How much would you be willing to pay for a prop from your favourite movie of all time? Well, while we were holding space for Defying Gravity, a mysterious bidder bought the iconic ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz at an auction in Dallas, USA. How much did the mysterious bidder pay, I hear you ask: $28 million or an eye-watering R500 million! 

The previous record holder for the most expensive movie prop ever sold was Marilyn Monroe’s famous white dress from The Seven Year Itch (1955), which sold for $4.6 million (R82 million) in 2011. Before that, the record belonged to a gold Aston Martin driven by Sean Connery in Goldfinger, selling for $4.6 million in 2010.

The shoes worn by Garland have a storied history. Let’s walk the yellow brick road to find out more: 

👠The slippers were originally silver

The Wizard of Oz was an adaptation of the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by author Lyman Frank Baum. In the book, the slippers are silver, not ruby red. Why are they red in the movie? Well, when the movie was released in 1939, a new technology, Technicolor, was emerging, and silver just didn’t translate that well on screen. So they gave them a pop of red, and the rest is history. 

👠 Legend has it six or seven pairs were made for the film

Designed by Gilbert Adrian, MGM’s chief costume designer at the time, it’s believed that six or seven pairs were made for the film. Only four are accounted for today: the ones that recently broke the record, a pair kept at the Smithsonian in Washington DC, a pair in a private collection, and another pair at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

👠 They were stolen and part of an FBI investigation

The recently sold pair was stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where the Dorothy actress was born. They weren’t found until 2018, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recovered them in a sting operation. Terry Jon Martin, from Minnesota, was named as the robber in 2023. He pleaded guilty later that year and was sentenced earlier this year to supervised release due to his health. 

The auction also featured other memorabilia from The Wizard of Oz, including a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton, who famously played the Wicked Witch of the West. The hat sold for $2.4 million (R45.6 million) 

While the bidder’s name hasn’t been released, we wonder what’s the next prop that will break the bank. For now, someone owns a part of film history somewhere out there (over the rainbow?)