These may be tough times for many beloved pianos, but one famous set of keys has so much sentimental value â€" and Hollywood cachet â€" that it is expected to fetch a million-dollar price at Sotheby's on Dec. 14. The piano used to play “As Time Goes By†in the 1942 movie “Casablanca†is being offered for sale by a Japanese collector, with Sotheby's estimating that it will go for up to $1.2 million, according to The Associated Press.
The collector purchased the piano at a Sotheby's auction in 1988 for $154,000. In the film, the nightclub musician Sam (Dooley Wilson) plays on the piano and sings “As Time Goes By,†the love serenade for Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman).
