‘Wizard of Oz’ ruby slippers from 1939 go on auction block

The iconic ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the classic 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” will be sold at auction on Saturday nearly 20 years after they were stolen in Minnesota.

The slippers are among several pairs that Garland wore in the film and while clicking her heels and repeating, “There’s no place like home,” near the film’s end.

Heritage Auctions in Dallas is selling them with a current bid of $1.5 million, plus a 25% buyer’s premium to push it close to a $2 million sale.

The ruby slippers “were much more than just a piece of Hollywood memorabilia, much more than a valuable piece of industry history,” author and ruby slippers expert Rhys Thomas said of them in his book, “The Ruby Slippers of Oz.”

“They transcended Hollywood, to the point where they represented the power image of innocence to all America,” Thomas wrote.

The ruby slippers were stolen in 2005 while on display at a museum in Grand Rapids, Minn., which is Garland’s birthplace.

The FBI recovered the stolen slippers in 2018 some 13 years after the theft. They were returned to owner Michael Shaw, who had loaned them to the Grand Rapids museum in 2005.

Terry Jon Martin, 77, was indicted for the theft in May 2023 and pleaded guilty the following October, but was sentenced to time served due to ill health that has left him wheelchair-bound and dependent upon a portable oxygen tank.

Martin confessed to using a small sledgehammer to break into the museum and smash open the display case that contained the slippers.

His attorney said Martin had a history of burglary and stole the slippers after an associate told him they must contain precious stones to justify their insured value of $1 million.

After stealing them, Martin learned they were made using glass instead of rubies and their insured value was due to their prominence in the classic film and connection to Garland.

The man who allegedly was to fence the stolen slippers, Jerry Hal Saliterman, 77, was indicted in March and is schedule for trial in January. He has not entered a plea, but his attorney says Saliterman is not guilty.

The slippers are one of four surviving pairs made for the film.