RUBY SLIPPERS OF JUDY GARLAND SOLD FOR $28 MILLION AT AUCTION
Heritage Auctions celebrated a historic sale on December 7. The famous ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore while playing Dorothy in the movie The Wizard of Oz brought an incredible $28 million at auction. The slippers sold for the highest amount of any movie memorabilia ever at auction, according to Heritage Auctions.
The starting price was $800,000 when the bidding started in November. Before intense phone bidding pushed the price of the shoes up to $10 million in just three minutes, pre-sale bids had already reached $1.55 million. The glittering shoes ultimately sold for $32.5 million, including the auction fee, to an unidentified buyer—more than ten times the $3 million initial estimate.
The fact that there are only four pairs of ruby slippers left from the original Wizard of Oz movie made them much more rare. They were also the target of a notorious theft in 2005 when Terry Jon Martin, a former mobster, took them from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The famous shoes were retrieved by the FBI in 2018, and Martin was ultimately charged with stealing a significant piece of art in 2023.
The Judy Garland Museum, which had borrowed the ruby shoes from Michael Shaw before their theft in 2005, was one of the bidders at the auction on December 7. While Minnesota lawmakers set aside $100,000 to help with the purchase, the museum had run a fundraising campaign to try to buy the shoes back. Ultimately, the museum's budget and expectations were greatly surpassed by $28 million.
In addition to Garland's sequined slippers, there was another item of Wizard of Oz memorabilia up for auction. With buyer's fees included, a pointed hat worn by Wicked Witch of the West actress Margaret Hamilton brought $2.93 million.
According to the lot description, "The fabled ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz [are] the 'holy grail' of Hollywood memorabilia." "These cherished [shoes] are the most sought-after item in this field."
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