Legislators introduce bill to buy ‘The Wizard of Oz’ ruby slippers

The Minnesota Senate has introduced a bill to designate funds to buy the ruby slippers from the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz.”

The bill, SF 3350, aims to use money from the state’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund to give to the board of the Minnesota Historical Society to buy the slippers.

The slippers would be publicly displayed after purchase as part of the bill, although the Minnesota Historical Society would have the option to loan or lease them to the Judy Garland Children’s Museum in Grand Rapids.

The slippers were stolen from the Grand Rapids museum in August 2005 and were recovered nearly 13 years later during a sting operation in Minneapolis in the summer of 2018.

Only four pairs of the famous ruby slippers exist, including a pair on display since 1979 at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

The slippers are currently set to tour the world before being auctioned to the public in December.

RELATED: Stolen ‘Wizard of Oz’ ruby slippers will go on an international tour and then be auctioned

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