A pair of ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland as Dorothy in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz is now up for auction.
The iconic shoes are being auctioned by Heritage Auctions almost two decades after a thief stole them. Online bidding has begun and will continue until December 7.
The auction company has described the slippers as a “vintage pair of Innes Shoe Co. red silk faille heels.”
The heels are lined in white leather and covered with hand-sequined silk georgette. The leather soles are painted red, and an orange felt is fixed to the front of each shoe.
The shoes are a size five or six, as Garland wore both sizes in the film. They are just one of four known pairs of ruby slippers that Garland wore. One pair is housed at the Smithsonian Museum.
The pair on the auction block were used in classic moments during the film, including the “We’re Off to See the Wizard” scene, the heel tapping scene, and the poppy field scene.
Heritage Auctions received the sequined slippers from Michael Shaw, a memorabilia collector who obtained the footwear during an MGM auction in 1970. In the 1980s, Shaw displayed the slippers in different museums all around the world.
He loaned the shoes to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 2005. That summer, they were stolen from the display case and were missing for over a decade.
Finally, in 2018, the FBI received a tip and recovered them from a man named Terry Jon Martin. He was an “aging reformed mobster” and wanted to pull off “one last score,” according to his attorney.
frankjayhoffmann – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only – pictured above are a pair of ruby red slippers on a yellow brick road
He admitted to using a hammer to shatter the glass of the museum’s door and display case after an old associate with connections to the mob told him that the shoes were adorned with real jewels rather than rhinestones.
Martin pled guilty but was spared jail time due to his poor health. He was ordered to pay a restitution of $23,500 to the museum. At the time of his sentencing, he was 76-years-old.
“It’s become an infamous thing for us,” said Janie Heitz, the executive director of the Judy Garland Museum.
“We will forever be known as a place where the ruby slippers were stolen, which comes with a lot of bad but can also come with some good because it put us on the map.”
Now, the museum is in a bidding war for the slippers. Grand Rapids raised money for the shoes at its Judy Garland festival, which takes place every year.
The funds will be added to the $100,000 that Minnesota lawmakers have set aside this year to purchase the slippers.
The shoes were insured for $1 million when they were stolen. They are now valued at an estimated $3.5 million or more.
The auction includes a few other pieces from The Wizard of Oz, such as a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West and the screen door from Dorothy’s house in Kansas.
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