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, and the buyer currently remains anonymous.
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.
“There is simply no comparison between Judy Garland’s ruby slippers and any other piece of Hollywood memorabilia,” said Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, in a statement released following the sale. “The breathtaking result reflects just how important movies and movie memorabilia are to our culture and to collectors. It’s been a privilege for all of us at Heritage to be a part of the slippers’ epic journey over the rainbow and off to a new home.”
Three other pairs of ruby slippers are known to exist. One pair resides in the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., while in 2012 Leonardo DiCaprio and Steven Spielberg led a consortium of buyers to purchase a pair of ruby slippers, for a reported $2 million, to reside in the permanent collection of the Academy Museum 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. They were made 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 during filming, 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, listed in a pre-auction estimate by Heritage to sell “for $3 million and up,” also may have contributed to its final total. The slippers were on display in 2005 at the Judy Garland Museum in the star’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Minn., when they were stolen in a smash-and-grab job. They were finally recovered after the FBI received a tip in 2018 and later were authenticated by the Smithsonian before being consigned to auction.
Also sold on Saturday: a witch’s hat worn by Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch of the West in the Victor Fleming-directed film based on the beloved L. Frank Baum story. The black pointed hat, which was screen-matched to Hamilton’s first scene as the Wicked Witch in the film, sold for $2.93 million with buyer’s premium.
But the ruby slippers were without a doubt the star of the afternoon. Given the final total, Sadler pronounced this pair of shoes worn by Garland “the most iconic piece of memorabilia in movie history.”
