Most expensive shoes from a film sold at auction

The most expensive shoes from a film sold at auction are the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz (USA, 1939), which sold for $32.5 million (£25.5 million), including buyer's premium, at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas, USA, on 7 December 2024.

Heritage Auctions described the slippers as the “Holy Grail of Hollywood memorabilia”. Produced by Innes Shoe Co., they are made from red silk faille overlaid with hand-sequined georgette and lined with white leather.

It isn't certain how many pairs in total were made for the film, but only four are still known to exist today.

This particular set of ruby slippers was stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota, USA, in 2005. The thief targeted them because he thought they were adorned with real rubies. However, when he showed them to a “fence” (someone who sells stolen goods discreetly) and discovered they were just glass beads, he sold the shoes on. They were recovered by the FBI 13 years later.

This record was previously held by another pair of Garland’s ruby slippers, which was bought by a consortium of donors including Leonardo DiCaprio and Steven Spielberg for $2 million (£1.26 million) in a sale brokered by Profiles in History on 22 February 2012. The shoes were purchased for posterity for inclusion in an Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences museum.