Posted on 12/08/2024 7:04:48 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
A pair of iconic ruby slippers that were worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” and stolen from a museum nearly two decades ago sold for a winning bid of $28 million at auction Saturday.
Heritage Auctions had estimated that they would fetch $3 million or more, but the fast-paced bidding far outpaced that amount within seconds and tripled it within minutes. A few bidders making offers by phone volleyed back and forth for 15 minutes as the price climbed to the final, eye-popping sum.
Including the Dallas-based auction house's fee, the unknown buyer will ultimately pay $32.5 million.
Online bidding, which opened last month, had stood at $1.55 million before live bidding began late Saturday afternoon.
This slippers were on display at the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 2005 when Terry Jon Martin used a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and display case.
Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018. Martin, now 77, who lives near Grand Rapids in northern Minnesota, wasn't publicly exposed as the thief until he was indicted in May 2023. He pleaded guilty in October 2023. He was in a wheelchair and on supplementary oxygen when he was sentenced last January to time served because of his poor health.
His attorney, Dane DeKrey, explained ahead of sentencing that Martin, who had a long history of burglary and receiving stolen property, was attempting to pull off “one last score” after an old associate with connections to the mob told him the shoes had to be adorned with real jewels to justify their $1 million insured value.
(Excerpt) Read more at channel3000.com ...
involuntary witchslaughter or intentional wiccecide?
Today they’d have been taken by FEMA
Hey, she murdered a witch to get them.
In Britain, when they still had 20 shillings per pound, auction prices were in guineas, worth 21 shillings. The seller was paid the bid price in pounds, the auction house retaining the bid price in shillings as their fee. That works out to slightly more than a 4.76% fee. The $4.5 million dollar fee on a $28 million price is over 16%.
I hope the auction made it clear that they’re not REAL rubys. 🫣
The Movies channel had several Judy Garland movies last week. I think it was “Harvey Girls” where she called another character a “yellow dog,” obviously as an insult.
It brought to mind “Yellow Dog Democrats,” the 1980’s conservative Democrats, precursors to the 1990’s moderate “Blue Dog” Democrats.
Intrinsic Value: The perceived value of an asset, as opposed to it’s current market price. Often effected by the aesthetic or artistic quality of an object.
IOW, The buyer decides on how valuable it is, based on how much they’re willing to dish out.
Think of that recent exhibit of an actual banana duct taped to a wall, selling for over $2 Million Dollars!
She took them from the Wicked Witch’s corpse, that’s for sure.
How can they legally auction off stolen property???
They were on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC back in the 1970’s.
The Witch of the East had no further use of them. Legitimate salvage.
Are Dorothy’s ruby slippers in the Smithsonian Museum?
The work was funded by a successful 2016 Kickstarter with more than 6,000 backers. The slippers return to view on October 19, 2018, in the museum’s newly renovated third floor West Wing. They are one of the most asked about artifacts at the Smithsonian.
Several pairs of Ruby Slippers were made for the movie, a common practice with important costumes and props. These slippers are a mismatched pair, indicated by the use of different base shoes and markings that read “#1 Judy Garland” on the right shoe and “#6 Judy Garland” on the left. The shoes are size 5, although the left shoe is marked “5C” and the right shoe is marked “5BC.” The right shoe also has demonstrably more wear and evidence of use. The slippers are made of white pumps that were covered with red fabric, painted red soles, sequins colored a dark red to match, and bows made of stiff cotton and adorned with three kinds of beads and rhinestones. This pair has orange felt adhered to the bottom to muffle Garland’s footsteps as she danced on the yellow brick road.
The Ruby Slippers were donated to the museum anonymously in 1979 and were almost continuously on display until April 2017 when they underwent extensive research and conservation by a team of over a dozen experts from the National Museum of American History, the Museum Conservation Institute, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Go shopping for shoes?
Go shopping for property! Preferably in a beach town.
The person with 28M pocket change to spend on crap, probably doesn’t care.
“The person with 28M pocket change to spend on crap, probably doesn’t care”
You mean like the billionaire that paid 6 million for a banana duct taped to a blank canvas?
WTF was THAT?.....other than a colossal waste of money. SMH
Yup, maybe the same person? Lol!
Proves the inflations id alive and well.
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