A pair of Judy Garland's iconic ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, which were stolen from a Minnesota museum 20 years ago, fetched an astonishing $28 million at an auction on December 7. It has set a new record for the most valuable piece of movie memorabilia ever sold.
The auction, conducted by Heritage Auctions, saw the shoes achieve a final price of $32.5 million, including auction fees — almost 11 times higher than their pre-auction estimate of $3 million.
“There is simply no comparison between Judy Garland's ruby slippers and any other piece of Hollywood memorabilia. The breathtaking result reflects just how important movies and movie memorabilia are to our culture and to collectors,” Heritage Auctions Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena said in a news release.
The pair of slippers, one of only four known surviving sets from the 1939 film, were originally lent to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, by a collector, Michael Shaw. But they were stolen from the museum in 2005.
After being recovered by the FBI in 2018, they were held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, where many visitors admired them, leaving smudges on the glass display case that needed regular cleaning. The slippers were returned to Shaw earlier in 2024 and were then included in the December 7 Hollywood/Entertainment Signature Auction.
The auction opened at $1.55 million, attracting 25 bidders, according to the lot page. The final bidder, participating over the phone, secured the slippers in a fierce bidding battle.
This significant sale eclipsed previous auction records for similar items. In 2000, one pair of slippers sold for $666,000, while another pair, bought by Steven Spielberg and Leonardo DiCaprio, went for $2 million and was donated to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
The ruby slippers are more than just a cherished piece of film history. Rhys Thomas, the author of The Ruby Slippers of Oz, which is based on the history of the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, states in his book, “They (the Ruby Slippers) were much more than just a piece of Hollywood memorabilia, much more than a valuable piece of industry history. They transcended Hollywood, to the point where they represented the powerful image of innocence to all America.”
The auction also featured other memorabilia from The Wizard of Oz, including a hat worn by the Wicked Witch of the West, which sold for over $2 million, and Dorothy's wig from the first week of filming, which fetched $30,000. Other items included the screen door from Dorothy's Kansas home, sold for $37,500, and the MGM contract signed by the songwriters of “Over the Rainbow,” which went for $23,125.
