The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences zealously guards the ownership of Oscars bestowed after 1950. Before that, winners (or their heirs) are free to sell them on the open market.

However, when an Oscar came up for sale at Christie's recently that was ostensibly given to Frank Capra for his 1942 documentary "Prelude to War," the Academy did a little legwork and discovered that it was not the original award, but a duplicate.

Turns out the U.S. Army, which commissioned Capra to make the "Why We Fight" series to educate and inspire the troops, had asked for a second Oscar in 1958 to showcase in an exhibit. Following that, the Army Pictorial Center played caretaker but when it closed in 1970, that duplicate Oscar went missing till it turned up on the auction block. The academy tipped off the Army brass, which laid claim on the golden boy before it could be sold.