Plus, while several pairs of ruby slippers and Dorothy's blue dress still exist, none of the Tin Man costumes has survived, and there's only one ragged Scarecrow costume (it's in the Smithsonian).

After acquiring the costume, Comisar engaged professional conservators from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to save the Lion, a process that took almost two years.

Comisar's concern isn't getting the highest price: He wants the Cowardly Lion to end up alongside a pair of ruby slippers in the planned Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, and he's even offering to sell it for a discount.

But the Academy, which has raised about $100 million of a projected $250 million budget for the museum, isn't ready to shell out for acquisitions.

So he's hoping an angel will step up, as when Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg and Terry Semel helped buy the slippers and donated them to the Academy.

Comisar plans to use the proceeds from the sale for the endowment for his TV museum, which will house one of the best collections of memorabilia from the medium in the country. Among the items it has are a George Reeves Superman costume, Johnny Carson's Tonight Show set and George Costanza's driver's license from Seinfeld.

A few foreign buyers have made offers, but Comisar is holding out hope the Lion will be reunited with the slippers for "the magical Hollywood ending it deserves."