LOST Auction: Razzle Dazzle!

I've always felt that Nikki and Paulo were the least understood and most under-appreciated characters on LOST.  I might even go so far as to say that they among my favourite characters on the show.  Their presence in the first half of season 3 helped propel the plot forward.  The writers provided crisp, thoughtful dialogue.  The actors showed both depth and range.  The Pikki-centric Exposé stands alongside The Constant and the pilot as LOST's greatest episodes.

And if you believe that, I have some prime real estate on The Island to sell you.  Some call it the Dark Territory, but don't let that scare you, it's actually quite nice.

But seriously, although most of Nikki and Paulo's time on-screen was useless if not annoying, I do thoroughly enjoy Exposé and feel that it (almost) redeems their stultifying screen time in earlier episodes.  Lot #526 of the official LOST auction contained several props from Exposé and when one of these, a chair back, appeared on eBay in 2011 I jumped at the chance to purchase it.

Unfortunately the item never arrived, and given an unresponsive seller I was forced to submit a claim to have my money refunded (which thankfully I was able to do).  Then in 2012 a second chair back became available from a different seller.  Yet again my purchase didn't arrive.  The curse of Nikki and Paolo had struck again! Fortunately this time it turned out to be an honest mistake on the seller's part and shortly afterward my mailbox was filled with LOST prop goodness.

Various chair backs appear in the scene where Nikki, shortly after wrapping her last scene on the show, walks through a backstage area.  I had little to no expectation that the chair back I purchased appeared onscreen.  Happily, my expectations were exceeded.

A closer examination of the shot reveals that it is indeed Cört's chair that shares the screen with Nikki.  Umlaut FTW!

 

 A copy of the Certificate of Authenticity was also provided.  Razzle dazzle!

LOST Auction: Kahana C4 block

Lot 666 of the LOST auction (how's that for Numbers!) was an assortment of props related to the bomb detonated on the Kahana freighter. The purchaser made some of the blocks of C4 available for sale. I purchased one, which came with a copy of the COA.


Although the prop is pretty simplistic (block of styrofoam wrapped in paper and covered with clear tape), it is super-awesome because of its prominence in the Season 4 finale, and its substantial impact on the series.

LOST Auction: Hurley's Ajira 316 tickets

Many of the lots sold during last August's LOST official auction were composed of multiple items. Several of these lots were purchased by groups of fans who then split the winnings. Other multi-items lots were purchased by a single person who subsequently put some of the lot's items up for sale. The person who won lot 849 Hurley's Ajira Airways Flight 316 Tickets seems to have followed the latter path.

I picked up one of Hurley's Ajira 316 tickets from eBay. (The full lot seems to have included at least 20 of these tickets, along with a ticket envelope featuring the Ajira logo.)


It came with a copy of the LOST Auction COA:


As you will recall, in order to protect innocent civilians from the uncertain fate of flight 316, Hurley purchased all of the remaining unsold seats on the flight. He had to argue with an Ajira employee when they tried to allow standby passengers onto the flight to sit in his purchased, but unoccupied, seats.


As far as I can tell we don't actually see any of Hurley's tickets on-screen. However, there are a few fleeting glimpses of other Ajira tickets, including the back of Jack's ticket and the (fuzzy) front of Jack's boarding pass.



There is a cute little in-joke / easter egg printed on the back of the tickets -- philosophical meanderings which may be taken from a legitimate philosopher's works or may just be a pastiche prepared by someone involved with the Lost production.

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.