GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. 鈥 The Minnesota hometown of Judy Garland, the actress who wore a pair of ruby slippers in 鈥淭he Wizard of Oz,鈥 is raising money to purchase the prized footwear after it was stolen from a local museum and then later turned over to an auction company.
Ruby slippers once worn by Judy Garland in the "The Wizard of Oz" are displayed Sept. 4, 2018, at the FBI office in Brooklyn Center, Minn. The Minnesota hometown of Judy Garland, the late actress who wore the ruby slippers in the 1939 classic, will raise funds this weekend to recover the prized footwear.
Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where the late actress was born in 1922, is fundraising at its annual聽, which kicked off Thursday. The north Minnesota town is soliciting donations to bring the slippers back after an auction company takes them on an international tour before offering them up to prospective buyers in December.
鈥淭hey could sell for $1 million, they could sell for $10 million. They鈥檙e priceless,鈥 Joe Maddalena, Heritage Auctions executive vice president, told聽. 鈥淥nce they鈥檙e gone, all the money in the world can鈥檛 buy them back.鈥
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The funds will supplement the $100,000 set aside this year by Minnesota lawmakers to purchase the slippers.
Dallas-based Heritage Auctions received the slippers from Michael Shaw, the memorabilia collector who originally owned the iconic shoes. Shaw had loaned them in 2005 to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
That summer, someone smashed through a display case and stole the sequins-and-beads-bedazzled slippers. Their whereabouts remained a mystery until聽.
The man who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, 76,聽聽to theft of a major artwork, admitting to using a hammer to smash the glass of the museum鈥檚 door and display case in what his attorney said was an attempt to pull off 鈥渙ne last score鈥 after turning away from a life of crime. He was聽聽to time served because of his poor health.
In March, a second man, 76-year-old Jerry Hal Saliterman, was聽聽in connection with the theft.
The ruby slippers were at the heart of 鈥淭he Wizard of Oz,鈥 a beloved 1939 musical. Garland鈥檚 character, Dorothy, danced down the Yellow Brick Road in her shiny shoes, joined by the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion.
Garland, who died in 1969, wore several pairs during filming. Only four remain.
Maddalena, with Heritage Auctions, says he sold two other pairs of ruby slippers. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and a group of the actor鈥檚 friends purchased one set for the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences.
Advance notice could help venues like the Judy Garland Museum secure the slippers that will be auctioned in December, he said. The museum which includes the house where Garland lived, says it has the world鈥檚 largest collection of Garland and 鈥淲izard of Oz鈥 memorabilia.
鈥淲e wanted to enable places that might not normally be able to raise the funds so quickly to have plenty of time to think about it and work out ways to do that,鈥 Maddalena said. 鈥淭hat鈥檇 be an amazing story. I mean, if they ended up back there, that鈥檇 be a fantastic story.鈥
