GRand Rapids, Minnesota – The Minnesota hometown of Judy Garland, the actress who wore a pair of ruby slippers in “The Wizard of Oz,” is raising money to buy the prized footwear after it was stolen from a local museum and later transformed into an auction company.
Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where the late actress was born in 1922, is raising funds at its annual event Judy Garland Festival, which starts Thursday. The northern Minnesota city is asking for donations to bring the slippers back after an auction company took them on an international trip before offering them to potential buyers in December.
“They could sell it for $1 million, they could sell it for $10 million. They are priceless,” said Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions. Minnesota Public Radio. “Once they’re gone, all the money in the world can’t buy them back.”
The funds will supplement the $100,000 set aside this year by Minnesota lawmakers to purchase the flip-flops.
Dallas-based Heritage Auctions received the slippers from Michael Shaw, the memorabilia collector who originally owned the iconic shoes. Shaw loaned them in 2005 to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
That summer, someone broke a window and stole the slippers decorated with sequins and beads. Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018.
The man who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, 76, pleaded guilty in October to the theft of an important work of art, admitting to having used a hammer to break the glass of the museum’s door and display case, in what his lawyer said was an attempt to get “one last hit” after turning away from a life of crime . He was sentenced in January to time served because of his poor health.
In March, a second man, 76-year-old Jerry Hal Saliterman, was loaded in connection with the robbery.
The ruby slippers were at the center of “The Wizard of Oz,” a beloved 1939 musical. Garland’s character, Dorothy, danced down the Yellow Brick Road in her shiny shoes, accompanied by the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. .
Garland, who died in 1969, wore several pairs during filming. Only four remain.
Maddalena of Heritage Auctions says she sold two other pairs of ruby slippers. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and a group of the actor’s friends bought a set for the Academy of Cinema and Sciences.
Advance notice could help places like the Judy Garland Museum secure the slippers that will be auctioned off in December, he said. The museum that includes the house where Garland lived claims to have the world’s largest collection of Garland and “Wizard of Oz” memorabilia.
“We wanted to allow places that wouldn’t normally be able to raise funds so quickly to have a lot of time to think about it and find ways to do it,” said Maddalena. “It would be an incredible story. I mean, if they ended up back there, it would be a fantastic story.”
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
