|
Ruby slippers from 'The Wizard of Oz' are
for sale nearly 2 decades after they were stolen
Send a link to a friend
[November 06, 2024]
DALLAS (AP) — A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in
“The Wizard of Oz” is on the auction block nearly two decades after a
thief stole the iconic shoes, convinced they were adorned with real
jewels.
|
Ruby slippers once worn by Judy Garland in the "The Wizard of Oz," are
displayed at a news conference, Sept. 4, 2018, at the FBI office in
Brooklyn Center, Minn. (AP Photo/Jeff Baenen, File) |
|
Online bidding has started and will continue through Dec. 7,
Heritage Auctions in Dallas announced in a news release Monday.
The auction company received the sequin-and-bead-bedazzled
slippers from Michael Shaw, the memorabilia collector who
originally owned the footwear at the heart of the beloved 1939
musical. Shaw had loaned the shoes in 2005 to the Judy Garland
Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
That summer, someone smashed through a display case and stole
the slippers. Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI
recovered them in 2018.
Now the museum is among those vying for the slippers, which were
one of several pairs Garland wore during the filming. Only four
remain.
Grand Rapids raised money for the slippers at its annual Judy
Garland festival. The funds will supplement the $100,000 set
aside this year by Minnesota lawmakers to purchase the slippers.
The man who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, was 76 when he
was sentenced in January to time served because of his poor
health. He admitting to using a hammer to smash the glass of the
museum’s door and display case in what his attorney said was an
attempt to pull off “one last score” after an old associate with
connections to the mob told him the shoes had to be adorned with
real jewels to justify their $1 million insured value.
The auction of movie memorabilia includes other items from “The
Wizard of Oz,” such as a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton’s Wicked
Witch of the West and the screen door from Dorothy’s Kansas
home.
All contents © copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved
|
|
|
