MINNEAPOLIS — In a thrilling turn of events, a pair of the iconic ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” and stolen from a museum nearly two decades ago were recently sold at an auction for an impressive $28 million.
Initially estimated to fetch $3 million or more by Heritage Auctions, the bidding frenzy quickly escalated, surpassing expectations within seconds and tripling the estimated amount in just minutes. The intense bidding war, primarily conducted by phone bidders, lasted for 15 minutes until the astonishing final bid was reached.
Including the Dallas-based auction house’s fee, the unknown buyer will ultimately pay $32.5 million.
Online bidding, which opened last month, had stood at $1.55 million before live bidding began late Saturday afternoon.
The sparkly red shoes were originally showcased at the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. However, in 2005, Terry Jon Martin broke into the museum, using a hammer to shatter the glass of the museum’s door and display case, resulting in the theft of the cherished slippers.
Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018. Martin, now 77, who lives near Grand Rapids in northern Minnesota, wasn’t publicly exposed as the thief until he was indicted in May 2023. He pleaded guilty in October 2023. He was in a wheelchair and on supplementary oxygen when he was sentenced last January to time served because of his poor health.
His attorney, Dane DeKrey, explained ahead of sentencing that Martin, who had a long history of burglary and receiving stolen property, was attempting 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. But a fence – a person who buys stolen goods – later told him the rubies were just glass, DeKrey said. So Martin got rid of the slippers. The attorney didn’t specify how.
The alleged fence, Jerry Hal Saliterman, 77, of the Minneapolis suburb of Crystal, was indicted in March. He was also in a wheelchair and on oxygen when he made his first court appearance. He’s scheduled to go on trial in January and hasn’t entered a plea, though his attorney has said he’s not guilty.
The shoes were returned in February to memorabilia collector Michael Shaw, who had loaned them to the museum. They were one of several pairs that Garland wore during the filming, but only four pairs are known to have survived. In the movie, to return from Oz to Kansas, Dorothy had to click her heels three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home.”
As Rhys Thomas, author of “The Ruby Slippers of Oz,” put it, the sequined shoes from the beloved 1939 musical have seen “more twists and turns than the Yellow Brick Road.”
Over 800 people had been tracking the slippers, and the company’s webpage for the auction had hit nearly 43,000 page views by Thursday, said Robert Wilonsky, a vice president with the auction house.
Among those bidding to bring the slippers home was the Judy Garland Museum, which posted on Facebook shortly after that it did not place the winning bid. The museum had campaigned for donations to supplement money raised by the city of Grand Rapids at its annual Judy Garland festival and the $100,000 set aside this year by Minnesota lawmakers to help the museum purchase the slippers.
After the slippers sold, the auctioneer told bidders and spectators in the room and watching online that the previous record for a piece of entertainment memorabilia was $5.52 million, for the white dress Marilyn Monroe famously wore atop a windy subway grate.
The auction also included other memorabilia from “The Wizard of Oz,” such as a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton, who played the original Wicked Witch of the West. That item went for $2.4 million, or a total final cost to the buyer of $2.93 million.
“The Wizard of Oz” story has gained new attention in recent weeks with the release of the movie “Wicked,” an adaptation of the megahit Broadway musical, a prequel of sorts that reimagines the character of the Wicked Witch of the West.
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