First spoons and buttons, then boxes and boxes of ceramic top hats and boots, shaving mugs, paper weights, tea cups and steins.
From tiny buttons to a five-feet-diameter wooden replica, the Missouri State Museum has been sorting through its most recent donation - about 5,000 pieces from the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, officially known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
"It's a little bit like Christmas around here," said Kate Keil, curator of collections.