The Oscar Statuette: What is it Made of?

It all started in 1928 when Cedric Gibbons, working as an art director for the film company MGM, conceived of an award design to be given in the Academy Awards.  He met a Mexican director and actor, Emilio "El Indio" Fernandez and asked him to pose nude to become the model for the statuette now known as The Oscar.  Gibbons' design was made into clay by American sculpture George Stanley, and Sachin Smith molded it into a statuette consisting of  92.5 percent tin and 7.5 percent copper and was plated in gold. C.W.  Shumway and Sons Foundry in Illinois was the original company that sculpted the Oscar. Presently R.S. Owens and Company  makes about 50 Oscar statuettes annually for the Academy.  Each Oscar statuette takes about three (3) to four (4) weeks to manufacture and weighs 8.5 pounds (3.9 kg).