MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A pair of iconic ruby slippers that had been worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” and stolen from a museum almost 20 years in the past bought for a profitable bid of $28 million at public sale Saturday.
Heritage Auctions had estimated that they might fetch $3 million or extra, however the fast-paced bidding far outpaced that quantity inside seconds and tripled it inside minutes. Just a few bidders making presents by cellphone volleyed backwards and forwards for quarter-hour as the value climbed to the ultimate, eye-popping sum.
Together with the Dallas-based public sale home’s payment, the unknown purchaser will finally pay $32.5 million.
On-line bidding, which opened final month, had stood at $1.55 million earlier than reside bidding started late Saturday afternoon.
The sparkly purple heels had been on show on the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 2005 when Terry Jon Martin used a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and show case.
Their whereabouts remained a thriller till the FBI recovered them in 2018. Martin, now 77, who lives close to Grand Rapids in northern Minnesota, wasn’t publicly uncovered because the thief till he was indicted in Might 2023. He pleaded responsible in October 2023. He was in a wheelchair and on supplementary oxygen when he was sentenced final January to time served due to his poor well being.
His lawyer, Dane DeKrey, defined forward of sentencing that Martin, who had a protracted historical past of housebreaking and receiving stolen property, was trying to drag off “one last score” after an outdated affiliate with connections to the mob advised him the sneakers needed to be adorned with actual jewels to justify their $1 million insured worth. However a fence — an individual who buys stolen items — later advised him the rubies had been simply glass, DeKrey stated. So Martin removed the slippers. The lawyer didn’t specify how.
MGM Studios by way of Getty Photos
The alleged fence, Jerry Hal Saliterman, 77, of the Minneapolis suburb of Crystal, was indicted in March. He was additionally in a wheelchair and on oxygen when he made his first courtroom look. He’s scheduled to go on trial in January and hasn’t entered a plea, although his lawyer has stated he’s not responsible.
The sneakers had been returned in February to memorabilia collector Michael Shaw, who had loaned them to the museum. They had been one in all a number of pairs that Garland wore in the course of the filming, however solely 4 pairs are identified to have survived. Within the film, to return from Oz to Kansas, Dorothy needed to click on her heels 3 times and repeat, “There’s no place like home.”
As Rhys Thomas, writer of “The Ruby Slippers of Oz,” put it, the sequined sneakers from the beloved 1939 musical have seen “more twists and turns than the Yellow Brick Road.”
Over 800 folks had been monitoring the slippers, and the corporate’s webpage for the public sale had hit almost 43,000 web page views by Thursday, stated Robert Wilonsky, a vice chairman with the public sale home.
Amongst these bidding to carry the slippers house was the Judy Garland Museum, which posted on Fb shortly after that it didn’t place the profitable bid. The museum had campaigned for donations to complement cash raised by the town of Grand Rapids at its annual Judy Garland pageant and the $100,000 put aside this yr by Minnesota lawmakers to assist the museum buy the slippers.
After the slippers bought, the auctioneer advised bidders and spectators within the room and watching on-line that the earlier document for a bit of leisure memorabilia was $5.52 million, for the white costume Marilyn Monroe famously wore atop a windy subway grate.
The public sale additionally included different memorabilia from “The Wizard of Oz,” akin to a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton, who performed the unique Depraved Witch of the West. That merchandise went for $2.4 million, or a complete ultimate price to the client of $2.93 million.
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“The Wizard of Oz” story has gained new consideration in current weeks with the launch of the film “Wicked,” an adaptation of the megahit Broadway musical, a prequel of kinds that reimagines the character of the Depraved Witch of the West.
Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa.
