The Academy Award for the original screenplay of "Citizen Kane" auctioned for more than $861,000.

The Academy Award statuette that Orson Welles won for the original screenplay of "Citizen Kane" was auctioned for more than $861,000 in Los Angeles.

The 1942 Oscar was thought to be lost for decades. It surfaced in 1994 when cinematographer Gary Graver tried to sell it. The sale was stopped by Beatrice Welles, Orson's youngest daughter and sole heir.

Magician David Copperfield was among those clamoring for the golden trophy, but he was the runner-up bidder for the Oscar, which sold to an undisclosed buyer for $861,542, Los Angeles auctioneer Nate D Sanders said.

The slightly tarnished Oscar for 1941 best screenplay is one of just a handful of illustrious Academy Award statues to sell for near the million-dollar mark.

84 Great Oscar Moments

The 12th Academy Awards (1940)

        Best Picture: "Gone with the Wind"

• "Gone with the Wind" won eight Academy Awards: Best Picture, Actress (Vivien Leigh), Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel), Art Direction (Lyle R. Wheeler), Color Cinematography (Ernest Haller, Ray Rennahan), Directing (Victor Fleming), Film Editing (Hal C. Kern, James E. Newcom) and Writing – Screenplay (Sidney Howard). It received five other nominations. 

http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/84/moments/index83.html

ACADEMY SHINES NEW LIGHT ON "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE"

Beverly Hills, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will examine the technology behind "It's a Wonderful Life" at Los Angeles and New York City screenings on Friday, December 9, and Monday, December 12, respectively. Hosted by Oscar®-winning visual effects supervisor Craig Barron and Oscar-winning sound designer Ben Burtt, the programs will explore studio production methods of the era, the use of matte paintings in key scenes, and the origins of the film's sound effects. Both programs will begin at 7 p.m.

"It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) is one of only two motion pictures produced by Liberty Films, the independent company Frank Capra and Samuel J. Briskin created in 1945. Although the film performed only modestly at the box office when it was first released, it went on to earn five Oscar nominations, including Best Motion Picture, Best Actor (James Stewart), Directing (Capra), Film Editing (William Hornbeck) and Sound Recording (RKO Radio Studio Sound Department, John Aalberg, sound director).

The inventors of the snow machine that made its debut with the film won an Academy Technical Achievement Award in 1948. Synthetic snow replaced bleached cornflakes, the previous method of simulating falling snow in movies.

http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2011/20111205.html