Nearly twenty years after a pair of ruby slippers that had been worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” had been stolen from a Minnesota museum, the long-lasting footwear are set to be auctioned off to the very best bidder Saturday.
Heritage Auctions estimates the slippers will fetch $3 million or extra. Online bidding opened final month, and by Friday had reached $1.55 million, or $1.91 million together with the client’s premium, a fee that the client pays, stated Robert Wilonsky, a vp with the Dallas-based public sale home. Over 800 folks had been monitoring the slippers, and the corporate’s web page for the auction had hit practically 43,000 web page views by Thursday, he stated.
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As Rhys Thomas, creator of the guide, “The Ruby Slippers of Oz,” places it, the sequined footwear from the beloved 1939 musical have seen “extra twists and turns than the Yellow Brick Road.”
They had been on show on the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 2005 when Terry Jon Martin used a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and show case.
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Their whereabouts remained a thriller till the FBI recovered them in 2018. Martin, now 77, who lives close to Grand Rapids in northern Minnesota, wasn’t publicly uncovered because the thief till he was indicted in May 2023. He pleaded guilty in October 2023. Martin admitted he used a small sledgehammer to interrupt into the museum. He then used the instrument to crack the case the slippers had been in and take them. He stated he did not hear any alarm. He took off in his automotive and saved them in a trailer adjoining to his residence.
He was in a wheelchair and on supplementary oxygen when he was sentenced final January to time served due to his poor well being.
His legal professional, Dane DeKrey, defined forward of sentencing that Martin, who had an extended historical past of housebreaking and receiving stolen property, was making an attempt to drag off “one final rating” after an previous affiliate with connections to the mob advised him the footwear needed to be adorned with actual jewels to justify their $1 million insured worth. But a fence — an individual who buys stolen items — later advised him the rubies had been simply glass, DeKrey stated. So Martin removed the slippers. The legal professional did not specify how.
The alleged fence, Jerry Hal Saliterman, 77, of the Minneapolis suburb of Crystal, was indicted in March. He was additionally in a wheelchair and on oxygen when he made his first court docket look. He’s scheduled to go on trial in January and hasn’t entered a plea, although his legal professional has stated he isn’t responsible.
The footwear had been returned in February to memorabilia collector Michael Shaw, who had loaned them to the museum. They had been one among a number of pairs that Garland wore through the filming, however solely 4 pairs are identified to have survived. In the film, to return from Oz to Kansas, Dorothy needed to click on her heels 3 times and repeat, “There’s no place like residence.”
Among these bidding would be the Judy Garland Museum. The metropolis of Grand Rapids raised cash for the slippers at its annual Judy Garland pageant to complement the $100,000 put aside this 12 months by Minnesota lawmakers to assist the museum buy the slippers.
“The Wizard of Oz” story has gained new consideration in latest weeks with the discharge of the film “Wicked,” an adaptation of the megahit Broadway musical, a prequel of types that reimagines the character of the Wicked Witch of the West.
The public sale additionally consists of different memorabilia from “The Wizard of Oz,” together with a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton, who performed the unique Wicked Witch of the West.
