Final March, Heritage Auctions introduced {that a} pair of ruby slippers from the film The Wizard of Oz was coming to public sale. Now, they’ve revealed that the well-known footwear would be the stars of their upcoming leisure public sale on December 7, 2024.
That is thrilling information by itself (particularly with the not too long ago launched film Depraved, impressed by The Wizard of Oz, rekindling curiosity within the 1939 traditional), however with this pair, there’s much more to the story. In a collection of dramatic occasions, these footwear have been stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minn., in 2005 and recovered by the FBI in 2018. Earlier this yr, they lastly returned to their proprietor, collector, and former baby actor, Michael Shaw. Shaw, who had loaned the slippers to the museum for his or her annual Judy Garland Pageant, consigned them to Heritage Auctions.
The costumers for The Wizard of Oz created a number of pairs of ruby slippers for Garland to put on as Dorothy. Many have been made for particular functions; for instance, some have been made for dance scenes. Immediately, 4 identified pairs of ruby slippers survive, one in every of which is within the Smithsonian assortment, a sworn statement to their significance in not simply movie historical past however American historical past. The pair Shaw owned and has now consigned was, within the phrases of the Related Press, “believed to be the very best high quality of all of them—they have been those utilized in close-ups of Dorothy clicking her heels.”
Already known as the “touring footwear” after frequent touring exhibitions, the footwear went on a world tour beginning in October, with stops in Japan, Dallas, New York, and London.
The Dec. 7 public sale will embrace extra Wizard of Oz memorabilia, together with a screen-matched hat worn by Margaret Hamilton because the Depraved Witch of the West. Just like the ruby slippers, the hat was a part of Shaw’s “Hollywood on Tour” touring reveals of the Eighties and ’90s, and it was additionally acquired from costumer and collector Kent Warner. In line with Joe Maddalena, Heritage Auctions Govt Vice President (whom the public sale home describes as having “dealt with extra Wizard of Oz memorabilia and props than another auctioneer”), “The ruby slippers and Depraved Witch’s hat stand on the pinnacle of Hollywood historical past.”
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