NEW YORK, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- The upright piano upon which Sam plays "As Time Goes By" in Rick's Cafe Americain in the 1942 hit Casablanca sold at auction Monday for $2.9 million.
The piano was one of two featured in the film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
The 58-key piano likely manufactured by Kohler & Campbell in 1927 was central to many of the key scenes in the drama. An iconic line from the film was spoken over the piano by Bergman when her character asks the piano player, played by Dooley Wilson, to "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By.' "
"Sam's piano is central to both the plot and the overall mood of Casablanca," a description of the instrument on Bonhams auction house' website says. "Many of the major plot machinations take place on or near the piano, and Sam's tasteful melodies frame every scene in Rick's.
"It's Rick's place, but Sam is the star attraction (earning 10 percent of the profits, we later learn), and his music dominates the room."
The piano even includes the secret compartment in which Rick hides transit papers, as well as a mummified piece of gum under the keyboard.
The piano was up for auction at Bonhams' Manhattan location as part of a larger sale of movie-making memorabilia, TCM Presents ... There's No Place Like Hollywood.
A second piano from Casablanca, the one seen in a flashback at a Paris cafe named La Belle Aurore, was auctioned in 2012 for $602,500, about half what it was expected to fetch. No estimate bid for the more iconic piano sold Monday was given in the auction program.
