Ho Hum.
That isn’t exactly the reaction a collector should have when a prop does not match the screen-used version, but when it comes to the Profiles in History Lost Auction it’s just more of the same. Day in and day out it seems like the descriptions of various props, costumes and set decoration are being proved inaccurate or inconsistent with their screen-used counterparts. While some of the discrepancies have been explained away (see: Lost’s DHARMA Fish Biscuit Machine Inconsistencies Explained), additional issues continue to mount.
Below we have a photo of lot #318, Ben’s Personal Belonging as ‘Henry Gale’ coming directly from the Profiles in History Season 2 catalog.
Lot #318, Ben's Personal Belonging as Henry Gale
The most significant piece in this lot would be Henry Gale’s ID. It saw relatively significant screen time and played a major role in a portion of season two.
Henry Gale's Wallet with ID
For most new collectors, the ID in the wallet would appear exactly as it did on screen. Because Profiles is selling it and because the description reads “seen in episode, ‘Lockdown’ ” they wouldn’t think twice about it. Unfortunately, they would have been fooled.
Thanks to a clever screen-grab over at Lostpedia, the photo on the ID in the catalog has now been deemed inaccurate. Below is a screen-shot of Henry Gale as he appears on the ID Sayid discovers in the season two episode “Lockdown.”
Henry Gale
As you can clearly see, the photo on the ID in the Profiles catalog and the one used on screen are vastly different. Two separate actors appear to have been used for the photos and the inserts are obviously dissimilar.
The reason I chose to bring this to light today is the sloppiness in missing such an obvious difference.
Henry Gale’s ID was such an important part of season two and shown so frequently on screen that it’s not something that should have been missed by a single person, let alone an entire company trying to authenticate the items they’re selling. Even if they were pressed for time, it’s not like Lostpedia isn’t always there for comparison. If it’s something myself and other collectors can dig up, there’s no excuse for Profiles to have missed it.
Again, they’ll probably just say “there were several made” and beat that dead horse over and over again, but in the end it comes down to the item description. “Seen in episode, ‘Lockdown’ ” it was not. That ID was not seen on screen anywhere throughout the entire six seasons.
About Dan Benton
What a mistake PiH could have made ! is there an COA from ABC for this piece ?
There is a COA for every piece in this auction as they all are PRODUCTION MADE. But the problem really has been the descriptions and insinuations in said descriptions…like on this prop for example. Clearly it wasn’t seen on screen and/or was a backup, but that has not been mentioned anywhere.
When the Lost fans get home and watch
the episode to see the prized piece they have won on screen
Thats when its going to get really ugly .
Great job Dan !
I think I found another item that is a little confusing. I was really looking into bidding on John Locke’s suicide note to Jack.
THE CREASE ON THE LETTER IS NOT EVEN CORRECT. IN THE SHOW IT GOES HORIZONTAL. YET ON THE AUCTIONEER WEBSITE IT IS GOING VERTICAL!!!!
Here is a picture of the note in the show.
http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Suicide_note
And the auctioneer website.
http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/7698844
I was willing to shell out some money for this item. It is guaranteed to be a popular item and I was willing to cough up the dough…even though I don’t really have it.
THE ENVELOPE IS NOT EVEN REAL. LOOK AT WHERE THE CREASE INTERSECTS THE S BUT THEN DOESN”T INTERSECT THE S ON THE SHOW.
If you watch this you-tube clip and stop it at exactly 19 seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfK0YoH6hh0
They are clearly different. The crease on the envelope is in a different spot with different handwriting used for the D and the K.
Someone please stop this madness. I love LOST and this is disappointing.
I was honestly picturing this in a frame and keeping it forever. I will no longer be bidding on any LOST items.
Thanks Dan.
There is no need to zoom in any closer for this fraud. It is clear that whoever put on this auction has never actually seen the show.
And no, i am not completely over this yet :-)
Uh, I don’t know about the crease but I’d definitely be mad that they didn’t even spell his name right.
But that’s just me…
Looks pretty obvious to me that the envelopes are different – the PiH envelope is addressed to Jack “Shepard” and on the video (and easier to see in the LostPedia link) it is spelled “Shephard”. Obviously not the same envelope, although the description says “from the episode, “316.”" But clearly it’s not.
As the purchaser of the suicide note (I’m not joking), I just went to the SM Hangar crazed thinking I’d just purchased a fake. I spoke with Joe (the head of Profiles) as well as a supervising producer for LOST and they assured me I will be getting the correct letter used that appeared on screen. They have promised that and will deliver. There were two made and the one in the picture was used in a deleted scene. If for some reason the original is not in the things that ABC handed them from Hawaii, my purchase will be voided. It’s a legitimate auction, legitimate company, and it sounds like they will honor anything that does not match what has been printed and was not on screen. They also explained a similar problem they had with Squirrel Baby and the measures done to correct that. They will not rip anyone off. The auction house got this stuff straight from ABC and the supervising producer herself promised me all of the above. It’s good to be cautious on this stuff, but the entire reputation of ABC is on the line here, not to mention the show, and this company so this idea that ABC would try and hook up with a not reputable auction company isn’t quite fair. They are legit. Hope this puts some of your minds to rest and conspiracy theories to death. You scared the hell out of me and I’m sure others who are or were thinking about bidding.
I feel bad for the guy who paid $16,000 for the hatch. If you look at the hatch from the show in season 1, the window is positioned differently than the window on the hatch auctioned off by PiH. Also, the number of bolts around the hatch window differs.
To be fair, the description in the image above does not state that the wallet and contents were seen in the episode. Just that the TSA card was seen in the episode.
Still, though, it is shady the way they are preying on fans of the show in this way. Manipulating wordage to make everything seem as though it was aired, and that is what you are buying, is bad mojo.
The prices for some of the items in the Lost auction were absurd. I could be wrong about this but I can’t imagine that letter is worth anywhere near $8500
COA means nothing really. My uncle owned the original James Bond chase boat from 1973′s Live and Let Die. He bought it in 1983 from a camera operator in the film. It had been outside uncovered for a few years and the rug needed replacing and that was the first thing my uncle replaced. In 1996 he sold it to the Ian Flemming foundation who took the replacement carpet and cut it up into squares and sold them with “COAs” Buyers bought rug from 1983, not the original rug from 1973. These are still out there
check it out:
http://www.kingego.com/category/Live-And-Let-Die-37
In a few months or years
when things cool down watch when
bidders try and resell the high priced items they won , it will be worse then The Sopranos props
that now sell for next to nothing .
dose any body know if we are getting refund if the lot dosent match the description cause i won 2 lots that are just not in the episode
Which two lots did you win? Also, did you inquire with PiH about a possible refund due to non-matching items?
I was dead-set on buying Charlie’s DS ring no matter the cost, but after comparing the rings (yes, plural, PiH was selling two of them) to high resolution screenshots of the ring on Lostpedia, I noticed the rings were totally different than the one on the show. After that I didn’t bid on anything.