The ruby red slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” made headlines Saturday when they sold for a record $32.5 million, becoming the most expensive prop in movie history.
Along with the iconic nature of the prop, which, considering the price tag, might just be the most significant in the history of film, the slippers’ history since the film’s production was cause for added intrigue.
While on loan to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota — located in Garland’s childhood home — a thief named Terry Martin stole the slippers and disappeared in 2005.
It took more than a decade for the hunt for the slippers to bare fruit, ultimately culminating in a sting operation by the FBI and Grand Rapids Police Department in 2018, leading to the indictment of Martin, who pleaded guilty to “theft of an object of cultural heritage from the care, custody, or control of a museum” last year.
As Heritage Auctions announced the newly recovered slippers would be hitting the auction block, the Judy Garland Museum hoped to see them return to Garland’s childhood home.
The museum raised funds in preparation of the auction, aided in part by a bill introduced by Minnesota state Sen. Justin Eichorn to appropriate money to purchase the slippers and loan them back to the museum. The museum received at least $100,000 from the state.
But when auction day came, the undisclosed funds fell short, dashing the dreams of the museum’s attempt for a happy ending.
“That was way beyond anything we were ever capable of fundraising,” Janie Heitz, executive director of the Judy Garland Museum, told cllct, referencing the final hammer price which smashed through estimates during a lively bidding war. “It was just shocking.”
Though the winner’s identity is unknown at this time, the notion of taking the slippers back on loan at the museum just was not feasible considering the massive price tag and the associated insurance costs.
Despite being outbid at the auction, the museum did manage to pick up a related artifact: A painting of the slippers on a piece of the Hollywood sign for $20,000. It was created by a Minnesota artist, naturally.
Heitz reflected on the sale and its significance for Garland and the legacy of the film, saying it shows how iconic the movie is worldwide.
“Judy Garland is sort of immortalized because of her role as Dorothy in ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ and we're just proud to represent her Museum in our little town of Grand Rapids, Minnesota.”
But, perhaps most importantly, Heitz believes the museum has the ultimate Garland artifact of all: Her childhood home.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.