,000 in 2009 and one for $118,000 in 2012.

Thompson has placed a pre-sale estimate on the Wright Oscar at $5,000 to $30,000, although she said it could sell for more. She said she’s advertised the sale on the West Coast, to alert California film buffs and collectors about the sale.

“I’m terribly excited,” she said. “I’ve been starting to get calls from California about it. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to be involved with something like this. It’s that rare.”

The Oscar auction will take place Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the Varnum Armory, 6 Main St., East Greenwich, midway during Briarbrook’s antiques and fine arts auction. Interested parties may attend the auction, bid in advance by using auctionzip.com or phone (401) 439-2346 to arrange for live telephone bidding.