Christie's Star Trek Auction - Christie's Exhibit Viewing

The first exhibit room we entered was filled with uniforms, costumes and various outfits from all the Star Trek series and movies. Most of the outfits were hung by hangers on racks. Some were displayed on mannequins. You were allowed to touch them and even remove the hanger from the rack to inspect it closer. You were not allowed to remove them from the hanger or try them on, obviously. There were Borg outfits, Klingon uniforms, Star Trek TMP pajama-type uniforms, the Molly O'Brien collection and lots more. Deanna Troi's Wedding dress and Janeway's Queen Arachnia dress were prominently displayed. While Troi's dress wasn't in the best condition, Janeway's Arachnia dress was spectacular with all its colors and elaborate bead work. Even the peacock feathers from the shoulders were in pristine condition. It's a shame that the dress is only seen in black & white in the episode, because it had some wonderful colors. Below Cheri Rosen was able to sneak a few pictures with her camera phone since CBS Paramount did not allow anyone to take pictures of the auction items on display at the Christie's facility.

TNG Robin Hood costumes photo by Cheri Rosen	TNG Dress Uniforms photo by Cheri Rosen	British Sailing Ship Uniforms photo by Cheri Rosen
The next exhibit area was a little walk down a hallway and across the Christie's lobby to their main stairwell area. Prominently displayed in the middle of the flanking staircases was the large model of the Enterprise A. Jim almost cried at the prospect of being so close to it and not able to take pictures. After some amount of begging and pleading, one of the staffers caved and allowed us to take a few pictures at the end of the day Saturday as we left the viewing.		Enterprise A model
Surrounding the huge model and staircase were furniture items and some miscellaneous auction items in glass display cabinets. The furniture consisted of tables and chairs from Ten Forward and mess halls from the various series. Some Enterprise bridge chairs, Vulcan wooden tables and cabinet. The TNG wall pieces and the TNG Holodeck door were also within reach and we touched them! Captain Archer's couch was on display in this area. For some unknown reason Cheri just "needed" to know if the drawer under the seat was real/functional or just "look-a-nice". At one point she had Michael Okuda on his knees in front of the couch pulling on the drawer front to determine if it was real or not. Aye...Cheri! The next TWO rooms, count them...TWO....were FULL of filming models. Yippie! Jim camped out in these 2 rooms during the weekend when he wasn't talking off Michael Okuda's ear. This is obviously the one place where we wanted to take a million pictures. We were right up close to the models. We even blew the dust off of them. We inspected each model carefully, taking mental notes on their coloring, details etc and any damage that we noticed. And there was a good deal of damage on these poor old models. We felt bad for them.

Starfleet Command Model #481 photo by Cheri Rosen	Enterprise Shuttle Cockpit #164 photo by Cheri Rosen	Reliant/Saratoga Model
At one point another Christie's staffer caved and allowed me to take ONE picture in the model rooms. Ugh! How do I choose? I begged for more than one picture, but he held his ground and I didn't want to seem ungrateful. So I took a picture of the top of the Reliant/Saratoga model. I begged some more ....reasoning that a picture of the top of the model would be incomplete without also a picture of the bottom - I can be very logical >:-) Well the begging worked and I was able to take a picture of the bottom of the model before Security came over to issue their warning. We bumped into a few familiar faces on Saturday, including Loretta Painer and Ron Held (USS Sovereign) and they told us about the other rooms beyond the model rooms. Reluctantly we left the model rooms and stepped thru the TNG Holodeck doors into a room of props, weapons and all sorts of other items.

Loretta Painter interviewed photo by Cheri Rosen	Kirk outfit from movies photo by Cheri Rosen	Jim in Picard's Captain's Chair photo by Cheri Rosen
Off to the side was a small room with a few items in display cases and famous furniture. There was Janeway's Ready Room desk and chair. Jim sat in it but quickly got up before Security was able to spot him. He did manage some quality time with Picard's Captain's Chair and Ready Room Desk. Cheri was able to snap a picture of Jim in the chair (see above).A few of Kirk's movie outfits were also in this room, in addition to the reproduction Mona Lisa painting from DaVinci's workshop in Voyager. We also had a big scare in this room on Sunday when we heard a loud crash! Everyone in the room froze instantly and scanned their immediately area to determined who had caused the sound. I looked toward Jim and he toward me. After determing that we were not the cause we spotted the source. The model of Capt Archer's toy spaceship had broken and one engine had fallen to the floor. The guy that was examing the model earlier was scolded by Christie's security. We all gave a sigh of relief and resumed breathing.
One large room on the other side of the Holodeck doors had tons of stuff. There were some large set pieces from the Klingon bridge as seen in the Enterprise series, Vulcan table & benches, Enterprise consoles (we touched the buttons on these, they didn't work), TNG walls, DS9 Ops table, signs from the promenade, and various weapons. Very cool! Janeway's Captain's Chair was situated in a very open area, so we didn't try to have seat time. Behind the chair was the DS9 promenade directory sign, aka the Rosetta Stone. It had the name of many fictious businesses written in six Trek lanuages: Bajoran, Ferengi, Klingon, Vulcan, Cardassian and English.Our favorite was Spacely's Sprockets.		Rosetta Stone Display Sign #411 photo by Cheri Rosen
Near the end of the exhibit area was the large reproduction TOS bridge created for the Enterprise episode "In a Mirror Darkly". There were ropes around the bridge preventing us from getting up close to the consoles. At one point we asked Michael Okuda if it was possible to get behind the ropes to see the bridge more closely. He apologized and told us it would not be possible especially with Security watching. However while we were still talking, Denise Okuda walked passed us with a few people in tow and she unlocked the ropes, letting them in to the bridge area. We jokingly commented to Michael "Apparently your wife has more influence around here...". Michael laughed and agreed saying that it's usually that way with most married couples! (The Okudas were so cute together. They were a joy to hang with.) By Sunday the Okudas had seen enough of us ;-)... and at the end of the day, as the rest of the crowd left the exhibit we lingered by the bridge. We were obviously bummed that it was all over and we didn't want to leave. We asked for & were permitted to take a group picture of us with the Okudas in front of the bridge. After that the Okudas threw caution to the wind...Michael Okuda took my digital camera and aimed it at the bridge taking an unaimed picture quickly. Then Denise openned the ropes and let us inside to see & touch the bridge. She showed us some of the funny words & phrases that were incorporated into the consoles. We were also able to take pictures of each of us on the bridge curtesy of Michael Okuda. And to top it all off, they had us gather around the fragile reproduction Captain's Chair for another group picture.

Cheri Rosen on the Bridge	Jim & Mary Ann on the Bridge	Bridget & Richard on the Bridge

View of the Bridge Photo taken by Michael Okuda	Group picture with the Okudas	Group picture on the Bridge Photo taken by the Okudas
After taking pictures of all of us on the bridge, we were riding high. We were happy to have been part of this special once-in-a-lifetime event, but we were bummed that it was all over. We made lots of new friends and we were also happy to have shared this experience with our long time friends too.

One of our favorite Christie's staffers - dig the tie!	Group picture on Sat evening	NYC skyline from our hotel room
But this was not the end of the adventure...