how about just selling them for 1.4 and splitting the shares up to all the top bidders to have an even stake? otherwise this may turn out very strange

The simplest transaction occurs face-to-face where one person physically hands another person some money in exchange for something else.  In the absence of electricity and connected devices there is no (easy) way to do face-to-face bitcoin transactions.  Online transactions are just virtual representations of the simple transaction.  Most people do not want to clutter their daily lives with exchange rates and multiple currencies.  Since they will always need to have currency for the simple face-to-face transactions, and they can use the same currency for online transactions, there is very good motivation to stick to that currency.  Aside from some evangelical bitcoiners, people will continue to use fiat currencies as their base of operation AND their frame of reference until bitcoins can be made to work for those simple real-world transactions.