Last week, Dorothy’s ‘ruby slippers’ sold at US-based Heritage Auctions, the fine art and collectibles auction house, for a price somewhere over the rainbow: $28 million. One of four surviving pairs worn by American actor Judy Garland in the 1939 film titled The Wizard of Oz, these slippers are now the most famous, and by far the most valuable, movie memorabilia ever sold at auction.
This pair was famously stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in the summer of 2005 and was recovered 13 years later by the FBI, only to return to owner Michael Shaw earlier this year before he handed them over to Heritage for inclusion in the auction, which drew more than 1,800 bidders worldwide. “There is simply no comparison between Judy Garland’s Ruby Slippers and any other piece of Hollywood memorabilia,” said Joe Maddalena, executive vice-president, Heritage Auctions, in a press statement.
“The breathtaking result reflects just how important movies and movie memorabilia are to our culture and to collectors. It’s been a privilege for all of us at Heritage to be a part of the slippers’ epic journey over the rainbow and off to a new home,” said Maddalena.
Lest we forget, Dorothy’s ‘ruby slippers’ is the highest record holding auction this year for movie memorabilia, but this is not the only piece auctioned for an eye-popping amount. There are several other items that have cinematic magic and captivated fans, followers and audiences worldwide. Since such collections are associated with films that play a pivotal role in movie history, having a big cultural impact, most items are either from rare archives, or behind-the-scenes stories of stars and the film characters, making them most sought-after pieces of art for collectors. For instance, James Bond’s 1965 Aston Martin DB5 was bought by an anonymous person who paid $6.3 million for it. The model was used by Eon Productions in its promotional photos for the fourth film, Thunderball. Originally, the car had been sold to its current owner in 2006 for just over $2 million.
But in 2022, a replica of the DB5 stunt car used in the 2021 film No Time to Die was sold for $2.9 million at a Christie’s charity auction. The auction was held to celebrate 60 years of James Bond films.
The replica car had imitation machine guns behind the headlights, rotating licence plates, and retractable headlights.
Remember the 1950s sci-fi characters, Robby the Robot, who was a scene-stealer in the 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet, which sold for $5.3 million in 2017, while Audrey Hepburn’s ascot dress would be iconic on its own but its value over time likely increased because it was in the collection of
American actor and avid collector Debbie Reynolds’ rare collection, who bought the dress for $100,000 in the late 90s, and then sold it in 2011 for $4.4 million.
Marilyn Monroe in 1954 in the subway scene of The Seven Year Itch, where her famous white halter dress was lifted up by the wind, is an iconic image in movie history. That dress was also part of Debbie Reynolds’ collection, and was sold in 2011 for $4.6 million.
Another big-ticketed memorabilia was a statuette of a bird featured in the classic 1941 detective thriller The Maltese Falcon, which sold for more than $4 million at auction in 2013. The movie starred actor Humphrey Bogart as private detective Sam Spade.
