A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in THE WIZARD OF OZ sold at auction Saturday for $28 million.
Robert Wilonsky, vice president of communications at Dallas-based auction house Heritage Auctions, revealed that, including the buyer’s premium, the price tag for the iconic slippers rounded out to $32.5 million. Estimations by Heritage were initially set at a modest $3 million. It only took a couple of days for the bid to shoot to $1.55 million, with over 800 potential buyers tracking the item.
In 2005, the slippers were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum by ex-mobster Terry Martin. Because the slippers had been insured for $1 million, he had falsely assumed they were made from real rubies. Martin was indicted by the Minnesota U.S. District Court and charged with theft of a major artwork in October 2023. The slippers were recovered by the FBI in 2018.