$28 Million Pair of Shoes

The $28 million shoes you're likely thinking of are the iconic ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, worn by Judy Garland in 1939. They're covered in roughly 2,400 red sequins per shoe and represent one of only five surviving pairs. They were stolen in 2005 by a mobster who thought the gems were real rubies. Their December 2024 auction shattered every Hollywood memorabilia record ever set — and there's far more to this remarkable story.

Key Takeaways

• The ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in MGM's 1939 The Wizard of Oz sold for $28 million in December 2024.
• Each shoe is covered in approximately 2,400 red sequins applied over commercial white silk pumps made by the Innes Shoe Company.
• Only five confirmed pairs survive today, making these 85-year-old film artifacts extraordinarily rare Hollywood collectibles.
• The slippers were stolen in a 2005 smash-and-grab theft and remained missing for 13 years before FBI recovery in 2018.
• Including the $4.5 million buyer's premium, the total sale price reached $32.5 million, setting a Hollywood memorabilia record.

The Ruby Slippers That Made Hollywood History

Few artifacts in Hollywood history carry the magic of the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale in MGM's 1939 masterpiece, The Wizard of Oz.

Originally silver in L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel, the slippers underwent a striking transformation for Technicolor symbolism — their vivid red hue created a dramatic contrast against the yellow brick road that black-and-white film could never achieve.

You can credit costume craftsmanship to Gilbert Adrian, MGM's chief costume designer, whose meticulous work produced multiple pairs for production.

Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, gifts Dorothy the slippers for protection and her journey home to Kansas. Much like the ruby slippers, the Harry Potter manuscript was initially dismissed before becoming one of the most celebrated stories in history, rejected by 12 publishing houses before finding its audience.

That single story detail transformed ordinary footwear into one of cinema's most enduring and recognizable symbols. Most recently, a pair sold at Heritage Auctions in December 2024 for an astonishing 28 million dollars, cementing the slippers' status as the most valuable piece of Hollywood memorabilia ever sold. This sale shattered the previous record held by Marilyn Monroe's iconic white dress from The Seven Year Itch, which had sold for $5.52 million.

Why These 1939 Sequined Shoes Became Priceless

What makes a pair of shoes worth $28 million? It's not the glass sequins or the white leather — it's what they represent. These ruby slippers carry decades of film symbolism, connecting you directly to one of Hollywood's most beloved stories. Judy Garland wore them in key scenes that defined a generation's imagination, and that cultural weight doesn't fade.

Material conservation has kept these shoes remarkably intact since 1939, making them rare physical links to cinematic history. Only four pairs survived from the original production, and this pair shows real wear from actual dancing sequences. You're not just bidding on shoes — you're claiming an irreplaceable artifact. That combination of scarcity, cultural significance, and authenticated history is exactly what transforms sequined pumps into a $32.5 million treasure. Adding further intrigue to their story, the slippers were stolen in 2005 and only recovered thirteen years later through an FBI sting operation. The Judy Garland Museum, where the slippers had been on loan before the theft, launched a fundraising campaign with Minnesota legislature support to acquire them at auction for a permanent collection. Much like the Ghent Altarpiece's missing Just Judges panel, which was stolen in 1934 and never recovered, stolen cultural artifacts can leave a decades-long void in the institutions and communities that cherish them.

How Many Pairs of Ruby Slippers Actually Survived?

The $28 million price tag makes more sense when you understand just how few pairs actually survived.

During original production, MGM's wardrobe woman claimed six identical pairs were created, while producer Mervyn LeRoy estimated five to ten. Archival discrepancies like these persist because MGM destroyed its records, making an exact count impossible.

Scholars now estimate seven to ten pairs were originally made, with at least six or seven of the final design produced. Of those, only five confirmed pairs survive today.

Four show visible film wear, and one was stolen and recovered. You're looking at a survival rate that's incredibly slim for objects over 85 years old, and that scarcity directly drives their extraordinary value at auction. Each pair was constructed from commercial white silk and leather pumps by the Innes Shoe Company, transformed with approximately 2,400 red sequins per shoe.

The slippers were originally designed by Gilbert Adrian, MGM's chief costume designer, who began construction by covering plain white pumps in red fabric before adding the iconic sequins and beaded bows.

Who Owned the Stolen Ruby Slippers Before They Disappeared?

Tracking the stolen slippers back to their origins puts you squarely in 1970, when a costumer named Kent Warner discovered them in an MGM warehouse while inventorying over 350,000 costume items for the David Weisz auction house. Warner kept one pair for himself and sold another to Michael Shaw, a former MGM child actor who wept when he received them.

That emotional transaction anchored the ownership timeline for decades. Shaw later loaned them to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where they were displayed multiple times before thieves struck in August 2005.

The theft immediately triggered provenance disputes, raising questions about accountability and security. Shaw didn't reclaim his slippers until 2018, when an FBI sting operation finally returned them to their rightful owner. The slippers had been insured for $1,000,000, and Shaw was paid $800,000 in 2007 while the shoes remained missing. Following their recovery, Shaw consigned the slippers to Heritage Auctions, who planned an international exhibit tour through cities including Los Angeles, New York, London, and Tokyo before a scheduled December auction. Much like the Niger River's course, which defied expectations by flowing inland before eventually reaching the Gulf of Guinea, the slippers took a long and winding path before finally returning to their rightful owner.

How a Retired Mobster Stole the Ruby Slippers in 2005

Shaw's emotional reunion with his slippers in 2018 closed one chapter, but it opened another: who actually took them, and why?

The answer came through a hospice confession in 2023. Terry Martin, a 76-year-old former Grand Rapids mobster, admitted he'd broken into the Judy Garland Museum in August 2005. A mob associate convinced him the slippers were covered in real rubies, triggering a retirement relapse despite years of reform. Martin smashed through a locked glass door, hammered open the plexiglass case, and fled within minutes. No cameras caught him.

Within days, he realized the gems were glass and sequins. Believing the slippers worthless, he gave them away two days later. His plea deal brought no prison time, just $23,000 in restitution, given his age and deteriorating health. Martin is currently 76 and in hospice care, suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.

The slippers he stole are one of four remaining pairs worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, making them among the most prized pieces of American film memorabilia in existence.

How the FBI Finally Recovered the Ruby Slippers After 13 Years

Thirteen years after the Ruby Slippers vanished from the Judy Garland Museum, a credible tip surfaced in the summer of 2017 and cracked the case wide open. The FBI took the lead, and by summer 2018, you'd see their efforts pay off through an FBI sting operation in Minneapolis tied to an extortion attempt. On September 4, 2018, the bureau held a press conference at FBI Minneapolis headquarters, revealing the recovery while keeping suspect details under wraps.

Following recovery, the slippers underwent Smithsonian verification, where physical examination and technical material analysis confirmed their authenticity. Eighty years of aging proved impossible to fake, and the slippers matched a mismatched pair already in the Smithsonian's collection. The insurer, having paid owner Michael Shaw $800,000, now holds ownership of the iconic shoes. Special Agent Christopher Dudley publicly requested that anyone with knowledge of the theft or its concealment come forward to assist the ongoing investigation.

The original theft in August 2005 was a smash-and-grab, and investigators discovered that the alarm system and video surveillance at the museum were not functioning at the time, leaving no electronic record of the crime.

What Did the Ruby Slippers Look Like After 13 Years Missing?

When the FBI finally handed the Ruby Slippers over to the Smithsonian Institution in 2018, conservators got their first close look at a pair of shoes that had spent 13 years in unknown conditions.

You'd expect significant deterioration, but the aging patterns they observed actually worked in the shoes' favor.

Dawn Wallace and her team compared the recovered pair against the Smithsonian's existing mismatched set, confirming the shoes were genuine through construction details and 80 years of natural wear impossible to fake.

Conservation ethics required investigators to withhold specific damage details due to the ongoing investigation.

What you can know is that the sequins, structure, and sizing matched perfectly, and the shoes were immediately scheduled for climate-controlled display following verification. The recovered pair was originally stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, after being loaned for an annual Wizard of Oz festival in 2005.

How the Ruby Slippers Sold for $28 Million and Shattered Every Record

Fifteen minutes of bidding turned a $3.5 million estimate into a $32.5 million sale. Heritage Auctions hosted the December 7, 2024 event in Dallas, where auction psychology drove competitors into a frenzied bidding war. Celebrity provenance fueled every dollar increase.

Here's how the numbers broke down:

• Live bidding opened at $1.55 million
• Price increments jumped $1 million per bid
• The $28 million hammer price shattered the pre-auction estimate within seconds
• A $4.5 million buyer's premium pushed the total to $32.5 million

The previous movie memorabilia record belonged to Marilyn Monroe's white dress at $5.5 million. These slippers didn't just beat that record — they demolished it by nearly $27 million. Anonymous bidder #7508 walked away with Hollywood's most coveted artifact. The slippers are one of four known surviving pairs worn by Judy Garland during the filming of the 1939 classic. The Grand Rapids Police Department recorded the $28 million sale price as the highest valued recovered property in their history.

Where the Other Surviving Ruby Slipper Pairs Are Today

The $32.5 million sale placed one pair of ruby slippers into private hands, but four other surviving pairs are scattered across museums, private collections, and recent auction history.

The Smithsonian's pair stays permanently viewable at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The Academy Museum pair cycles through museum rotations, displaying in Los Angeles between September 2021 and September 2022, then again from October 2024 through July 2025.

The pair stolen from Minnesota's Judy Garland Museum in 2005 and recovered by the FBI in 2018 is now under private ownership through collector Terry Jean Moore, heading toward a December auction.

Debbie Reynolds' Arabian test pair, purchased for just $300 from Kent Warner, passed through her Hollywood collection before shifting to separate hands entirely. That screen-test pair sold at auction in 2011 for $627,300 to an anonymous buyer.

Why the Ruby Slippers Stand Alone as Hollywood's Most Valuable Object

Several forces converged on December 7, 2024, to push a single pair of shoes past $32.5 million—nearly ten times Heritage Auctions' pre-sale estimate of $3 million and well beyond the previous entertainment auction record of $22.8 million set at the 2011 Debbie Reynolds sale.

Their iconography valuation reflects more than Hollywood nostalgia:

• Only four pairs survived the 1939 production
• FBI-verified authentication confirmed materials and wear patterns
• Cultural symbolism tied to innocence resonated far beyond film collectors
• Bidding from 1,800+ worldwide participants drove fierce competition

You're looking at an object where scarcity, provenance, and cultural symbolism intersect perfectly.

That combination explains why these slippers didn't just break a record—they obliterated it. The auctioned pair had been stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, only resurfacing thirteen years later through an FBI sting operation. The slippers' colour was actually changed from silver to ruby red specifically to showcase the vibrant capabilities of Technicolor in the 1939 production, as the original L. Frank Baum novel had described them as silver.