Photographs by Thom Thompson www.thomthompson.com
Canyon dishes, $8 each for cereal bowl and salad plate and $10 for dinner plate, at Pier 1 Imports, Wilmington and Dover
Clock by Two’s Company, $29, at Bloom, Newark
Handcrafted crystal fish by Amanda Brisbane, $995, at Tulip Ltd., Rehoboth Beach
Cheese plane and cleaver, $25 each, and Damask paper napkins, $6.50, all at Artisans Gifts & Furniture, Wilmington
Porcelain lamp by Brett Austin, $265, at J. Conn Scott, Inc., Selbyville.
Bruce Casale clock at Delaware Art Museum
And They Have Art, Too
The museum isn’t the first place you think of when looking for gifts, but it’s a great source all the same.
What chic yet environmentally conscious homeowner wouldn’t want a Bruce Casale clock made from recycled materials ($85 at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington) or a Summer Girl poster ($16.50 at the Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover)?
Putting on a sophisticated shindig for friends? Arm yourself with blown-glass stirrers by Brennan Young ($10 at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts).
Goofy gadgets, robotic toys, wearable art: All can be found at museum shops. There’s always the braniac who craves intellectual stimuli. We suggest a reproduction of a Mesopotamian legal tablet ($25 at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology). And for the little geniuses, there’s treasure from the wreck of the Faithful Steward ($2.98 for eight pieces at the DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum in Fenwick Island). Howard Pyle costumed collector bears ($7.50 at the Delaware Art Museum) beat Power Rangers any day.
Not all museum shops favor the sleek and eclectic. Cops admit that their little rookies get revved for miniaturized 1949 Delaware State police cars ($20 at the Delaware State Police Museum in Dover). The big boys want World War II Philippine mahogany model aircraft ($110 to $250 at the Air Mobility Command Museum in Dover).
Find mixing bowls with the Georgetown logo ($55) at the Marvel Carriage Museum in Georgetown. Marvel manager Rosalie Walls is also president of Return Day, which explains why the Marvel is stocked with Return Day stuff. —Maria Hess
