Counterfeit Oscar withdrawn from online auction

LOS ANGELES, Aug 5 (Reuters) An online auction of an Oscar statuette expected to sell for more than 100,000 dollars was canceled after investigators discovered it was a ''high quality'' counterfeit, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences said.

The statuette, being offered by Chicago firm Mastro Auctions, had been billed as the statuette won in 1944 by director Leo McCarey for his work on the Bing Crosby film ''Going My Way.'' The firm said the best director's Oscar was expected to fetch more than 100,000 dollars.

Mastro Auctions brought the Oscar to the Academy to be authenticated after McCarey's daughter, Mary McCarey Washburn, said she still had all three of her father's Oscar statuettes.

The Academy has strict rules inhibiting the sale of Oscars -- but they came into effect in 1951, making Oscars awarded before that year valuable auction items.

Academy executive administrator Ric Robertson yesterday said the ''McCarey'' statuette was made up of two mismatched parts, including an authentic Oscar base. The statuette's top weighed a pound more than an authentic one.

Robertson said there were indications the individual who consigned the statuette to the auctioneers may have been misled at the time he acquired it. He said the Academy would attempt to identify those who had unlawfully reproduced its copyrighted award, and that it would pursue its legal options if those efforts were successful.

Reuters VJ GC0501