Judy Garland's 'Wizard of Oz' Ruby Slippers Sell for $32.5M

One of only four surviving pairs of ruby slippers made for Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz" just followed the Yellow Brick Road to auction history, achieving an astonishing $32.5 million.

The slippers, sold Saturday by Heritage Auctions, opened with a bid of $1.55 million and had been expected to achieve $3 million. The hammer price represents the highest price paid for entertainment memorabilia, easily eclipsing the $5.52 million paid for Marilyn Monroe's "Seven Year Itch" white halter dress in 2011.

“There is simply no comparison between Judy Garland’s Ruby Slippers and any other piece of Hollywood memorabilia,” Heritage Auctions Executive VP Joe Maddalena said in a statement. “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.”

This pair of slipper is particularly famous. Bought for $2,000 more than 50 years ago by Michael Shaw when three pairs used on camera in the film were discovered by collector Kent Warner, they were loaned to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 2005 and were stolen. The shoes were recovered in 2018.

Among the other pairs, one is in the Smithsonian, one is with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (having been purchased for $2 million by Steven Spielberg and Leonardo DiCaprio and donated), and the other is a pair that looks quite different and was used in rehearsals. The latter pair, bought by actress Debbie Reynolds for $300, were sold to a private collector for $627,300 in 2011.

One of Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch hats from "The Wizard of Oz" sold for $2.93 million at the same Heritage auction, which also saw sales of items from films as diverse as "Back to the Future Part II" and "King Kong."