I bought a Hollywood film score from a car boot sale for a fiver – I was stunned to learn its four-figure value
A GUEST on Antiques Roadshow was stunned to learn an old Hollywood film score they picked up at a car boot sale for a fiver was worth an impressive four-figure sum.
Last night the BBC revisited a past episode of Antiques Roadshow which took viewers to Wollaton Hall in Nottingham. As the property itself is a filming location, used at Wayne Manor in Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster Batman films, it was a fitting setting for this guest to show off his Hollywood treasure.
The guest showed the old movie script to expert Justin Croft. From the outside it didn’t appear to be anything special as it was hidden away in “a rather scruffy folder.”
However, when Justin took a closer look, he could see that the old score was covered with handwritten notes by famed American composer Bernard Herrmann.
Bernard was well known for his work in the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s during which time he created the iconic music for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane and The Twilight Zone TV series.
He also won two Oscars, the first in 1941 for his work on The Devil and Daniel Webster and the second in 1976 for Taxi Driver, which was awarded posthumously as he passed away a year earlier.
The music score that belonged to the Antiques Roadshow guest came from the 1952 film Snows of Kilimanjaro, which was an adaptation of a short story of the same name by Ernest Hemmingway. The film starred Hollywood heartthrob Gregory Peck.
The Antiques Roadshow guest revealed to Justin that he happened on the film score by accident at a car boot sale. He’d purchased a box of old theatre programmes for a fiver, but when he got home and looked through the box, he found it inside too.
Explaining the purchase, the guest said: ‘’There was a man in front of me and it was offered off for £5 but he didn’t want it so I gladly took it.”
“I had a quick look through but for what was in the box, and it certainly looked like it was worthwhile for £5,” he added.
Justin was thoroughly impressed once he started examining the sheets of paper.
“This is a great composer, and this is Bernard Hermann’s own copy,” he revealed, noting the composer’s name stamped at the bottom of each page.
He continued: “What I like about it is there is a lot of annotation and that takes us closer to matching the score with the film.”
“So what we’re seeing here is Hermann trying to fit his own score to the film.”
Before moving onto the valuation, Justin explained: “I think it does have some value. It may not be his most important film score, it’s not the one which everyone knows him for, but it’s one of his most respected scores and will perhaps stand the test of time.
“For you to have an original version of it with his corrections and with his annotation done at the time of fitting it with the film together, I think that is important.”
Justin then stunned the guest by valuing the 80-year-old score with an action price of £800 to £1,000.
Delighted, the owner let out a grin and said, “not bad for a fiver.”