CNN
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A pair of Judy Garland’s ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz,” which have been stolen from a Minnesota museum virtually 20 years in the past, offered at public sale for $28 million Saturday.
The pair – one in every of 4 surviving pairs Garland wore within the movie – is probably the most invaluable film memorabilia ever offered at public sale, in keeping with a information launch from Heritage Auctions.
“There is solely no comparability between Judy Garland’s ruby slippers and another piece of Hollywood memorabilia,” Heritage Auctions Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena stated within the launch. “The breathtaking end result displays simply how necessary motion pictures and film memorabilia are to our tradition and to collectors.”
With public sale home commissions, the slippers’ whole value was a staggering $32.5 million, practically 11 instances what the public sale home says was their pre-auction estimate of $3 million.
“At $32.5 million, the slippers are probably the most invaluable cinema treasures on this planet, and so they helped make this probably the most profitable leisure public sale ever held,” in keeping with Robert Wilonsky, vp for public relations at Heritage Auctions.
Other pairs have been to public sale earlier than, however none offered for practically as a lot as those offered Saturday.
In 2000, one pair of ruby slippers from the film auctioned for $666,000, in keeping with the discharge. Years later, Steven Spielberg and Leonardo DiCaprio purchased a special pair for $2 million and donated them to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, in keeping with the discharge.
On Saturday, bidding opened at $1.55 million and escalated shortly. According to the lot web page, 25 bidders participated.
Only two bidders remained towards the tip, and the slippers have been offered to a bidder taking part over the cellphone.
The footwear are among the many most beloved artifacts from the long-lasting 1939 film.
The slippers “have been way more than only a piece of Hollywood memorabilia, way more than a invaluable piece of business historical past,” stated Rhys Thomas, the writer of “The Ruby Slippers of Oz.”
“They transcended Hollywood, to the purpose the place they represented the highly effective picture of innocence to all America,” he stated, in keeping with the lot web page.
The slippers auctioned Saturday had been lent by collector Michael Shaw to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, however have been stolen from the museum in 2005. They have been recovered in 2018 throughout a sting operation in Minneapolis, CNN beforehand reported.
FBI brokers this 12 months reunited the slippers with Shaw, who “likened the expertise to a heartfelt reunion with a long-lost good friend.”
Terry Martin and Jerry Hal Saliterman, each of their 70s, have been individually charged with the theft. Martin pleaded responsible in 2023, whereas Saliterman, who was charged in 2024, maintains he’s harmless, CNN beforehand reported.
Only 4 pairs of the slippers used within the movie are nonetheless recognized to exist, in keeping with Heritage Auctions and the workplace of the US legal professional for North Dakota. One pair is housed on the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, although they have been initially mismatched.
Other objects from the long-lasting film have been offered throughout Saturday’s public sale, together with a hat belonging to the Wicked Witch character (greater than $2 million); the display door ($37,500) from Dorothy’s Kansas house; the MGM contract signed by the “Over the Rainbow” songwriters ($23,125); and Judy Garland’s “Dorothy Gale” wig ($30,000) she used within the first week of taking pictures, the discharge says.
CNN’s Scottie Andrew contributed to this report.
