Orson Welles won an Oscar for a little movie he wrote that you might have heard of called Citizen Kane. And now the famed gold statue that he took home in 1942 will be going up for auction soon presenting a rare chance for a collector to snag an award. He or she will just have to come up with what they expect will be around $1 million.

Welles, who was perhaps more famous for his radio drama War of the Worlds, apparently wasn’t too careful with his Oscar. While most actors wouldn’t dream of letting such a valuable piece out of their sight, he told everyone it was lost. Whether he was lying or actually believed it was gone is unclear, but if he did know, he kept that secret to his grave. It wasn’t until a cinematographer stepped forward claiming to have received the statue that was given to him in lieu of pay when Welles owed him money. How’s that for a payment option? But he probably would have kept his mouth shut if he knew what would happen next.

The wife of the late actor/director/writer sued this guy and managed to get the court to yank it from him and put it back to its “rightful” place. In 2003, Beatrice Welles wanted to sell the statue to the highest bidder, but the Academy waved their finger like a school teacher and refused to allow her to do so. You see, there is a rule that an Oscar can’t be sold to the public, only back to the Academy. That wouldn’t be a bad deal, but no one probably ever actually does it because losing the Oscar is only worth a $1. The organization feels that allowing members to sell theirs, even if it’s to pay for retirement, would be a bad influence on the award’s reputation. And we agree to an extent. But after a person is dead for years, it really should be released into the wild. After all, I think an Oscar would look great on my mantle. I would just have to change my name to whoever won the one I bought.

It wasn’t until 2007 when she got the legal issues worked out with the Academy paving the way for her to try again to sell it. This time she did so through famed Sotheby’s, but it never got close to the reserve price and failed to sell. Now she wants to try it again in 2011 hoping that the market for movie memorabilia is a bit more friendly and it is. On average other pieces from Hollywood have done quite well as of late so that is why she is striking while the iron’s still hot, a smart move.

The Citizen Kane writing award was the only Oscar that Orson Welles won for his career despite the hundreds of projects he’d worked on. But to commemorate his long illustrious history in film, he was awarded an honorary lifetime achievement statue by the Academy in 1971, fourteen years before his death.