The sequined shoes, one of four surviving pairs from the 1939 movie musical, were once stolen from a Minnesota museum and later recovered by the FBI.

The iconic ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the classic 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" will be sold at auction on Saturday nearly 20 years after they were stolen in Minnesota.

The slippers, worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz,” were stolen from the museum that bears her name in 2005 before investigators recovered them in 2018.

Auctioneers for Heritage Auctions described the slippers as the “Holy Grail of Hollywood memorabilia”, stating that the winning bid – roughly $25m (£20m) above the predicted ceiling of $3m (£2.35m)– made them the most valuable item of film memorabilia ever sold at auction.

The ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in 'The Wizard of Oz' were sold for a staggering $32.5 million at an auction, setting a new record for entertainment memorabilia. The auction, held by Heritage Auctions in Dallas,

A pair of iconic ruby slippers that were worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” and stolen from a museum nearly two decades ago sold for a winning bid of $28 million at auction Saturday.

A pair of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in "The Wizard of Oz" sold for a record $28 million at auction Saturday.

The slippers Judy Garland wore as Dorothy in 1939’s ‘The Wizard of Oz’ sold at auction for a record $32.5 million

A few bidders making offers by phone volleyed back and forth for 15 minutes as the price climbed to the final, eye-popping sum.

A storied pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz,” stolen from a museum display in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, then reportedly buried in a clear container in a suburban Minneapolis backyard have a high bid of $1,