Hollywood comes to Hertfordshire as pop culture auction includes rare Friends script and Tolkien fan letter

An original script for iconic TV show Friends has gone under the hammer for £12,000 in Hertfordshire.

The autographed script, for the episode titled The One Where Rachel has a Baby, carried an estimated hammer price of up to £8,000 during saleroom Hanson Ross’ inaugural Pop Culture Auction in April.

It follows the firm’s sale of a Friends TV script - found in a bin - for a hammer price of £22,000 and inclusive total of nearly £29,000, after the discovery made headlines and fetched bids from across the world.

The ground-breaking sale inspired the saleroom to launch the specialist auction which included a second Friends script for season two, issued to Friends actress Lisa Kudrow, hammered at £2,500. Also among collections was a 1994 Friends Like Us pilot script owned by Ira Ungerleide, a writer on the first three seasons of Friends, achieved £2,600.

Major interest was also sparked by a letter written by JRR Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, to an eight-year-old child fan in 1961 which hammered at £8,000.

Another high achiever was a Groot Mask used in the film production of Guardians of the Galaxy which achieved £4,800.

One lot included a boxing glove signed by Muhammad Ali, which fetched £420, and another including signed photographs of stars, from Joanna Lumley, Christopher Lee and Bob Hoskins to Tom Selleck and Sade, hammered at £240.

Amanda Butler, head of operations at Hanson Ross, said: “We were thrilled to offer fascinating memorabilia relating to the world of entertainment. When that Friends script hammered at £22,000 from a £600-£800 guide in January, it plunged us into the limelight. It sparked huge media coverage and 219 advance bids from all over the world including the UK, USA, Germany, Spain, Australia, Ukraine, Dubai and Switzerland.

“That success led to us being inundated with enquiries from new clients keen to consign all kinds of TV and film memorabilia. It’s also led to us forging connections in Hollywood which is exciting. The entertainment industry inspires a vibrant collectors’ market. We’re proud to be a part of it and hope to play a starring role in this specialist area in the years to come.”