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Oscars rarely come up for auction because since 1950, the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, host of the Academy
Awards, has required that winners, their heirs or estates not
sell one without first offering it to the Academy for $1.The
88-year-old organization has recently attempted to keep
ownership rights to trophies awarded before 1950. Last year, the
estate of actress Joan Fontaine withdrew her Oscar from a
much-anticipated auction when the Academy threatened to sue over
its sale.And in July, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled
that the Academy could apply its rule to a 1943 statuette that
had been sold at auction, because its winner, art director
Joseph Wright, remained an Academy member past 1951.The Academy
did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday’s auction,
conducted in Hollywood by auctioneer Profiles in History.The
Canadian-born Shearer, best known for such films as "Marie
Antoinette" and "The Women," was nominated for five other roles
as Best Actress, cementing her fame as a Hollywood star through
the 1930s. She died in 1983.
(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and
Eric Walsh)
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