Here at Scrap Car Comparison we’ve got some serious expert knowledge about the scrap value of your car, but being the curious people we are, we’ve also been wondering about the scrap value of other things.
With major world events like the Champions League Final and the Oscars starting to welcome back guests, we wondered how much winners of big achievements could get for their prestigious awards down at the scrap yard?
Of course, it’s difficult to put a price on the value of such esteemed awards; the lifelong work, training, and effort to win an Academy Award or a sports event like Wimbledon or the FA Cup is truly priceless. And even the organisations who give the awards are reluctant to put a price on them! With Grammys for example, it’s actually against the rules to sell the trophy. They can’t be transferred or sold for instance to resolve a bankruptcy (although some winners have found loopholes and auctioned them off much to the organisation’s dismay!)
But, in the name of finding interesting (but pointless) trivia, we have put aside the rules and sentimental value, and researched the weights and combinations of different metals used to make 40 of the most famous trophies across the sports, science, theatre, literature and entertainment industries. And can now reveal the value of the world’s most priceless trophies – if you were to trade them in at the scrap yard!
The Costliest Trophies/Prizes in the World
| Trophy Name | Event Genre | Est. Scrap Value Cost ($) | Est. Scrap Value Cost (£) |
| 1. FIFA World Cup | Football | $280,198.49 | £197,397.03 |
| 2. Diamond Games* | Tennis | $255,915 | £180,289.56 |
| 3. WBC Diamond Championship “The Money Belt’* | Boxing | $85,305 | £60,096.52 |
| 4. UFC Championship | MMA | $51,581.09 | £36,338.36 |
| 5. Indianapolis 500 | Racing | $37,350 | £26,312.70 |
| 6. World Cup | Cricket | $30,334 | £21,370 |
| 7. Stanley Cup | Ice Hockey | $12,865 | £9,063.26 |
| 8. America’s Cup | Yachting | $11,620 | £8,186.17 |
| 9. World Series | Baseball | $11,294.64 | £7,956.96 |
| 10. Preakness Stakes | Horse-riding | $11,288 | £7,952.28 |
| 11. Nobel (Science) | Science | $10,520.95 | £7,411.90 |
| 12. PGA Championship | Golf | $10,165.01 | £7,161.15 |
| 13. Nobel (General) | General | $9,952.25 | £7,011.26 |
| 14. Premier League | Football | $7,885 | £5,554.90 |
| 15. Euros’ Henri Delaunay Trophy | Football | $6,640 | £4,685 |
| 16. UEFA Champions League | Football | $6,225 | £4,385.45 |
| 17. Copa America | Football | $5,893 | £4,151.56 |
| 18. Larry O’Brien Championship | Basketball | $5,835.73 | £4,111.21 |
| 19. Six Nations | Rugby | $5,810 | £4,093.09 |
| 20. The FA Cup | Football | $5,229 | £3,683.78 |
| 21. DFB-Pokal | Football | $5,187.50 | £3,654.54 |
| 22. World Cup | Rugby | $3,735 | £2,631.27 |
| 23. NFL Superbowl | American Football | $2,656 | £1,871.13 |
| 24. NFL Championship | Football | $2,635.25 | £1,856.51 |
| 25. The Open | Golf | $2,075 | £1,461.82 |
| 26. Wimbledon – Ladies Singles | Tennis | $1,909 | £1,344.87 |
| 27. Scottish Cup | Football | $1,867.50 | £1,315.64 |
| 28. UEFA Europa League | Football | $1,245 | £877.09 |
| 29. Gold Medal | Olympics | $822.62 | £579.53 |
| 30. Silver Medal | Olympics | $481.4 | £339.14 |
| 31. Heisman Trophy | College Football | $81.6 | £57.53 |
| 32. Ballon d’Or | Football | $48 | £33.90 |
| 33. Academy Award (Oscar) | Film | $15.42 | £10.87 |
| 34. Olivier Award | Theatre | $6.4 | £4.51 |
| 35. Tony Award | Theatre | $5.31 | £3.74 |
| 36. Bronze Medal | Olympics | $1.97 | £1.39 |
| 37. Grammy | Music | n/a | n/a |
| 38. VMA | Music | n/a | n/a |
| 39. Emmy | Film | n/a | n/a |
| 40. Golden Globes | Film | n/a | n/a |
The Most Valuable Trophies to Take to the Scrap Yard
Sports winners are going 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 FIFA World Cup, BNP Paribas Fortis’ Diamond Games trophy and WBC Diamond Championship ‘Money Belt’ (football, tennis and boxing respectively) came out as the most valuable, in terms of their scrap metal value.
Even when discounting the value of the incredible number of diamonds and jewels featured in both the WBC’s Diamond Championship ‘Money Belt’ and the Diamond Games trophy in tennis, both awards still come out near the top as the most valuable in terms of scrap metal, due to the massive amount of gold used to make them (approx. 4.5KG in the Diamond Games trophy and 1.5KG in The Money Belt).
The only trophy that uses more gold, and is thus going to get more cash at the scrap yard is the FIFA World Cup, which is made from just under 5KG of 18 carat gold – giving it a scrap metal value of just under £200,000 ($280,000).
Sports Trophies
With football’s Euros Championship coming up this summer we were intrigued to find out the scrap value of the Henri Delaunay trophy. Weighing in at 8KG of solid silver, the winners of the Euros would receive roughly £4,685 ($6,640) for the silverware.
Arguably the most famous sporting award in existence, Olympic medals, would actually fetch relatively little compared to other sports’ trophies. The gold medal is actually made of silver and actually plated in gold, making it worth around £580 ($822). Bronze scrap metal prices are so low, that you’d be lucky to get £1.50 ($2) for the bronze used to make one at the scrap yard, so if you’ve been lucky enough to win one, you’re better off keeping it!
The cricket world cup comes in as the 6th most valuable when considering its scrap metal content. Weighing in at 11KG, it consists of three solid silver columns (each representing cricket’s key elements, batting, fielding and bowling) and a gold globe. If the trophy fell into the hands of someone who wanted to take it to the scrap yard, they could expect to come away with roughly £21,300 ($30,000).
Horse-riding and ice hockey championships are other sports which come with hefty trophies. The Stanley Cup, awarded to the playoff winner of the National Hockey League, is a whopping 89cm and weighs a chunky 15.5KG. Made from a silver alloy, it could be scrapped for up to £9,000 ($12,800). The Woodlawn Vase is another tall silver trophy (91cm) and is awarded to the winner of the Preakness Stakes horse race that takes place each year in May. Weighing 13.6KG, it could fetch up to £7,952 ($11,288) at the junkyard.
The trophy made from the most silver is the Borg-Warner Trophy, awarded to the winner of the Indianapolis 500. Said to be made from 45KG of solid silver, the prize could fetch up to £26,312 ($37,350). The unique looking trophy not only has the name of the winners engraved onto it, but even a mini-silver cast of the driver’s faces!
Nobel Prizes
There are some subtle differences to the different Nobel medals. The winner’s name is engraved in the centre of the medal for all versions, except for the Peace Prize and Economics Prize, where the name is engraved on the edge. Then, whilst all the medals are 175g of 18 karat gold, the Economics medal is 185g, making it slightly more valuable at the scrap yard – approximately £7,400 ($10,500).
Music, Film & Theatre Awards
Some of the most well-known awards are the ones won in the entertainment industries (Oscars, Grammys, Emmys, Olivier’s and so on) but surprisingly, they are actually worth the least at the scrap yard!
Popular prizes in the acting industry (such as Oscars, Oliviers and Tony awards) are really not worth a lot when it comes to their true scrap metal price, as they are made from bronze or brass, metals which aren’t in high demand. Some scrap yards won’t even accept bronze or brass items at all, so you might not even be able to scrap your Oscar! It’s funny to think that Leonardo Dicaprio’s long overdue (in our opinion at least) Oscar would only fetch a tenner ($15) at the scrap yard.
Music awards are a little more complicated, with MTV’s Video Music Awards (VMAs) and Grammys being made from special bespoke alloys, which don’t have a set metal exchange rate.
In conclusion, if you were to ever to find yourself in a position where you needed cash and happened to have a world-famous trophy to hand, you’re going to be better off financially with a sale or auction that takes into consideration the sentimental and historical value of the award, rather than taking it to the scrap yard, especially if it’s an Olympic medal, an Oscar or the Ballon d’Or!
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Methodology: Our estimated scrap costs are based on metal value only (jewels not considered due to unknown size and quality). Weights and materials of trophies were calculated against current scrap exchange rates for gold, silver, bronze and brass. Estimated values of trophies made from alloys (i.e. zinc alloy for the Grammys, VMAs and Golden Globes, or copper alloy for the Emmys) have not been calculated. The amount of metal used to plate some awards has also been ignored in most cases (exception is the Olympics Gold Medal) as the amount of metal used to plate an item is usually so small that most scrappers do not quote for it.
Scrap metal value sources:
· www.rockawayrecycling.com/metal/bronze
· www.transmetal.co.uk/scrap-prices
Prices correct as of May 2021
