I am the ecstatic owner of the actual St. Christopher medal worn by Adam Baldwin in SERENITY! Purchased from Prop Store of London. The pictures are my own scans of it, click on images to see enlargements.

For those who want replicas: I do not make replicas or imitations of this item, but if you want something close, here’s the info. The chain is 24 inches long and sterling silver. Bico F12 stylus chain from Australia looks the same, but is not the right length and not sterling silver. There are St. Christopher medals in pewter (Jayne’s is pewter) which look like the same design - same words around edge, same number of stars, same style St. Christopher image - but they have little areas that are slightly beveled and polished to catch the light (known as diamond cut pewter) - which Jayne’s does NOT have these.

I am not a silversmith or pewtersmith, so I can’t make my own chain or medal. I’ve had a few people suggest making a mold of the original and then making copies with precious metal clay, or hiring a pewtersmith. Thing is, I don’t want to do anything to tamper with the surface of the medal itself. See, the stars and other edges have what looks like white dust stuck in them - I don’t know if it’s dust from the Serenity set or what - it doesn’t look like the usual pewter patina. I don’t want to press it into clay or some other mold compound and lose that. I want to keep it in the exact state in which I received it.

Unfortunately, the clasp in the back is breaking, too. Which is one reason I don’t wear it. I want to maintain the original clasp, not replace it, nor try to fix it and have it break further.

How did I get this? When I saw the Big Damn Movie, I noticed that Jayne wore a necklace in a few scenes. I could tell from the shape that it was probably a Catholic saint’s medal of some kind. But, which saint? Or was it even a saint at all? I wanted to know. Jayne is my favorite FIREFLY character, and the thought of having the actual necklace Adam Baldwin wore just blew my mind. I didn’t expect Prop Store of London to get it, but I emailed them to see if they had it. WOW, did I luck out! Wishes were horses, and I was definitely eating steak. The necklace was on display at Universal Studios theme park, but when the display was over, it would be mine. I had to wait until April 2006, but it’s finally here!

What do I do with it? I display it at Browncoat events, such as the Serenity Now Equality Now charity shindig, and Browncoat meetings.

SAINT CHRISTOPHER

St. Christopher is the patron saint of safe travel. I reckon if you lived your life mostly on a space ship, he’d come in pretty handy. According to one website, St. Christopher ‘was a powerfully built man who wandered the world in search of novelty and adventure.’ Sounds like our Hero of Canton, doesn’t it?

Another website has this to say about St. Christopher: Acquiring in time extraordinary size and strength, he resolved to serve only the strongest and the bravest. He bound himself successively to a mighty king and to Satan, but he found both lacking in courage, the former dreading even the name of the devil, and the latter frightened by the sight of a cross at the roadside. For a time his search for a new master was in vain, but at last he found a hermit who told him to offer his allegiance to Christ, instructed him in the Faith, and baptized him. Christopher, as he was now called, would not promise to do any fasting or praying, but willingly accepted the task of carrying people, for God’s sake, across a raging river. One day he was carrying a child who continually grew heavier, so that it seemed to him as if he had the whole world on his shoulders. The child turned out to be the Creator and Redeemer of the world.