A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz are on the public sale block practically twenty years after a thief stole them, pondering they have been adorned with actual jewels.
On-line bidding has began and can proceed till 7 December, Heritage Auctions in Dallas introduced in a information launch on Monday. Bidding at present stands at simply over $812,000 (£631,000).
The public sale firm stated it acquired the sequin-and-bead-covered slippers from Michael Shaw, a memorabilia collector who beforehand owned the footwear from the 1939 musical. Shaw had loaned the sneakers in 2005 to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Nonetheless, in the summertime of the identical yr, somebody smashed by a show case and stole the slippers. Their whereabouts remained a thriller till the FBI recovered them in 2018.
Now the museum is amongst these vying for the slippers, which have been one in every of a number of pairs Garland wore in the course of the filming. Solely 4 stay.
Grand Rapids raised cash for the slippers at its annual Judy Garland pageant. The funds will complement the $100,000 put aside this yr by Minnesota lawmakers to purchase the slippers.
The person who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, was 76 when he was sentenced in January to time served due to his poor well being. He admitted to utilizing a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and show case in what his legal professional stated was an try to tug off “one final rating”, after an outdated affiliate with connections to the mob instructed him the sneakers needed to be adorned with actual jewels to justify their $1m insured worth.
The public sale of film memorabilia contains different objects from The Wizard of Oz, similar to a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton’s Depraved Witch of the West and the display screen door from Dorothy’s Kansas house.
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