In March 2000, three weeks before the 72nd Academy Awards, that year’s entire shipment of Oscars – 55 individually marked, 24-carat-gold-plated statuettes – mysteriously 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. But the culprits were no master criminals: they turned out to be a couple of light-fingered but loose-tongued delivery workers, who had stumbled on the crate and thought they had struck gold. They were arrested within days and the show went on.
