Lost Auction: Jin's Handcuffs

The first lot I won at the LOST auction was #167, Jin's handcuffs. Prior to the auction I prepared a spreadsheet to help guide my bidding. Basically, I gave each item a "desirability" grade and also noted down the number of advance bids it had garnered. My strategy was to target items which had both high desirability and a relatively small number of advance bids. I gave this lot a B+ and noted that it had only 3 advance bids, so it was on my bid list.


First off we have the intact metal cuffs, which I'll label Cuff-M1. (It turns out that the collection consists of ten cuffs, so I needed to label them to keep track!) These are the cuffs with which Sawyer secured Jin to the Oceanic 815 wreckage following Jin's assault on Michael. There are no engravings on these cuffs other than a "Taiwan" label.

Cuff R-1. These are "comfort" cuffs, made from a light rubber. The cuffs can be opened and closed by removing and inserting a metal pin.

Here are some screenshots of the intact cuffs, from the time Sawyer heads toward Jin until seconds before Michael uses an axe to cut the chain. It's pretty obvious that the M-1s aren't the cuffs used in the scenes after Jin is secured to the wreckage, unless the length of M-1's chain was shortened some time thereafter. The cuffs Sawyer is holding may be the M-1s though. Or perhaps I got a pair of Kate's cuffs instead?

Cuff M-2. This is a single cuff with little to no rust made by Peerless Handcuff Co. of Springfield, MA.

Cuff M-3. Another Peerless cuff, slightly more distressed than the first. This one has a number hand-etched onto it.

Cuff-R2. This is the rubber version of the single cuff. I assume that the LOST crew added the Peerless name to match the real thing.

Screenshots of the single cuff, from the moment after Michael broke the chain with an axe through his adventure on the raft and return to the beach camp during season 2.

Cuff M-4. An opened (but unbroken) single cuff with a bit of rust. Although the company name isn't present, a bit of research suggests that it is also made by Peerless and is actually intended to be a leg iron rather than a handcuff.

Cuff M-5. A model 703 leg iron by Peerless, with a cut clasp.

Cuff M-6. Very similar to M5, though a little less rusty/distressed.

Cuff M-7. Another severed 703.

Cuff M-8. One final severed 703, this one with some extra rust distress.

A bonus shard, though I can't seem to figure out which cuff it might have been cut from!

Screenshots of the happy day when Locke used the Swan station's bolt cutters to finally remove Jin's handcuff. Looks like it might have been the M-6 in these shots!


The LOST Complete Collection bonus disc contains a featurette called "Artifacts of the Island" where propmaster Rob Kyker, cast and crew reminisce about some of the LOST props, including Jin's handcuffs.