The “Ruby Slippers” worn by Judy Garland’s Dorothy Gale in the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz were auctioned for an unprecedented price.

On Saturday (December 7), it was confirmed that the slippers had been purchased for $28 million (£22 million), almost ten times the expected amount.

Auctioneers at Heritage Auctions described the slippers as the “Holy Grail of Hollywood memorabilia” and said the winning bid – about $25 million (£20 million) – was over the predicted high price of $3 million (£2.35). million pounds) – making it the most valuable item of film memorabilia ever sold at auction.

While filming The Wizard of OzGarland wore several different copies of the red shoes, although only four are believed to have survived to this day.

Your character receives the magical shoes previously worn by the Wicked Witch of the East after her house destroys the witch at the beginning of the story. In the original children’s novel by L. Frank Baum, the slippers in question are silver, but in the 1939 film their color was changed to better show off the film’s Technicolor colors.

One of the other pairs is currently on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.

The pair sold at auction previously belonged to collector Michael Shaw, who loaned the item to the Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota.

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In 2005, the slippers were stolen by a professional thief who, encouraged by the slippers’ high insurance price, mistakenly believed they were covered in real rubies.

After failing to sell them to a fence, thief Terry Jon Martin then gave them to someone else, and it is unknown what happened to the slippers over the next 13 years. However, in 2018, the item was recovered during an FBI sting operation.

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Last year Martin, now in his 70s, pleaded guilty to theft and was sentenced to prison.

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The sale of the slippers comes amid increasing interest The Wizard of Ozcoinciding with the release of a new musical prequel film Evil.

Adapted from the hit West End/Broadway show, Evil tells the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West (Cynthia Erivo) and her friendship with her fellow witch Glinda the Good (Ariana Grande).

Evil The famous slippers are visible – but since this is an adaptation of the original book (whose copyright has expired) and not the 1939 film, the slippers are silver and not ruby ​​red.