A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” are on the auction block nearly two decades after a thief stole the iconic shoes, convinced they were adorned with real jewels.
Online bidding has started and will continue through Dec. 7, Heritage Auctions in Dallas announced in a news release Monday.
The auction company received the sequin-and-bead-bedazzled slippers from Michael Shaw, the memorabilia collector who originally owned the footwear at the heart of the beloved 1939 musical. Shaw had loaned the shoes in 2005 to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
That summer, someone smashed through a display case and stole the slippers. Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018.
“It’s become an infamous thing for us,” said Janie Heitz, 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 among those vying for the slippers, which were one of several pairs Garland wore during the filming. Only four remain.
Grand Rapids raised money for the slippers at its annual Judy Garland festival. The funds will supplement the $100,000 set aside this year by Minnesota lawmakers to purchase the slippers.
At the time they were stolen, the shoes were insured for $1 million. Now they will go on the auction block this December for an estimated valuation of $3.5 million or more.
The man who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, was 76 when he was sentenced in January to time served because of his poor health. He admitted to using a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and display case in what his attorney said was an attempt to pull off “one last score” after an old associate with connections to the mob told him the shoes had to be adorned with real jewels to justify their $1 million insured value.
The auction of movie memorabilia includes other items from “The Wizard of Oz,” such as a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton’s Wicked Witch of the West and the screen door from Dorothy’s Kansas home.
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