The ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz are one of the most iconic pieces of movie memorabilia in history, and their new owner seems to agree. An unknown buyer agreed to pay $32.5 million for a pair of sparkling shoes worn by Judy Garland, making them the most expensive movie prop ever sold.
Garland wore several pairs of the iconic ruby shoes in The Wizard of Oz, but only four are known to have survived. The shoes put on auction by Heritage Auctions were once stolen from a museum that housed them but was eventually returned to the memorabilia collector Michael Shaw.
The stolen ruby slippers were expected to fetch around $3 million, and the bidding kicked off at $1.55 million, but the price quickly jumped through the roof after an intense bidding war. An unknown buyer eventually agreed to shell out $28 million for the iconic slippers, plus an additional $4.5 million in fees to the Dallas-based auction house.
According to Heritage Auctions, this makes the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz the most expensive piece of movie memorably ever sold. The record had previously been held by the white dress that Marilyn Monroe wore while standing over the subway grate in The Seven Year Itch, which sold for $5.52 million in 2011.