Original 1998 'Friends' scripts discovered in trash bin up for sale on Friday

"Friends" fans will soon have a chance to get their hands on sitcom history - if they can save up the funds to win a bidding war by Friday, that is.

Original 1998 scripts from two episodes, "The One With Ross's Wedding I" and "The One With Ross's Wedding II," are set to go up for auction on Dec. 12 by Hertfordshire, England auction house Hanson Ross.

According to a statement by Hanson Ross, 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 he 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," he 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."

The man left his job at Fountain Studios a year later and promptly forgot he had the scripts when packing his office up into a cardboard box. It was only months later that he discovered them in a pile of paperwork and relocated them to his bedside drawer, where they've been since.

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

"It will be exciting to see what they make at auction," he 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 are the 'Friends' scripts worth?

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

In a statement, Hanson Ross's head of operations Amanda Butler said salesroom employees were amazed to see the original scripts.

"Apparently, the cast and crew were ordered to destroy their copies so the ending wouldn’t be leaked. However, these two slipped through the net," she said. "We’re guiding them at £600-£800 but thanks to the show’s huge global appeal who knows where the hammer may fall."

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."