<P> The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette . Made of gold - plated bronze on a black metal base, it is 13.5 in (34.3 cm) tall, weighs 8.5 lb (3.856 kg), and depicts a knight rendered in Art Deco style holding a crusader's sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes . The five spokes represent the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers, and Technicians . </P> <P> The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio "El Indio" Fernández . Sculptor George Stanley (who also did the Muse Fountain at the Hollywood Bowl) sculpted Cedric Gibbons' design . The statuettes presented at the initial ceremonies were gold - plated solid bronze . Within a few years the bronze was abandoned in favor of Britannia metal, a pewter - like alloy which is then plated in copper, nickel silver, and finally, 24 - karat gold . Due to a metal shortage during World War II, Oscars were made of painted plaster for three years . Following the war, the Academy invited recipients to redeem the plaster figures for gold - plated metal ones . The only addition to the Oscar since it was created is a minor streamlining of the base . The original Oscar mold was cast in 1928 at the C.W. Shumway & Sons Foundry in Batavia, Illinois, which also contributed to casting the molds for the Vince Lombardi Trophy and Emmy Award's statuettes . From 1983 to 2015, approximately 50 Oscars in a tin alloy with gold plating were made each year in Chicago by Illinois manufacturer R.S. Owens & Company . It takes between three and four weeks to manufacture 50 statuettes . In 2016, the Academy returned to bronze as the core metal of the statuettes, handing manufacturing duties to Rock Tavern, New York - based Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry . While based on a digital scan of an original 1929 Oscar, the statuettes retain their modern - era dimensions and black pedestal . Cast in liquid bronze from 3D - printed ceramic molds and polished, they are then electroplated in 24 - karat gold by Brooklyn, New York--based Epner Technology . The time required to produce 50 such statuettes is roughly three months . R.S. Owens is expected to continue producing other awards for the Academy and service existing Oscars that need replating . </P> <P> The origin of the name Oscar is disputed . One biography of Bette Davis, who was a president of the Academy, claims she named the Oscar after her first husband, band leader Harmon Oscar Nelson . Another claimed origin is the Academy's Executive Secretary, Margaret Herrick, first saw the award in 1931 and made reference to the statuette's reminding her of her "Uncle Oscar" (a nickname for her cousin Oscar Pierce). Columnist Sidney Skolsky was present during Herrick's naming and seized the name in his byline, "Employees have affectionately dubbed their famous statuette' Oscar' ." </P> <P> One of the earliest mentions of the term Oscar dates to a Time magazine article about the 1934 6th Academy Awards . Walt Disney also thanked the Academy for his Oscar as early as 1932 . The trophy officially received the name "Oscar" in 1939 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . </P>

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