Idaho Museum of Natural History Store offers holiday discount for unique wares

Looking for a water-powered digital clock, a DVD of famous flintknapper Don Crabtree or a card that buys time to use telescopes in the Canary Islands, Chile and Australia to view star constellations through your computer?

The Idaho Museum of Natural History Store offers a wide variety of unusual gifts and stocking stuffers and through Dec. 23 is offering a 10 percent discount on all items. Museum members will receive an additional 10 percent off all items.  Shoppers can stop by the store on the ISU Pocatello campus or buy items online by visiting http://imnh.isu.edu.

“We have a lot items you can’t find anywhere else in this area, from stocking stuffers for a quarter to Estwing Geological Tools, “ said Bill Angle, store manager. “Another popular item we have is Rite in the Rain weatherproof paper for taking field notes.”

The Museum Store specializes in distributing a wide variety of reference guides unique to Idaho and this area, as well as gifts and posters with a natural history focus.

A recently big seller has been the DVD “Don Crabtree: A Reader in Stone,” that chronicles the life and work of former Idaho Museum of Natural History curator Crabtree. He is known as the “grandfather of modern flintknapping,” and was an international renowned expert in the making of stone tools, according to Angle.

Examples of other unusual gifts available include the $5 water-powered clock above, and a Slooh Card, that is like a phone card, that buys online minutes to view galaxies from telescopes in the places mentioned above.

Additionally, the store has Idaho gemstones, a variety of natural history themed puzzles, games and craft projects, and features curios such as obsidian knives and “geo-jewelry.”

The store’s hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, but is closed on major holidays. For more information call 282-3317, visit imnh.isu.edu, or e-mail store@imnh.isu.edu.