ORSON WELLES - CITIZEN KANE OSCAR FAILS TO SELL

The Oscar won by ORSON WELLES for the 1941 classic CITIZEN KANE has failed to sell at an auction in New York. The award for Best Original Screenplay was expected to fetch up to $1.2 million (GBP600,000) when it when under the hammer at Sotheby's on Tuesday (11Dec07), but the statuette failed to attract a single bid. However, Welles' personal working copy of the script sold for $97,000 (GBP48,500). The golden trophy was believed to have been lost until it turned up at a 1994 Sotheby's auction. A Los Angeles cinematographer had held it in secret, after being given it by Welles as payment for working with him. After a lengthy legal battle, the gong was returned to the Welles estate, which then sold it to the Dax Foundation, a Los Angeles-based charitable foundation who put the Oscar up for sale in a bid to raise funds.