A pair of red shoes worn by actress Judy Garland in the 1939 cult film "The Wizard of Oz" sold for $28 million at an online auction in the US on Saturday.
The famous red sequined shoes, one of four surviving pairs used in the film, were stolen from a museum in the US state of Minnesota.
Bidding on the Internet started a month ago, and the assessment of the auction house Heritage (Heritage) was that it would reach a price of three million US dollars, which is 25 million less than the amount for which they were sold.
The auction house announced that the price of the shoes already exceeded the estimated value in the first seconds of the bidding, as well as that the value of the other red shoes was nowhere near this record amount.
One pair was sold in 2000 for $666.000.
In 2000, director Steven Spielberg and actor Leonardo DiCaprio bought the second pair for two million dollars and donated it to the Museum of the American Film Academy in Los Angeles.
The auctioneers called the shoes "the Holy Grail of Hollywood memorabilia," becoming the most valuable item from the movie sold at auction.
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The winning bid caused applause in the auction hall in Dallas, Texas, and the sale came about a month after the release of the first part of the movie "Zlica" (Wicked), based on "The Wizard of Oz", who experienced interest in the cult musical.
Garland was only 16 years old when she played Dorothy in the famous musical in 1939.
American magazine Variety (Variety) ranked it second on the list of "100 best films of all time".
The fantastic musical is based on the children's novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by Frank Baum from 1900.
Although the magical shoes in the book are silver, the film's producers opted for red to take advantage of the new technicolor technology.
In the film, as in the book, a key moment is when Dorothy must click her heels three times while repeating "There's no place like home" in order to leave the wonderful land of Oz and return to Kansas with her Aunt Em.
Garland wore several pairs of shoes during filming, but only four have survived.
But the pair sold at this auction has a unique history.
Collector Michael Shaw loaned the shoes to the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, but they were stolen in 2005.
Professional thief Terry John Martin smashed a glass case with a hammer and stole them, believing them to be set with real jewels because they were insured for a million dollars.
However, the reseller of the stolen goods established that it was not jewels, but glass, so the thief gave them to someone.
For 13 years, he was not linked to this theft, until 2018, when the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) received information from a man during another investigation that he could help them find the shoes.
What happened to them during the 13 years is not yet known.
Martin's trial took place in 2023 when he was in his 70s and in a wheelchair.
"Ever since I found out there were fake jewels on the shoes, I wanted nothing to do with them," Martin said at trial.
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