seen my life be sold off for pennies on the dollar,,made a Public ass out of myself , and have no idea what ill be doing next year... plus I am bitter at the Movie industry and lost respect for much of it as None cares anymoe aboutwhat i thought ws important.. Yet..... each time we lose a Knotts or people from my era or before my heart clinches. Because we are all dieing really... Ive had a Steven Spielberg package on ebay that Ive paid more for listing than Illl ever get.. because I felt his carrer was important why it hasnt sold puzzles me.. I have it prised so cheap
with a camera like he used when he started.. on and on... yet people buy my items everyday luckily...
I am most happy when I ca give stuff away... and make people happy..... But I do like to eat.. and pay bills.. so the capitalist part kicks in also.
I think I did too good of Job promoting my scar sale as it seemed to grab alot of attention... One guy asked me why I pulled the sale.. then when i said i did Voluntarilly he said no you didnt vero rights pulled it like as If I didnt heed the wishes of academy.... I did the endit now option BEFORE ebay went in Hours later and removed the ad that was in my not sold file.. I have the time i ended it ... all that i did was take several hours after the atty emailed to mulll over if I felt we were being proper... and the I asked my son and I thought whats the right thing..
so I ended it.. sellin a oscar isnt the end all.. people have offerd me 7500.00 and i refused because I did think it may do better on ebay.
and yes it would have been a windfall. but really, also what was important was that everyone the buyers and all know that the provenance
was unable to be validated. and really unless someone can tell me what criteria would be used to compare, How can anyone say for sure whos it is.. ampas does require that first refusal on sales and asks that they not be sold especially the numbered ones..
heres a letter from the atty of ampas at bottom of what i sent ebayers that asked me why I took the ad down and why it was ended early...
one guy said you didnt end it ebay did.... however, I have the times and even if I didnt end it.. it was ended..
But I did it with end the sale..feature after thinking what the best resolution and Ive also.. sought advise fom people that i feel will help me have a clear outlook at to what to do next... and thats MOPO and its great people. Thanks You all its a very kind thing.
heres the letter i sent buyers asking what happened and also the intial letter from ampas
Hello Folks - I elected to end the sale voluntarily as I was sent a email from the atty from Academy posing some questions as to the Provenance of the awards. We believe that the items are 100% real based on our research However the fact they have no plates makes it hard to determine when they where given and whose they were. The Oscar we have seems to weigh 8-81/2 pounds however the height seem more close to 13 inch and maybe 1/4 . The academy site says that in1945 was the year metal bases came out and the Only year a modification was made raiseing the base height,, so that current oscars ar 13 1/2 inches High and 8 1/2 lbs weight. Thereby I have asked if the 45-46 Oscar was 13 inches before the base was raised.. However cannot verify and the academy has not returned my calls due to being saturday and the awards.
also even if I verify the award beyond a doubt the atty has said without the plate it could be covering a lost or stolen statuette.. I received tis years ago however its been a mystery whos it was as the person said it was his Uncle and the name didnt ring a bell and the plate was missing.. I was so enthralled to have found them I didnt want to waste time and the person took 6 years to even allow me to have them.
Ok.. then even if I have the name, the plate and its pre 49 pre serial # before they made people sell it to the academy the atty says that it could be covered under a subsequent aggreement people signed when oscars where replaced. all these details made me think it best to honor the request and take the sale down as it was never my intention to offer anything but above board service and items .. Oddly for years the Academys Marget Herrick Library has placed my Company as a reccomended source for memorabilia so we have bought many items from persons sent to us by the Academy.. What ive done in responce is that i have asked a 400 + group of Movie memorabilia experts to give me thier advise, Opinion as to what I should do... as far as should we : Donate it as a Gift to Academy?, sell it,? or how we can validate it so that its saved. I welcome your suggestions and opinions
heres the letter i received from the Academy
Kindest regards
Tom:
I am writing on behalf of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As a self-proclaimed movie memorabilia collector of 30 years, you are no doubt aware of the Academy's right of first refusal over the sale of any 1949 awards-year and later statuettes. You should also know the Academy only distributes Oscars in relation to award-winning achievements. The Academy does not merchandise or give away its copyrighted and trademarked Oscar to the general pubic. It is therefore quite suspicious that someone would be offering for sale an un-plaqued Oscar statuette (or one with the plaque removed). In light of the above circumstances, the Academy requests that you provide the details concerning your source of this Oscar, including any receipts, serial numbers, or other related documents. Until we can determine whether or not this is a legitimate item, we must ask that you not sell, offer for sale or transfer the item.
JR wrote:
Tom, I may as well throw in my inflation-adjusted 16 cents, since you asked...Like, what does the Academy need it for? They already have plenty of Oscars and your is unplated anyway. They don't need it and would probably just stick in in a box in a back room somewhere. In the vernacular... screw 'em... it's yours. You paid for it. If they want it, let 'em offer to buy it from you at a decent price. Rudy's handling of another unplated Oscar on the latest edition of the Antiques Roadshow on PBS brings up an interesting possibility -- that your Oscar, like the lady's on the Roadshow -- is unplated because it was *never* awarded to anyone. It was either an extra that was ordered and never used which eventually found its way into private hands or one that was perhaps slightly flawed in some way and so not presented. Who knows? If you're correct that it is pre-1949 (and it seems you are), then even as one which was never presented to a person, it is still a valuable piece of movie memorabilia. Anyway, the Oscars do not come with an NSS stamp on them saying something like "This is the property of the AMPAS and is to be displayed only in conjunction with the person to whom it was awarded. When the person to whom it was awarded no longer wishes to keep it, this award must be returned to AMPAS". They have no legal claim on it whatsoever. If you wanted to let them purchase it at less that the $10,000 you were asking (or the $12,000 Rudy appraised the other one at), that would be a nice gesture on your part -- but they should still compensate you in some appropriate way for it if they want it. They clearly have no grounds for demanding that you return it or donate it -- or that you shouldn't sell it to someone else. Of course, that wouldn't stop eBay from pulling your auction if AMPAS filed a VERIO complaint about it... But what if someone who actually *had* won an Oscar were to decide they wanted to sell theirs on eBay? Would the Academy then claim that person had no right to do so? -- JR ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Martin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, March 04, 2006 16:02 Subject: Re: [MOPO] NEED ADVICE and OPINIONs ON freee OSCAR neededHello Folks.. last night I pulled my ad on Ebay for the Oscar award . I had been emailed By a person saying they were Academy awards legal councel. asking me to say how I obtained where the award was from I told him what ive said over and Over that ive had it years that it appears to be pre -49. that theres no serial # at heels they did that after 49 so last night I re-measured and weighed obver and over... I asked My son what should I do as I really dont know whose it was for certain// The peopleI I bought it from may be dead and Im sure wouldnt want the hassle. this was like 80s- 90s.. and I never planned on selling it till I had my recent change of events. so My son said.. . why not help the academy...they are just trying to protect thier rights too.... so before i went to bed i pressed .. " end the sale early " so now ive consided making it a Gift to the academy.... . My question and what I would like to know is what would other dealers do... whats driven me nuts is No one ever seems to have the facts as the academy wants to scare you into believing its Bogus.. yet to try to be as honest we need to have facts.. like sizess and weights... when i measured this Oscar he was 13 inches and maybe like 1/4 at best not 13 1/2 and the body is like 10 the base like 3.. On the Academy website it says that a Modifcation was made in 45 that raised the base higher . That makes me think it was raised 1/2 inch. also RS Owens has been makeing them since 1983 But who did prior??? So without a Plate its anyones guess whos it was as you have from 45 1st metal bases priorwas marble and then up to 49 when they began numbering starting at 501. so If youthink I should Gift It to academy speak Up... as I would ask Mr. Rudy Franchi to make sure they got it. And i would want them to finally put the mystery to rest that its indeed the real thing.. Personally I think they should have a Fund set aside to reward people for returning them instead of trying to discredit people with disinformation. so simply send you responces and say Maki it a GIFT ,, Or would you SELL it... Im curious what others would do if they had one.. also without a Plate how can we verify whose it is ever??? I dont belive it can as there is a possible five year spread.. as for ifs it genuine.. I beleive it is how do your raise the height of base without making the award taller which means the pre 1945 awrds were smaller?? wouldnt it?? how smaller 13 inches? Im am perplexed and want to do the right thing here.. please help me with this people. Sure i would have liked to sell and have some extra money but not if it was not right... I wouldnt have advertised on ebay had I thought t was not proper.. an the plate issue to me devalued it. thanks for your time and consideration.. comments please/ Tom Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
