The ruby slippers from ‘Wizard of Oz’, stolen in 2005, are expected to fetch $800,000 in an upcoming auction.
The slippers were first featured in The Wizard of Oz (1939), often cited among the greatest films ever made. The character of Judy Garland wore them. After changing hands a few times, they came into the possession of Michael Shaw, a notable collector of Hollywood memorabilia, in 1970. Shaw later loaned them to the Judy Garland Museum.
The ruby slippers were on display at the museum when they were stolen in 2005. The primary accused was ex-mobster Terry Jon Martin who wanted to make one last ‘score’ with the theft. Apparently, one of his aides had convinced him that the slippers contained real rubies – an assumption supported by the fact that they were insured for $1 million. The FBI only managed to find the stolen object in 2018, 13 years after the theft. In January of this year, Martin was sentenced to time already served, as well as supervised bail.
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Now, the ruby slippers are going on the auction block under Michael Shaw and Heritage Auctions. The auction will run until December 7. The current bid is set at $812,000 and the next minimum bid is set at $825,000. It is expected to fetch a lot more, given that the FBI valued it at $3.5 million when they recovered it in 2018. The description of the ruby slippers read: “The Ruby Slippers are a vintage pair of Innes Shoe Co. red silk faille heels with uppers and heels covered with hand-sequined silk georgette, lined in white leather, and the leather soles are painted red with orange felt adhered to the front foundation of each shoe. The bows are made of hand-cut buckram cloth and are slightly different in size. Rhinestones rim the bows, which are filled with bugle beads surrounding three center jewels.”