Wizard of Oz’s iconic ruby-red shoes sold for hefty price of €25.7 million

The iconic ruby-red shoes worn by Judy Garland during the Wizard of Oz movie have been auctioned and sold for €25.7 million ($28 million).

The bidding process was a lengthy one and started last month. Heritage Auctions had originally estimated the slippers to sell for around €3 million. However, the selling price exceeded its expectations.

The auctioneers stated that the selling price makes the sequined pair the most valuable movie memorabilia ever sold at auction.

The pair, described by auctioneers as “the holy grail of Hollywood memorabilia,” has quite a history as it is one of the four remaining original pairs used during filming and was once stolen from a Minnesota museum.

Specifically, the pair was stolen in 2005 while they were on loan to a Judy Garland Museum in her hometown, Grand Rapids, Minnesota. It was stolen by a professional thief, Terry Jon Martin, who used a hammer to smash the glass case. At the time, he had thought that the pair was worth $1 million after believing they were covered in gemstones.

However, when taken to a jewellery fence – someone who sells stolen goods to discreet buyers – he discovered they that the sequins were made of glass. The pair was then given to someone else and only recovered in 2018 by the FBI.

To this day, no one knows any details about the shoes’ journey throughout the 13 years they were missing

Perhaps, the shoes’ journey and the stories they carry may well be the key reason their value soared at auction.