Original 1998 'Friends' scripts discovered in trash bin sell at auction for over $36,000

The cult-favorite sitcom "Friends" may have aired its final episode back in 2004, but a recent auction made it apparent that no love has been lost in the hearts and minds of fans over the last 20 years. In fact, fans remain so dedicated, they were willing to shill out five-digit prices to get their hands on a piece of the show's history.

Original 1998 scripts from two episodes, "The One With Ross's Wedding I" and "The One With Ross's Wedding II," went up for auction on Dec. 12 by Hertfordshire, England auction house Hanson Ross with an estimated value of £600-£800 ($765-1,021 USD).

Instead, bidders "went crazy," according to a statement from Hanson Ross, and scripts sold for a "mind-blowing" £28,864, or $36,896 USD.

Hanson Ross said the scripts were originally found in a trash bin 26 years ago after the episodes wrapped up filming at Fountain Studios, Wembley, a studio that no longer exists. A now-retired 60-year-old employee of the location said she spotted the scripts, which actors were supposed to destroy after filming to prevent endings from leaking, weeks after filming had finished.

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Original 'Friends' scripts discovered in a trash bin

"It was part of my job to ensure everything was tidy and no rubbish was left around," the retired employee told Hanson Ross. "I wasn’t sure what to do with them so just put them in my office drawer. I remember wondering which member of the cast they might have belonged to."

She left her job at Fountain Studios a year later and promptly forgot she had the scripts when packing her office up into a cardboard box. It was only months later that she discovered them in a pile of paperwork and relocated them to her bedside drawer, where they remained until now.

Recently, she came across the scripts once more and found a ticket belonging to a studio audience member inside one of them. It was then that she decided to get the memorabilia evaluated.

"It will be exciting to see what they make at auction," she told Hanson Ross. "Funnily enough, I’m not a big' 'Friends' fan. I don’t dislike the show but I only recently watched the episodes I have the scripts for. American humor is different to ours. These scripts deserve to be owned by a big 'Friends' fan.”

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How much did the 'Friends' scripts sell for?

While Hanson Ross originally valued the scripts at roughly £600-£800 ($765-$1,021 USD), the enduring popularity of the show, cult following and the recent passing of star Matthew Perry were expected to drive the price even higher.

Orginally, Hanson Ross's head of operations Amanda Butler said in a statement that they were "...guiding them at £600-£800 but thanks to the show’s huge global appeal who knows where the hammer may fall."

Indeed, a "phenomenal global interest" ended up driving the bids up by 32 times the original max estimated price, with 219 advanced bids coming in from the UK, USA, Germany, Spain, Australia, Ukraine, Dubai, Switzerland and other countries.

“I just can’t believe the result and the impact this find has had. Bidders went crazy for these scripts. The global interest was phenomenal," Butler said. "We’ve all been flabbergasted - including the seller. She came to the saleroom to watch the drama unfold and she was shell-shocked!"

What 'Friends' episodes are the scripts from?

The 1998 scripts are for episodes "The One With Ross's Wedding I" and "The One With Ross's Wedding II."

In this two-episode arc, Monica (Courteney Cox), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Joey (Matt LeBlanc), and Chandler (Matthew Perry), travel to London to see Ross (David Schwimmer) marry his fiancée Emily (Helen Baxendale) in London. Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), stays home as she is heavily pregnant.

Rachel flies out to meet up with her friends after initially staying behind, saying it would be too hard to watch her ex-boyfriend get married. By the end of part one, she decides she needs to confess her enduring love for Ross before he goes through with the marriage.

While her friends convince her not to go through with sabotaging his big day, "Friends" fans know Ross and Rachel are destined to end up together and the wedding is ruined when Ross accidentally says "I, Ross, take thee Rachel" during his vows.

The two-part season finale ended on a cliffhanger until the premier of season five when even more drama ensued in the episode, "The One After Ross Says Rachel."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Original 1998 'Friends' finale scripts sell at auction for $36,000