The replacement Oscar statuette for “Citizen Kane” that Orson Welles’s daughter was granted in 1988, after his estate couldn’t find the original following his death in 1985, sold at auction over the weekend for a whopping $645,000 although the transaction may not have been legal.
Original ‘Citizen Kane’ Oscar Sold
Of significance is the fact that this isn’t even the original Oscar statuette, which somehow turned up for auction at London’s Sotheby’s in 1994. It was traced to cinematographer Gary Graver, who was working on Welles’s unfinished (until it was restored four decades later) 1974 film, “The Other Side of the Wind.” Graver claimed Welles gave him the statuette as payment for the financially hindered project. He later sold it for a reported $50,000 to a company that eventually put it up for auction at Sotheby’s with a reserve of $250,000.But after Sotheby’s notified Beatrice Welles in an effort to verify Graver’s account was true before proceeding further, she decided to sue. The court then ruled in her favor, noting the transaction wasn’t for “payment” and the Oscar was then given to her. In 2003, she attempted to sell it herself since she was forbidden by AMPAS from selling the 1988 replacement.
Questions Surrounding Replacement Oscar
Interestingly, while the recent Heritage Auction listed many items that came from the Welles Estate—such as three spoken word Grammy statuettes ($45,000), Welles’s typewriter ($81,250) and three separate Citizen Kane Oscar nomination certificates ($105,000)—the infamous replacement Oscar was not listed from the Welles Estate or any specific consignor, but just that it would have a Certificate of Authenticity.Heritage, however, guarantees, as Sotheby’s had attempted to do with the original, that every consignor must be legitimately and legally able to do so. That’s while the auction house has a policy of not revealing its consignors unless the name is specified in the individual auctions. So the question remains that, if the replacement Oscar did come from Beatrice, why wouldn’t she list it under the Welles Estate as with the other items?
Heritage also has a policy that enables auction winners to immediately offer the item up for sale through them as soon as the auction ends, and the mystery buyer appears to be doing just that, offering it up for $967,000 or more.
This leaves many questioning if it’s possible that Beatrice had privately sold or given the Oscar to someone else, outside of the auction circuit.
If that’s the case, it would seem that the buyer would be beholden to the agreement Beatrice Welles signed in 1988, to first offer the Oscar up to the Academy for $1. Still, the buyer (and now potential seller) has still not been identified, though it seems the Academy will launch an investigation of some sort.
Additionally, to make the twisted tale even more complicated, the “Citizen Kane” Oscar was not the only Oscar statuette offered here. That’s because a 1944 “unattributed” statuette with no name plate also went on the block with a starting bid of $15,000. It went for only $21,250 but now also is subject of an “offer to owner” immediate deal for $31,875.
In essence, the three “Citizen Kane” screenplay Oscar statuettes might all be in possession of people who had nothing at all to do with the film’s writing or the movie itself. That’s as Welles did actually receive another Academy Award, an honorary Oscar in 1971. For its part, 1941’s “Citizen Kane” is still considered by many movie aficionados as one of the best movies of all time.
The Epoch Times reached out to AMPAS for comment.