June 2021: Experts at Scrap Car Comparison have revealed how much ‘priceless’ awards are worth according to the metals used to make them.
With awards and sports seasons slowly getting back to normal after a year of pandemic disruption, the team at Scrap Car Comparison have undertaken a study that reveals the actual scrap metal value of the world’s most prestigious awards, from Academy Awards to Nobel Prizes and football trophies.
Whilst the complete value of an award is totally subjective based on its sentimental and historical significance, the scrapping experts have uncovered the material make-up of 40 famous awards, and ranked them based on how much they are objectively worth based on the exchange rate for the metal that’s used to make them.
So whilst Leonardo DiCaprio’s hard-earned Oscar might be worth more to him than his yachts, mansions and designer clothes, the raw value of the 3.8KG lump of bronze is actually only worth just over fifteen dollars!
The Costliest Trophies in the World
| Trophy Name | Event Genre | Est. Scrap Value Cost ($) |
| 1. FIFA World Cup | Football | $280,198.49 |
| 2. Diamond Games* | Tennis | $255,915 |
| 3. WBC Diamond Championship “The Money Belt’* | Boxing | $85,305 |
| 4. UFC Championship | MMA | $51,581.09 |
| 5. Indianapolis 500 | Racing | $37,350 |
| 6. World Cup | Cricket | $30,334 |
| 7. Stanley Cup | Ice Hockey | $12,865 |
| 8. America’s Cup | Yachting | $11,620 |
| 9. World Series | Baseball | $11,294.64 |
| 10. Preakness Stakes | Horse-riding | $11,288 |
| 11. Nobel (Science) | Science | $10,520.95 |
| 12. PGA Championship | Golf | $10,165.01 |
| 13. Nobel (General) | General | $9,952.25 |
| 14. Premier League | Football | $7,885 |
| 15. Euros’ Henri Delaunay Trophy | Football | $6,640 |
| 16. UEFA Champions League | Football | $6,225 |
| 17. Copa America | Football | $5,893 |
| 18. Larry O’Brien Championship | Basketball | $5,835.73 |
| 19. Six Nations | Rugby | $5,810 |
| 20. The FA Cup | Football | $5,229 |
| 21. DFB-Pokal | Football | $5,187.50 |
| 22. World Cup | Rugby | $3,735 |
| 23. NFL Superbowl | American Football | $2,656 |
| 24. NFL Championship | Football | $2,635.25 |
| 25. The Open | Golf | $2,075 |
The new research reveals that sports champions stand to get the most cash for their hard-earned medals, cups and shields. The top ten most valuable trophies in the world to take to the scrap yard all come from the realm of sport, including football, boxing, tennis, cricket and racing.
The most valuable trophy is the FIFA World Cup, which is made from just under 5KG of 18 karat gold – giving it a scrap metal value of just under $280,000.
With football’s Euros Championship coming up this summer, Scrap Car Comparison also discovered the scrap value of the Henri Delaunay trophy. Weighing in at 8KG of solid silver, the winners of the Euros would receive roughly $6,640 for the silverware, placing it at 15th overall.
Another upcoming sporting event is the rescheduled 2020 Olympics but despite their worldwide recognition, Olympic medals would actually fetch relatively little compared to other sporting trophies. The gold medal is actually made of silver and then plated in gold, making it worth around $822. Bronze scrap metal prices are so low, that you’d be lucky to get $2 in return for the bronze used to make a bronze Olympic medal!
Away from the sporting world, there are a few other industries with valuable prizes awarded. Most famously perhaps, the Nobel Prizes. Whilst all the Nobel medals are made from 175g of 18 karat gold, the Economics medal is 185g, making it slightly more valuable at the scrap yard – approximately $10,500.
The other most well-known awards are the ones won in the entertainment industries such as Academy Awards, Grammys and Emmys, but surprisingly, they are actually worth the least at the scrap yard! This is because most of them are made from bronze or brass, metals that aren’t in high scrap demand. Some scrap yards won’t even accept bronze or brass items at all.
Dan Gick, Managing Director at Scrap Car Comparison said: “As both scrap experts and auto fans we were excited to see the Indy 500’s Borg-Warner Trophy in the top five – weighing a whopping 45KG of solid silver, we reckon it could fetch up to $37,350 at the junkyard! This has been a fun study to undertake, revealing some interesting quiz trivia in time for the summer sports season.”
To see the original study and full methodology with more trophy prizes and their true values, visit: www.scrapcarcomparison.co.uk/blog/famous-awards-scrap-value/