Judy Garland’s hometown is raising money to buy a pair of the ultra-rare ruby slippers she wore in ‘The Wizard of Oz’.
Judy Garland’s hometown is raising money to buy a pair of the ultra-rare ruby slippers she wore in ‘The Wizard of Oz’
The footwear worn by the late actress – who was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota in 1922 – was stolen from a local museum and then later turned over to an auction company, and locals are now drumming up cash to bring them back to the city.
They want to bring the slippers back after an auction company takes them on an international tour before offering them up to prospective buyers in December.
Joe Maddalena, Heritage Auctions executive vice president, told Minnesota Public Radio about their huge cash value: “They could sell for $1 million – they could sell for $10 million: they’re priceless.
“Once they’re gone, all the money in the world can’t buy them back.”
The funds currently being raised with be added to the $100,000 set aside this year by Minnesota lawmakers to buy Judy’s shiny slippers.
Dallas-based Heritage Auctions received them from Michael Shaw, a memorabilia collector who originally owned the iconic shoes.
He had loaned them in 2005 to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, but that summer someone smashed through a display case and stole the sequins-and-beads-bejewelled slippers.
Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018.
The man who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, 76, pleaded guilty in October to theft of a major artwork.
He admitted to using a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and display case.
His attorney said it was an attempt to pull off “one last score” after turning away from a life of crime.
He was sentenced in January to time served because of his poor health.
In March, a second man, 76-year-old Jerry Hal Saliterman, was charged in connection with the theft.
The ruby slippers were at the heart of 1939’s ‘The Wizard of Oz’, which saw Judy’s character Dorothy danced down the Yellow Brick Road in the slippers along with the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion.
Judy, who died in 1969 aged 47 from an overdose of barbiturates, wore several pairs during filming, but one four remain.
Leonardo DiCaprio, 49, and a group of the Oscar-winning actor’s friends bought one set for the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences.
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