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Tourists Can't Get Enough $39 Heart-Shaped Rocks At The 9/11 Gift Shop
By
Gabrielle Sierra
Published Jul 13, 2014
Modified Jul 13, 2014
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Scott Lynch / Gothamist
By
Gabrielle Sierra
Published Jul 13, 2014
Modified Jul 13, 2014
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Heart-shaped rocks are the new hot item at the 9/11 Museum gift shop. According to the Post, the rocks are selling faster than the museum can restock them.
The hearts are created by an artist from Georgia named Red Sandlin, who forms the souvenirs from clay. Each rock is inscribed with a word or phrase, including "honor", "remember", "united in hope", and "reflect." One rock (of a larger size and higher price) is carved with the Virgil quote "No day shall erase you from the memory of time." Sandlin would not say how much she gets paid for her work.
The 9/11 gift shop has been excoriated for some of its items, most notorious of which was a decorative cheese plate that was removed after a we pointed out how absurd it was.
These rocks, which are not actually rocks at all, and lack even a tenuous connection to September 11th or New York, offer a more anodyne, if equally pointless way for the Museum to raise revenue.
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9/11 Memorial Museum
9/11 Museum gift shop
Gabrielle Sierra
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