'Casablanca' piano sold for $3.4 million at US auction

The painted upright piano that adorned Rick's Cafe in the classic movie "Casablanca" fetched $3.4 million at auction Monday after a frenzied sale in New York.
      
The orange piano -- on which Sam (Dooley Wilson) famously plays "As Time Goes By" at the request of his one-time love Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) -- was among 200 items from Hollywood's golden age that went under the hammer at Bonham's in New York.        

The piano featured prominently in the Oscar-winning 1942 romantic drama, with leading man Humphrey Bogart using it as a hiding place for the letters of transit that ultimately secure his former lover's safe passage to the United States.
      
Dresses worn by Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and Rita Hayworth were also auctioned, as well as a jacket worn by Clark Gable in "Gone With the Wind."       

The Lion costume worn by Bert Lahr in "The Wizard of Oz" was also put up for sale.
      
Auctioneers had declined to estimate the Casablanca piano's likely price, saying only that they expected it to fetch "the low- to mid-seven figures."       

Bidding opened at $1.6 million and escalated rapidly before closing three minutes later at $3.4 million including taxes.
      
The piano was specially adapted to allow Bogart's character to perform his sleight of hand with the transit papers, hiding them in plain sight of the clientele at Rick's.
      
The writers decided that the papers should be stashed in the top of the piano, but had to alter its lid to make it work on camera.
      
"The only way this works, however, is if the lid opens from the rear, otherwise Rick would have to reach over Sam's shoulder to hide the papers, a hardly subtle move," the auction house said. ...