An Oscar award is worth less than a coffee — this is why

Receiving an Oscar is arguably the highest honor an actor can receive — save for perhaps a Lifetime Achievement award.

It's something most actors strive for often as early as they make their screen debut; Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet wasn't afraid to imply as much himself during his recent SAG Awards speech, when he earnestly shared: "The truth is, I'm really in the pursuit of greatness … I want to be one of the greats."

Like every year, awards season will come to an end with the Oscars, which this year are airing on Sunday, March 2, and among the nominees are Timothée, as well as Demi Moore, Ariana Grande, Ralph Fiennes, Mikey Madison, Sebastian Stan, Adam Brody, Kieran Culkin and Isabella Rossellini, among others.

And while whichever one of them holds up the famed gold statue that represents the award it'll certainly look shiny and expensive, the greatness it symbolizes does not extend to its monetary value.

In reality, the 24-karat gold-plated figure is not worth very much, in fact, only $1.

The surprisingly low value is because of a strict rule from the Academy preventing winners — there have been more than 3,000 since they first started getting awarded in 1929, and Walt Disney has the most — from ever selling it.

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Since 1951, winners have had to sign an agreement and adhere to a no-resale rule, which states that no one can resell their Oscar unless the Academy itself refuses to buy it first — for a dollar.

Per the Academy's website: "Award winners shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the Oscar statuette, nor permit it to be sold or disposed of by operation of law, without first offering to sell it to the Academy for the sum of $1.00."

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"This provision shall apply also to the heirs and assigns of Academy Award winners who may acquire a statuette by gift or bequest," it further states.

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The rule has been enforced via court more than once, when family members that have inherited the statuettes have tried to sell them. 

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Back in 2007, the Academy sued to stop the resale of two statuettes that had been awarded to silent film star Mary Pickford, and a California judge sided with them. Similarly in 2014, the nephew of Joseph Wright — he won for best color art direction for the film My Gal Sal in 1943 — auctioned off the statuette, which was sold for $79,200, and the Academy later won in a lawsuit against both the nephew and the auction house.

Hosted by Conan O'Brien, the Oscars this year will air on ABC and stream on Hulu, at 8pm EST on Sunday, March 2.