A pair of 'The Wizard of Oz' ruby slippers, which were initially stolen nearly two decades ago, sold for a record $28 million at auction on Saturday.
The pair, auctioned on behalf of collector Michael Shaw, are one of only four known surviving pairs the actress wore while working on the movie. The buyer was not publicly identified., which fetched $5.52 million with fees in 2011. Factoring taxes and fees, the slippers sold for $32.5 million.
Beyond the slippers’ appearance in key scenes from the beloved film, this particular pair of storied slippers traveled a long way to end up on the auction block. Shaw loaned the slippers to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, when they were stolen during an August 2005 heist. The burglar smashed the Plexiglass case that held the slippers and absconded with them. There were no fingerprints left behind, and the museum’s alarm system did not alert a central dispatch. The only evidence left behind was one single red sequin.
Another pair are on display at the Smithsonian Institute, which was sold during an MGM auction in 1970 and later donated to the Smithsonian in 1979. A consultant from the institute found that while its pair and the ones that sold on Saturday bear a similar look, the latter pair appeared in many of the famous scenes in the film.
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