In pictures: Making the Oscars

A Chicago factory is manufacturing the statuettes that will be handed out at next month's Academy Awards. Anacledo Medina has cast every Oscar made in the past 24 years.

Each statuette takes 40 hours of work to make. A pantograph is used to add a serial number to the base of every Oscar.

About 55 to 60 trophies are made every year under tight security by RS Owens.

Each Oscar is dipped in electrically-charged bins of molten copper, nickel, silver and 24-carat gold and then lacquered to a blinding shine.

Every Oscar is closely inspected for defects - if it is not perfect, it is sliced in half and used for scrap.

The five stages of making an Oscar (left-right): Britannia pewter base, copper, nickel, silver, then 24-carat gold.

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