The Wicked Witch’s Hat: Hollywood’s Most Haunting Artifact Goes Up for Auction December 9-10, 2025

Margaret Hamilton’s iconic black hat from The Wizard of Oz heads to auction with a starting bid of $100,000, carrying with it a strange journey through Hollywood’s shadow world of stolen treasures and secret collectors.

The Strange Saga of the Wicked Witch’s Hat

The most recognizable piece of evil headwear in cinema history is about to change hands again. Margaret Hamilton’s black pointed hat from The Wizard of Oz goes on the auction block December 9 and 10 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, and the story of how it got there reads like something from Hollywood’s darkest vaults.

The Hat That Almost Never Was

Adrian Adolph Greenburg, who worked professionally as Gilbert Adrian, designed the hat after filming had already begun because the original hat didn’t appear scary enough. The legendary MGM costume designer had already created Dorothy’s blue gingham dress and those famous ruby slippers, but the Wicked Witch needed something more menacing.

The final design stands 14 inches high with a 19.5-inch diameter brim, constructed from black wool bunting. The towering cone-shaped crown measures 13.75 inches high with a heavy canvas lining, set at a rearward tilt to create the character’s distinctive silhouette. It retains the 22-inch elastic chin strap tied around Hamilton’s jaw to keep it secure during the flying broomstick scenes.

Inside its brim appears the marking “M. Hamilton 4461-164” — referring to Margaret Hamilton herself. This specific hat screen matches to the sequence in Munchkinland when audiences are first introduced to arguably the greatest villain character in film history, with a backward bend near the tip of the hat cone and a crimp at the front of the brim that both match the film footage.

The Secret Collector and the MGM Heist

The hat’s journey from MGM’s wardrobe department to the auction house involves one of Hollywood’s most notorious memorabilia mysteries. In 1970, MGM decided to liquidate 350,000 objects to clear out its four backlots, hiring David Weisz Co. to conduct the auction. Weisz hired a costumer named Kent Warner to identify costumes and organize the sale.

Kent Warner wasn’t just any studio employee. He was particularly obsessed with finding the costumes from The Wizard of Oz. While cataloging the MGM collection, Warner discovered multiple pairs of ruby slippers. He told David Weisz he found them, and when Weisz asked if there were more, Warner said yes — but Weisz told him to get rid of them and gave the auction only one pair to sell, but not the best pair.

Warner kept the best pair for himself. Over 80% of the memorabilia market went through Kent Warner’s hands, representing around 450,000 costumes. Michael Shaw obtained this Wicked Witch hat from Warner, who discovered Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers at the historic David Weisz Co. MGM Auction in 1970. Around the time of the auction, Warner sold the Ruby Slippers offered in the recent Heritage auction to Michael Shaw, along with the Margaret Hamilton “Wicked Witch of the West” witch hat.

Fifty Years of Silence

This iconic piece of Hollywood history has only changed hands once in over 50 years. Michael Shaw held onto both the hat and a pair of ruby slippers for decades, occasionally displaying them during his “Hollywood on Tour” exhibitions in the 1980s and ’90s.

The hat is featured on page 75 of the revised and expanded edition of the definitive book on the subject, The Wizardry of Oz, by Jay Scarfone and William Stillman. It comes with a custom sculptured silicone display head in the terrifying likeness of Margaret Hamilton in her most famous role.

The Hat’s Dark Twin

The story gets stranger. The Hollywood Reporter states that the Wicked Witch’s hat sold for $2.93 million in 2024. This appears to be an error or confusion with a previous sale, as the hat actually sold on December 7, 2024, for $2.93 million after a lengthy bidding war. The current auction represents another Wicked Witch hat hitting the market.

A Record-Breaking Weekend

The December 2024 auction became a landmark event in Hollywood memorabilia history. The ruby slippers from the same collection sold for a record $32.5 million (including fees), making them the most valuable movie memorabilia ever sold at auction. The previous high for entertainment memorabilia had stood at $5.52 million since the 2011 sale of Marilyn Monroe’s subway dress from The Seven Year Itch.

The slippers that broke the record had their own dark history. In 2005, a thief stole them after Shaw loaned them to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for their annual Judy Garland Festival. The F.B.I. successfully reclaimed the famed footwear in a 2018 sting operation in Minneapolis, bringing a 13-year-long investigation to a conclusion.

The Transformational Moment

Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, explained the hat’s significance: “When Dorothy Gale becomes Dorothy of Oz, it’s when she puts on the ruby slippers. When the Wicked Witch becomes the Wicked Witch, she puts on the hat. So it’s this transformational moment of the birth of the witch. I think the importance of the hat is just incredible. It’s on par with the slippers.”

The audience’s very first encounter with the Wicked Witch was during the opening scenes when a terrified Dorothy peers out the window of her room to see Miss Gulch (Margaret Hamilton) riding her bike in the whirlwind of the tornado that has lifted the house into the sky. Before Dorothy’s eyes, Miss Gulch morphs from the bike-peddling spinster into the Wicked Witch flying on her broomstick.

The Auction Block

The upcoming December 9-10 auction at Heritage’s Dallas headquarters will be conducted both online and in person. The hat starts with a bidding floor of $100,000. Also hitting the auction block are a The Wizard of Oz book signed by Garland, who wrote a lengthy inscription, with autographs by other main cast members, including Toto’s actual paw prints. Garland’s lengthy handwritten inscription offers a rare glimpse into the young actress’s identification with her role: “Playing the part of Dorothy was such fun, and so realistic, that I feel as if I’m not Judy at all, but Dorothy Gale from Kansas…”

Two different versions of Dorothy’s ruby slippers will be auctioned — one, a right-foot shoe worn by Garland during rehearsals, adorned with crimson-burgundy glass bugle beads, and a replica of the ruby slippers made by Western Costume Company for the film’s 50th anniversary.

The auction comes at a moment of renewed fascination with the 1939 film. Wicked: For Good, which brings to an end a revisionist telling of the witch’s backstory played by Cynthia Erivo, hits theaters ahead of Thanksgiving. The auction also coincides with the AI-enhanced The Wizard of Oz at Sphere playing an immersive version.

Maddalena, who has handled more Wizard of Oz memorabilia and props than any other auctioneer, including Dorothy’s blue dress and the Witch’s hourglass, calls this “the finest example of the Wicked Witch’s hat known to exist.”

The hat waits in its custom display, Margaret Hamilton’s menacing visage frozen in silicone beneath it, ready for its next owner to claim this piece of Hollywood darkness.

References

Cover photo: MGM/Kobal/Shutterstock
The Hollywood Reporter: Wicked Witch’s Hat From 1939’s ‘Oz’ Hits Auction Block
Heritage Auctions: The Wizard of Oz Margaret Hamilton Iconic Screen Matched “Wicked Witch of the West” Flying Hat
ABC News: Hat worn by Wicked Witch of the West in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is going up for auction
Attractions Magazine: Hollywood auction features original ruby slippers and Wicked Witch of the West’s hat
‘Wizard of Oz’ Wicked Witch Hat and Dorothy Costumes Lead Auction
Heritage Auctions: The Wizard of Oz Judy Garland “Dorothy Gale” Screen Matched Ruby Slippers
Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers Sell for Record-Breaking $32.5 Million at Heritage Auctions
Ruby Slippers Wizard of Oz – History, Pairs & Ownership
The Ruby Slippers Project: Kent Warner
Ruby slippers – Wikipedia
‘The Wizard of Oz’ Ruby Slippers Sell for a Whopping $32 Million
Ruby slippers, Wicked Witch’s hat to be auctioned off in Dallas in December
Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers Sell for $32.5 Million at Heritage Auctions!
OANN: Black hat worn by the Wicked Witch of the West in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is going up for auction

NOTE: Some of this content may have been created with assistance from AI tools, but it has been reviewed, edited, narrated, produced, and approved by Darren Marlar, creator and host of Weird Darkness — who, despite popular conspiracy theories, is NOT an AI voice.