Fame in Eight and a Half Pounds of Britannium, Copper, Nickel, Silver, and 24 Carat Gold

February 26, 2012 11:01 AM

Since 1983, Chicago's R.S. Owens & Company has been making one of the world’s most famous awards: The Oscar.
posted by quin (7 comments total)

I was wondering what metal they were made out of. I thought maybe it was bronze, but it turned out to be pewter.

It's interesting that they use multiple plating layers: copper, then nickel, then silver, and then gold.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:45 AM on February 26, 2012

...all surrounding a solid dark-chocolate core (70% cocao).
posted by Tomorrowful at 11:57 AM on February 26, 2012 [3 favorites]

Mention of this in the Financial Times on Friday. Worth reading.
posted by IndigoJones at 1:02 PM on February 26, 2012

but it turned out to be pewter.

Not just any pewter! It has to be fabulous pewter. They say Britannium
posted by IndigoJones at 1:05 PM on February 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

I should just stroll over and get one. Put it on the mantle. Never talk about it.
"Oh that? No big. I won best supporting actor in a foreign language short subject live action short film based on an adapted screenplay. Werner Herzog read me 'Go the Fuck to Sleep' at the New York Public Library."
posted by Smedleyman at 3:40 PM on February 26, 2012 [2 favorites]

But who designed it?
posted by rowancluster at 4:47 PM on February 26, 2012

CP: "It's interesting that they use multiple plating layers: copper, then nickel, then silver, and then gold."

It's actually "nickel silver" i.e. a copper / nickel / zinc alloy. Gold tends to either flake off or dull quickly when plated onto most substrates, so for things like Brittania metal you need to initially plate it with copper (sticks well to most non-ferrous metals), then nickel silver (a nice hard surface that gold sticks well to; also prevents the copper from migrating into & dulling the gold), then gold.
posted by Pinback at 8:33 PM on February 26, 2012 [2 favorites]