Judy Garlands ruby slippers to be auctioned nearly 20 years after being stolen from museum | National & World [Video]

(CNN) — Judy Garland’s ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz,” which were stolen from a Minnesota museum almost 20 years ago, are slated to be auctioned on Saturday.

The pair of slippers are expected to fetch $3 million or more, according to Robert Wilonsky, vice president for public relations at Heritage Auction. They currently have a $1.55 million pre-auction bid, according to Wilonsky.

Almost 1,000 people are tracking the slippers, and the lot page has received 51,837 page views, he said.

The ruby slippers are one of the most beloved artifacts from the iconic 1939 movie.

The slippers “were much more than just a piece of Hollywood memorabilia, much more than a valuable piece of industry history,” said Rhys Thomas, the author of “The Ruby Slippers of Oz.”

“They transcended Hollywood, to the point where they represented the powerful image of innocence to all America,” he said, according to the lot page.

Collector Michael Shaw had loaned the slippers to the Judy …