A pair of Judy Garland‘s ruby slippers have sold for $32.5 million.
A pair of Judy Garland’s ruby slippers have sold for $32.5 million
The late actress wore the famous red shoes when she played Dorothy Gale in the 1939 classic ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and one of the surviving pairs fetched more than 10 times their $3m estimate at auction on Saturday (07.12.24), meaning that they are now the “most valuable” piece of film memorabilia in history.
Robert Wilonsky, Vice President for Public Relations at the Heritage Auction, said in a statement: “At $32.5 million, the slippers are the most valuable cinema treasures in the world, and they helped make this the most successful entertainment auction ever held.”
The legendary film star – who died in June 1969 at the age of 47 – wore numerous pairs during filming, and four are known to have survived.
The pair in question were sold to collector Michael Shaw by Kent Warner in 1970, and they were stolen whilst on loan to the Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota in 2005.
They resurfaced in 2018 amid an FBI investigation, and have recently been on a world tour with the auction house along with other iconic film props such as the Wicked Witch of the West’s pointed hat and a Golden Ticket from ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’.
It is thought that the newly-auctioned shoes could have been used in the famous numbers down the Yellow Brick Road, as they have orange felt on the soles which muffled the sound of dancing on the plywood set.
Several pairs of ruby slippers were discovered in storage by late costume designer Warner on the MGM lot in early 1970, whilst another pair was owned by late Tennessee homemaker Roberta Bauman, who won them in a competition at the time of the film’s release and later sold them to Anthony Landini for $165,000 in 1988.
That pair was on display at The Great Movie Ride in Walt Disney World, Florida for a number of years but was then purchased by Elkouby and Co in 2000 for $666,000, although they have never displayed them publicly.
The Academy of Museum Arts and Sciences acquired a pair in 2012 in a sale orgnaised by ‘Titanic’ star Leonardo DiCaprio, whilst another pair is on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C
A fifth pair – which was only used during test shots before filming commenced – was owned by late actress Debbie Reynolds, and they were sold for $510,000 in 2011.
The next valuable item of Hollywood memorabilia is thought to be Marilyn Monroe’s white dress from ‘The Seven Year Itch’, which was sold at auction in 2011 for just over $6 million.