Click your heels together three times, because a pair of ruby slippers from the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz” is coming home.
The Minneapolis Division of the FBI announced Tuesday that a missing pair of authentic slippers that Judy Garland wore while playing Dorothy Gale in the musical film has been recovered after more than a decade.
The iconic shoes were stolen from an exhibit in the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in August 2005. A thief made off with one of the world’s most valuable pieces of Hollywood memorabilia after smashing a Plexiglas holding case, Forbes reports.
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The sequined slippers, which were created by Hollywood costume designer Gilbert Adrian, are one of at least four pairs known to exist, according to the Smithsonian.
One pair is displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, donated by an anonymous benefactor who bought them for $15,000 in 1979.
Another pair was auctioned off for $666,000 in 2000. Actress Debbie Reynolds also owned a pair of the authentic ruby slippers, purchased at auction for $510,000 in 2011.
That is nothing close to the value placed on the stolen pair. The slippers, which were insured for $1 million, may be worth between $2 million and $3 million, John Kelsch, executive director of the Judy Garland Museum, told the Associated Press in 2015.
Thomas Shaw, who owned the missing pair of heels, told Forbes that they were used for close-up shots when Dorthy clicked her heels together. The scene accompanies one of the most famous lines from the movie: “Click your heels together three times and say ‘There’s no place like home’ and you’ll be there.”
The Minneapolis branch of the FBI is holding a news conference to disclose more details into the shoes’ discovery Tuesday at 1 p.m. CT.
Source:CNBC
