Original lyrics used on the set of the American series Friendswhich were supposed to be destroyed after filming a season finale in London, are being sold at auction after being fished out of the trash by an employee in 1998.
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“Apparently the cast and crew were ordered to destroy their copies so the ending wouldn't be leaked. However, these two fell through,” Amanda Butler, operations manager at British auction house Hanson Ross, said in a statement on Monday.
Through a series of coincidences, two copies of the final episodes of the fourth season, “The One With Ross's Wedding” (French), Part 1 and Part 2, narrowly escaped the bin in 1998, despite orders to destroy copies Auction House reported that the scripts are being prevented from being published to prevent the finale from being leaked.
In fact, a few weeks after filming the final in London, an employee at Fountain Studios at Wembley Stadium in the United Kingdom found the two copies in a trash can.
“I didn't really know what to do with it, so I left it in my desk drawer. I remember wondering which cast member they belonged to,” said the now 60-year-old employee on the condition of remaining anonymous.
However, when the man quit his job the following year, he took the entire contents of his drawer with him and didn't find the scripts at home until a few months later. He finally placed them on a bedside table where they would have spent the last 25 years.
“I could have easily thrown them away. Recently I was emptying my house before a move and found them. “I was visiting my family in Hertfordshire and decided to have them examined by Hanson Ross,” continued the man, who is anything but an admirer of American humor.
While the auction house doesn't yet know how much the scripts will sell for, the value is currently between 600 and 800 pounds sterling, or between 1,020 and 1,360 Canadian dollars.
“But who knows where the hammer might fall, given the show's global appeal,” said Amanda Butler. The last Friends show aired 20 years ago in 2004, but is still watched and enjoyed by millions of people.
In 2004, more than 52.5 million Americans watched the series finale as it aired.
The auction will take place on January 12th.