Donor offers $1 million for information of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ slippers

Minnesota

As ten years have passed since the infamous theft of a pair of the ruby-red slippers Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz from a museum in Minnesota, an anonymous donor has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the return of the iconic shoes.

In order to receive the reward, the informant must know the exact location of the shoes and the name of the thief who stole them.

According to the police the shoes were stolen on Aug. 28, 2005, from a glass case in the Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota.

John Kelsch, the museum’s executive director, reportedly said that the donor is a huge fan of the 1939 movie.

The slippers were insured for $1 million at the time of the theft, and Kelsch said they would be worth between $2–3 million now.

Though many slippers were made of slightly different variations for some scenes in the movie, the total number of ruby slippers made is unknown.

The four known pairs of the ruby slippers, which had sequins and bows were designed by Adrian Greenberg and stored in a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio California, for three decades until the 1970s, when a costume designer preparing for an auction of props rediscovered them, according to the Smithsonian Institution.