Casablanca memoirs go up for auction

The piano from Casablanca, which won three Oscars for best picture, best screenplay and best director in 1943, will be put under the hammer at Sotheby’s on 14 December, it has been revealed.

The auction of the 58-key piano, worth an estimated 1.2 million pounds, marks the 70th anniversary of the film, the BBC reported.

It features in a flashback scene in Paris at La Belle Aurore where the romance between Humphrey Bogart’s character Rick and Ilsa, played by Ingrid Bergman, is established.

The pianist, Sam, plays As Time Goes By on it during the love scene in the move, which has been named the most romantic and quotable movie of all time by the American Film Institute.

A Japanese collector brought the piano for 154,000 dollars in 1988 from auctioneer David Redden at Sotheby's, who will sell it once again next month.