A pair of the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz fetched an all-time auction record for entertainment memorabilia when they sold on Saturday afternoon for $28 million. The sale was handled by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. With the buyer’s premium, the total is $32.5 million.
Auctioneer Mike Sadler announced at the podium at the conclusion of the lot’s bidding that the slippers had far surpassed the previous auction record of $5.52 million for the white halter dress designed by William Travilla and worn by Marilyn Monroe in 1955’s The Seven Year Itch. That costume also was sold at Heritage in 2011 and was part of the famed collection of Debbie Reynolds.
Three other pairs of ruby slippers are known to exist. One pair resides in the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., while in 2012 Leonardo DiCaprio and Steven Spielberg led a consortium of buyers to purchase a pair of ruby slippers to reside in the permanent collection of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. A third pair is believed to be owned by a private collector. Conceptualized by famed costume designer Adrian for the film, all four pairs were designed as low-heeled pumps crafted in red silk faille and fully embellished with crimson sequins and topped with small bows and were crafted by the Innes Shoe Company, which once resided at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Wilcox in Hollywood. While each pair made was used for different purposes, such as dancing or close-ups, Sadler confirmed at the podium that the pair for sale had been screen-matched.
The provenance of this fourth pair also may have contributed to its final total. The slippers were on display at the Judy Garland Museum in the star’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Minn., but were stolen in a smash-and-grab job in 2005. They were finally recovered after the FBI received a tip in 2018 and later were authenticated before being consigned to auction.
Given the final total, Sadler pronounced this pair of slippers worn by Garland “the most iconic piece of memorabilia in movie history.”
Source: Hollywoodreporter
