Academy Wants Oscars Back...for $10

In her will, Beverly Rogers requested that her heirs sell the Oscar won by Mary Pickford in 1929 for Coquette and for the proceeds to be donated to the Buddy Rogers Youth Symphony charity. Beverly Rogers was the second wife of "Buddy" Rogers (Mary Pickford was his first wife). The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences offered the heirs $50,000 for the Oscar, but since estimates gauge the Oscar to be worth around ten times that price, the heirs refused the Academy's offer.

So now, the Academy is sueing the heirs for the Oscar. The Academy's bylaws, created in the 1950s, state that the Academy has first dibs on buying Oscars and that they should only pay $10. However, these bylaws were created over two decades after Mary Pickford was awarded the Oscar. Should Oscars be available on the market?

Learn more about the History of the Academy Awards.