‘Wizard of Oz’ Ruby Slippers Sell for $28 Million
Image: Image: Heritage Auctions/Instagram
A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland‘s Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz have been sold at an auction for a whopping $28 million ($44 million AUD) over the weekend.
Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas sold the shoes on behalf of collector Michael Shaw, who had owned the shoes since the 80s, when he would tour them and other costume pieces from his collection around the country.
Live bidding started at $1.55 million, with Heritage Auction expecting them to go for $3 million. The shoes passed that number within moments.
The sale of the shoes has broken the record for the largest sum spent at an auction house on a piece of entertainment memorabilia. The previous record was set by Marilyn Monroe’s iconic white subway dress from 1955’s The Seven Year Itch, which went for a comparatively measly $5.52 million with fees.
View this post on Instagram
The identity of the buyer has not yet been made public.
The shoes weren’t the only Wizard of Oz prop sold at the auction- Margaret Hamilton‘s Wicked Witch of the West hat sold for nearly $3 million, according to the auction house.
Not in Kansas anymore
The heels have been on quite a journey of their own over the decades.
Previous owner, Michael Shaw had been a friend of actor and fellow memorabilia collector, Debbie Reynolds, and the pair spoke about opening a museum to display their collected pieces. Shaw and Reynolds eventually had a falling out, with the former vowing he would rather burn the slippers before giving them to Reynolds.
After Shaw finished touring them, he lent the shoes to the Judy Garland Museum in the actor’s hometown, Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where they were stolen in 2005.
The culprit was 77-year old Terry Jon Martin, who wanted “one last score”, and planned to sell the rubies on the slippers. When he found out they were glass, he ditched them.
It was only in 2018 that the FBI got a tip and recovered the shoes in a sting operation, returning them to Shaw after all that time, who said seeing them again was “like welcoming back an old friend I haven’t seen in years.”
Hopefully this is the last bit of action the shoes will see for quite a while, and they can enjoy their retirement as old Hollywood gold.
