Oh Wise and Wonderful Museum L readers!
We've finally managed to clear out some space in our gift shop and we're doing a bit of an overhaul of the items sold. It's my goal to make sure that our museum is actually providing items that people want to buy, so that we don't have to go through another around of "This stuff has been here for more than four years! It needs to GO!"
I'm looking for two particular items to stock for our children's area:
1) Chain Mail Scraps: Coronado came to Rice County in 1541 and spent time with the local Quiviran tribes, and we have a rather large chunk of chain mail
(authenticated by the Smithsonian to 16th Century Spanish Make) on display which was found in the county, along with several smaller fragments spread out to better display the rings. The kids LOVE touching the chain mail shirt we have on display, and I think they would really like to be able to purchase smaller pieces to take home.
2) Temporary Tribal Tattoos: The Quivira Indians were tattooed people by Coronado's descriptions of them, and we have a large exhibit featuring Quiviran Indians with tattoos on their skin. I have a hunch these would be a good seller in our gift shop, but our usual vendor only sells them with a minimum order of 600!! I don't want to buy that many until I know for sure that they are going to move.
Does anyone know of some good vendors (preferably wholesale vendors) for
either of these items that I can contact? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!
Maggie Carlson
Museum Director/Curator of Collections
Coronado Quivira Museum