Bonhams TCM's Hollywood Auction sells Casablanca Piano for $2.9 million

Sam's "As Time Goes By" Piano from "Casablanca" sells for $2.9 million dollars at TCM Bonhams Hollywood Auction.

Truly an iconic movie prop!

One of my favorite movies..

You know, every more Bonhams auctions I see has fakes passed off for big bucks. It's a wonder anyone in prop collecting still trusts these guys.

Anakin Starkiller said:

You know, every more Bonhams auctions I see has fakes passed off for big bucks. It's a wonder anyone in prop collecting still trusts these guys.

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I agree about many fakes being out there. SO, SO many. I'm definitely pretty jaded on movie prop authenticity in many of the auctions I see. The problem of course is that an auction house has every incentive to sell as many items as they can, and often the research that would really be required to authenticate certain items simply isnt or cant be done.

The picture of the current auction, while the same make of piano, has a totally different paint scheme than the one in the film?!

The current $2.9 million one:


The 2 pics on the right are a still from the movie, and the 2012 auction of that famous piano as well.
according to the web site, there is another official piano from the film, in the Warner Brothers museum, on loan.

Back in the day, the Disney MGM Studios in Florida "Great Movie Ride" had the Casablanca piano on display in its lobby (rotating collection over the years).
I saw it, and thought how SMALL it looks, like it couldn't accommodate 88 keys even.

Makes you wonder how far these places go for authenticity.

To this Day, Harry Anderson says he has one of the original Maltese Falcon prop birds. I've heard his story about how he got into the prop dept with a friend of his....

There are two pianos in CASABLANCA. The one you have with the matching still is from the Paris flashback. The smaller one that just sold is from RICK's CAFE.