Wow, the original ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz are being sold for an insane amount
They even have Judy Garland’s name written inside
As Wicked quickly becomes the biggest film of the year, the original ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz have just gone up for auction.
The red sequinned shoes were worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 film and are currently on display at Heritage Auctions’ London salesroom.
As you’d expect, they are pretty old and battered, but are expected to be sold for between £2.3 million and £3.8 million!
They haven’t even gone to auction yet and already have an online bid of $2,417,159.
The iconic ruby slippers are even inscribed with Garland’s name on the inside in smudged black ink, making them a huge collector’s item.
They are one of four pairs that were made for the film, most famously worn in the end scene where Dorothy clicks her heels together and says: “There’s no place like home.”
However, this particular pair has an incredible story as they were actually stolen?! In 2005, they were loaned to the Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota to go on display and vanished.
The shoes were finally found by the FBI in 2018 following a tip-off and given back to their owner, an old MGM child actor called Michael Shaw.
He has owned them since 1969 and loaned them out for exhibitions across the world over the years.
Shaw told the London Evening Standard he was “in the right place at the right time” when he bought them and studios were “literally throwing things away”.
However, he now feels like “it’s time” to sell them to a new owner who will love them just as much as he has.
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The ruby slippers are on display with lots more memorabilia from the film to mark the 85th anniversary.
They will be on display from November 28 to December 5 before heading to Los Angeles to be auctioned on December 7.
Heritage Auctions Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena called them “the most important prop in Hollywood history”.
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Featured image by: Heritage Auctions/YouTube and Warner Bros. Entertainment/YouTube