Museum Rooms Touristware & Souvenirs
Fluffy camel anyone?
“Artefacts from the Museum Collection
— Quote Source - The Curator
Souvenirs and Touristware
Who doesn’t like a holiday souvenir or two! Some of the items are what we call “Touristware,” items made specifically for the tourist market, and others are just day to day objects as you can find in many Museums or local homes. Souvenirs can be anything, a useful item or something that reminds you of where you have been. Be careful of what you take (buy) or bring back. Things that are legal to buy in one country may not be legal to bring back with you. There are of course many “fakes” and even careful museums have been duped over the years. Try to buy from a reputable supplier. One of our favourite things to do is to have a theme for collections, and one of our long standing ones is our World Christmas Tree, which we put up every year. It has items from a round the globe and every continent, with over 50 countries represented. It will be a permanent part of the Museum Collection. Always pay a ‘fair” price and remember the trader and their family has to eat too! At the moment we are sorting and cataloging our touristware section and we have 100’s of items to photograph. We’ll also be putting together some stories behind the objects in this section shortly.
Touristware
Who doesn’t love a pink “day of the dead” Skelton or a lama or ten. Yes we all do it at some point in life.. Dolls were a big thing in the 1980’s and I suspect that many a glass fronted cabinet is ladened with Spanish and Greek ones, popular as a must bring back item, back in the day. Many will of course have made their way into the “loft” often the last stop before the dump! But here at the Travel Museum we love a bit of “Kitsch” (thank you Germany) and if it makes you smile why not? There are of course arguments for and against, precious resources etc, but it also goes along way to supporting local communities and making difficult lives a little bit easier. Much of what you find in so called craft markets is just the same old stuff as in the last one, machine made (and much of it from China or Taiwan) sold as genuine handy crafts, usually with someone pretending to crochet or weave to make it look authentic, although some actually do make it as well. You will of course come across the odd gem, and if you like it and can afford it - then why not! Your probably find it down the road for 20% of what you just paid! Or maybe you will never see its like again?
Articulated Pink "Day of. the Dead" wooden Skeleton (Yucatan Mexico)
Beautiful three ships ceramics mounted on driftwood - Warkworth (England)
Harland & Wolff Shipyard Belfast - Samson and Goliath - Christmas Tree Decoration - hangs on our World Christmas Tree. (Belfast Northern Ireland)
TSS Earnshaw - Mini Coal Shovel / Bottle Opener - Queentown - New Zealand - another one on our travel Museum World Christmas Tree. (New Zealand - South Island)
Lake Baykal Sauna Hat or we should say Banyan hat - essential in hot steam baths (Siberia - Russian Federation)
Driftwood Boat (representation of a typical fishing vessel), (Hastings, England)
Guatemala Book Mark and Doll - many are not even made in the country. (Guatemala)
Anything with the place name squarely puts it in tourist ware - Machu Picchu Lama anyone? (Peru)
Salt - made in the fashion of a Museum original - (Armenia) Sometime practical as well as good looking is in order.
Table Runner - Machine made (despite what the vendor tells you) (Peru)
Dundee Glazed Bottle 20th c Ginger Beer - Dundee (Scotland).
Various tins from our extensive tin collection. The Bears cigarettes tin is one of our favourites
South African Kwa Zulu Natal Province lady in traditional outfit. (South Africa)
Lake Titticaca reed boat, like a tiny miniature of the real thing, except the "real ones" are built around 45 gallon plastic drums. The locals use speedboats these days.
Typical mass produced (hand made looking) knife. These short blade knives are typical working knives, birch wood, reindeer antler, leather and high carbon steel (Finland)
Terracotta Horse - replica of the horse from the same clay as the originals were made. Xian (China).
Just because we call it touristware doesn't mean to say it is not interesting - Königsberg bottle from what is now part of the Russian Federation (Kallingrad).
Egyptian Geese on Papaya, although produced in large numbers for the tourist market they are tremendously well painted - (Egypt).
Kukri or khukuri is a type of machete originating from the Indian subcontinent, and is traditionally associated with the Nepali-speaking Gurkhas of Nepal. Standard Military Issue type. (Kathmandu - Nepal)
Number Plates - London Taxi - Hackney Carriage number plate and Belize City number plate - not stolen by us! (London England - and Belize City - Belize).
Königsberg Bottle - with "replacement bottle stopper" Kallingrad - Russia. There are hundreds in the city ponds. (Kallingrad)
Vietnam Pith Helmet - Plastic liner has rotted out. They are incredibly light weight. (Vietnam)
French Provincial Pottery c 1880's - looks lovely with flower in it. (France)
Treen - various timber items - Bowl from Yucatán, Vase from Costa Rica, Seed candle holders Australia and stunning candle holder from Queens Town New Zealand
Originall Tile from the Houses of Parliament - We wonder who has stood on them over the years? London Westminster (London)
Real baby lama - wool - very soft - very colourful Lima (Peru)
Cut glass champagne dishes (forget flutes) from Prague and beside the iron curtain. "vashe zdorov'ye" (Czechoslovakia)
Pottery from Wales 1970's Wine carafe and 6 goblets Green glaze (Wales)
Drunken shot glasses - 1990's The Baltics - you can really see the culture emerging (Estonia)
More hand crafted pottery from the Scottish Islands - this time Isle of Mull (Isle of Mull)
Harray Potter Mugs (nope you couldn't make it up) Harry (Orkney Islands)