OVERVIEW of FOUND ITEMS




for details on Found Items, please see the details page

DEFINITION OF A FOUND ITEM

Basically, a found item is a prop that was not made specifically for the production.

It is something that the prop department purchased in a retail store that anyone else could also have purchased and may still be available today. All of the bottles in the photo below are found items. Some of them I bought from a customizer, some of them I customized myself, some of them are waiting to be customized.



In addition to the physical items used on the show, I include the names and recipes of the foods and drinks in this category because it took me a huge amount of time to devise a menu that sounded interesting, was consistent with the canon, and was consistent within itself. In other words, wherever the ingredient 'traggle' is referred to in a menu item, it always means 'orange' whether it is liqueur, juice, soda, or the fruit itself. Memory-Alpha describes traggle nectar as a type of juice akin to orange juice that likely comes from the Delta Quadrant.

AVAILABILITY OF FOUND ITEMS

Many of the things which were used on screen and which are no longer being produced new are being sold on sites like eBay and Etsy. The problem is that even if they are new, they are rarely described as 'Star Trek Saurian Brandy bottle'! That particular bottle (the bent-neck amber bottle on the left below), IF the original label is still intact, is normally described as 'vintage Dickel Whiskey bottle' but if you don't know that, how would you know what to search for? (The classic conundrum - you don't know what you don't know!)




Without the original label the bottle might be described as 'glass bottle with curved neck'. The bottle used to serve Kanar (the twisty-neck bottle on the right above) might be described as 'glass bottle with a twisty neck'. But, more often than not, both of these bottles are simply described as 'vintage bottle' so finding some found items is a very difficult job!

Unless, of course, you know that the Saurian Brandy bottle was the old Dickle bottle and the Kanar bottle was made by d'Aquino. That's where I come in. . .

BACKGROUND ON MY QUEST

When I started planning our first party (in October of 2008) I hoped to use the same bottles, glasses and tableware that were used on-screen but I never realized how hard it would be to find them! The information I needed - photographs of what was used, identifying data (size, manufacturer, pattern name, etc. . .) and where to get them - was not available ANYWHERE! Neither were the recipes. For some reason, this came as a surprise to me. I'm not a TV or movie buff; in fact, I haven't watched TV in 20 years and I see an average of two movies a year. So I never knew how proprietary the props were, or how coveted screen-used ones are.

I was lucky, though, because at that time Paramount Studios was auctioning off all their Star Trek props via It's A Wrap on eBay. Most of what was offered sold for far more than I could afford but the information provided in the listings was exactly what I was looking for. I saved every picture, along with any identifying data, for future reference. But it wasn't enough! Most of what they sold was costumes; the bottles and glasses were few and far between.

Shown below is a large lot of bottles offered by IAW. All but the bottle on the far left is a 'found item'. The bottle on the far right is the highly-recognizable Triskelion Whiskey bottle in the 'clear' color.



When I did a Google search on the old IAW listings, I found an amazing forum, Alec Peter's Star Trek Invisionzone, where other Trek fans like myself gathered to compare notes on their collections. The members of this forum helped me immeasurably by posting pictures and sharing what they knew about brands and availability. What they provided, plus the information on Memory-Alpha, plus the screen-caps at Trek Core, coupled with my knowledge of tableware (I have collected it since I was 16) enabled me to find what I felt I needed for our party. It wasn't easy though! I spent hours and hours trolling the internet doing search after search after search using every key-word I could think of.

Now that I have the information I needed, I'm making it available to others like me.

MY PHILOSOPHY regarding FOUND ITEMS

There are some people who regard canon as gospel
and they will not collect anything which is not indistinguishable from screen-used.

While I respect that, I AM NOT ONE OF THEM!

I view what was seen on-screen as a SMALL PART of the universe as it existed during the time period(s) covered by the story-line. I imagine all the other things that are going on, that we do NOT see on screen, as part of the same 'reality' and, in addition to indistinguishable-from-screen-used items, I also collect those things which I feel were probably being used 'off-screen', so to speak. For me, the Star Trek universe is 'real' and not limited to the few scenes shown on screen.

For instance, if the screen-used version was red and all I am able to find is blue, I’m pretty certain that someone somewhere in that wider 'reality' was using the blue version. We know for a fact that the prop department DID use multiple colors of the same bottle, they also painted some bottles a different color, and they used the same bottle for more than one thing.

The photo on the left below is a screen-used bottle lot offered during the Christie's auction, on the right is another IAW bottle lot. The bottle on the far left of the Christie's lot, next to the glasses, is the blue version of the Triskelion Whiskey bottle pictured above, proof that the prop department used the same bottle in more than one color. The two Breshtanti Ale bottles on the left of the IAW lot are proof that they used the same bottle for more than one liquid.

If that isn't proof enough, the labels on the three bottles on the far right at the same labels used for the Triskelion whiskey and the two bottles to the left of them held both Altair water and Yridian Ale.




Before I became familiar with the foods and drinks of the series, I collected what I thought were futuristic looking bottles and glasses, and was pleased to discover that many of things I had were, in fact, used on screen. Now, I trust my instincts. Because I don't at this moment have proof that it was used on-screen, doesn't mean that it was never used on-screen. If I like it, I buy it, and see how it 'works' with the rest of my collection.

I believe this is call 'FANon' (as opposed to canon)


The picture below shows the things I bought without knowing they were found items. There are screen caps of the screen-used ones on the Bottles page.



WHAT YOU WILL FIND HERE

What you will find on this website are screen caps of some of the bottles, glasses, food and drink that were seen on-screen.

Next to the screen caps will be a photo from IAW, if available, and a photo of our found item (or whatever we are using until I find the found item) plus whatever information I have that might enable someone else to find the item in question.

While I am not insistent that all our found items be indistinguishable from screen-used I do think that if you're collecting this type of thing it's necessary to know what was used on screen and I am hoping that this website will become a resource for those people who are looking for true found items.

FOUND ITEMS MENU
press either the photograph or the button to go to detail page





Press here to see pictures from 2012
Press here to see pictures from 2011
Press here to see pictures from 2010
Press here to see pictures from 2009







I am not affiliated in any way with CBS Studios Inc., Paramount Pictures, the Star Trek franchise, or any other entity associated with the TV series or movies.
All Star Trek trademarks, logos, names and images belong to CBS Studios, Inc and are used here under fair-use guidelines.
Pictures from our parties may not be copied without written permission from me, Barbara Healy. Copyright © 2009 to present QuarksBarb.
Last Revised: February 8, 2021