A pair of Judy Garland’s iconic ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz has sold at auction for a staggering $28 million.

The slippers, stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 2005, were among the four surviving pairs worn by Garland in the 1939 classic film.

According to Heritage Auctions, this sale makes the slippers the most valuable piece of movie memorabilia ever auctioned.

“There is simply no comparison between Judy Garland’s ruby slippers and any other piece of Hollywood memorabilia,” said Joe Maddalena, Executive Vice President of Heritage Auctions, in a news release. “The breathtaking result reflects just how important movies and movie memorabilia are to our culture and collectors.”

With auction house commissions included, the final price reached $32.5 million, nearly 11 times the pre-auction estimate of $3 million. Robert Wilonsky, Vice President for Public Relations at Heritage Auctions, emphasized the significance of the sale: “At $32.5 million, the slippers are the most valuable cinema treasures in the world, helping make this the most successful entertainment auction ever held.”

While other pairs of ruby slippers from the film have previously gone to auction, none achieved such extraordinary results.

In 2000, a pair sold for $666,000. Years later, Steven Spielberg and Leonardo DiCaprio purchased another pair for $2 million and donated them to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.

The bidding for this pair began at $1.55 million and quickly escalated, with 25 bidders initially vying for the shoes. In the end, only two bidders remained, and the winning bid came from a participant over the phone.

The ruby slippers, widely regarded as one of the most beloved artifacts from the film, hold cultural significance far beyond Hollywood. Rhys Thomas, author of The Ruby Slippers of Oz, described them as “a powerful image of innocence to all America,” transcending their status as memorabilia.

These slippers had been loaned to the Judy Garland Museum by collector Michael Shaw but were stolen in 2005. They were recovered in 2018 during a sting operation in Minneapolis.