“An Oscar has always been as much about commerce as about art; it ups an actor’s asking price and box office appeal. These days the trophy itself can mean cold cash as a collectible, worth up to $50,000 for a “common Oscar,” as experts call the technical and tangential awards, and from several hundred thousand dollars to $1.5 million for those bestowed upon famous films and actors. The trade in vintage Oscars through publicized auctions and an underground market has become a parallel universe as competitive and bitter as the annual acting derby itself.”