The iconic slippers, one of four pairs the actress wore in her role as Dorothy Gale in the iconic film The Wizard of Oz, were stolen in August 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minn., Garland's hometown. The slippers were stored in a glass display case, which was shattered overnight in an apparent robbery.

Grand Rapids police, along with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office, revealed the recovery of the shoes at a news conference. Among those expressing relief was their last legal owner, Thomas Shaw, a California collector who had loaned the shoes to the museum for its annual display of Garland memorabilia. Federal officials had already verified the slippers' authenticity by comparing them with another of the four existing pairs, the one stored at the Smithsonian's American History museum.

The Smithsonian pair, which underwent an overhaul in 2017, were purchased for $15,000 in 1979 and donated to the museum. Another pair is in private hands, sold to an anonymous auction bidder in 2000 for $666,000. Actress Debbie Reynolds also owned a pair; that one was bought at auction for $510,000 in 2011.

The recently recovered slippers have the highest estimated value, however, according to the Judy Garland Museum. Officials there had insured the slippers for $1 million and said that they could be worth twice or even three times that. The shoes are now the legal property of the insurance company, which paid Shaw $800,000 for their loss.

Investigators did not reveal any other details, saying that investigation was ongoing.