Legendary Film Artifact Linked to Minnesota Fetches $28 Million at Auction

Hollywood history was up for grabs this weekend, and one iconic item with a Minnesota connection had bidders from all over the world scrambling to win it.

The auction ended at a staggering amount, and it instantly became the most valuable piece of movie memorabilia of all time.

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Hollywood Auction Includes Iconic Items

Heritage Auctions held a live event on Saturday that auctioned off items like the screen used Hoverboard from 'Back to the Future II', and the screen used  'Jumanji' board game from the 1995 film, but the highlight of the auction were the items from the 'Wizard of Oz'.

Several items were on the auction block from the 'Wizard of Oz' including the screen door from Dorthy's Kansas farm home, and a wig worn by Judy Garland, but the headliners of the auction were the Wicked Witch’s hat and a pair of the ruby slippers.

The Ruby Slippers and Witch's Hat Fetch Big Money

The hat, which is described as "the finest example of the Wicked Witch’s hat known to exist”, sold for $2,930,000 after a lengthy bidding war, but it was the ruby slippers that everyone was watching, and the final bid shocked everyone.

The pre-auction estimate from Heritage was around $3 million, but that turned out to be WAY off, the winning bid was for $28 million, plus auction fees, puts the total at $32.5 million!

Only Four Pair of Ruby Slippers Known

Only four pairs of the ruby slippers used in the filming of the iconic film are still known to exist, one pair is at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, another pair is at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, one pair is with a private collector, and this pair that was once on display at the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids.

These Ruby Slippers Spent Time in Minnesota

That's right, this pair of ruby slippers comes with a story wild enough for a Hollywood film, this is the pair that were infamously stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in 2005, and went missing until 2018 when they were recovered by the FBI.

The slippers were on loan to the museum from collector Michael Shaw, who got the slippers returned to him earlier this year and decided to include them in this auction, and I bet he's happy with the results.

Will The Slippers Return to Minnesota?

The Judy Garland Museum was at the auction loaded with some cash from the state and some other fundraising dollars, but it wasn't enough to win the ruby slippers back, but they hoped to have enough to get some of the other items up for auction. The winning bidder of the slippers is not known, and the future of the slippers is unclear.