In March 2000, three weeks before the 72nd Academy Awards, that year’s shipment of Oscars – 55 individually marked, 24-carat gold-plated statuettes – disappeared en route from the manufacturer in Chicago to Los Angeles. The story briefly became a showbiz sensation: the Academy set up a 24-hour tip line; the handling company offered a $ 50,000 reward; the FBI became involved. The culprits were a couple of light-fingered delivery workers. They were arrested within days and the show went on.
Had these thieves been able to sell the Oscars on the open market, they might have been
