There is no time like the present, and no present like a unique timepiece. Among the items on sale at the Yale University Art Gallery museum shop are (from left) a watch designed by alumna Maya Lin, a travel alarm and a watch designed by architect Cesar Pelli.

Holiday gift ideas galore available at campus shops

Whether you're in search of a gift for a nature lover, art aficionado, British buff or techno-enthusiast, the Yale campus is a good place to start your holiday shopping expedition. The University's museum shops are veritable treasure troves of potential presents ranging in price from under $5 to well over $100. While most of the latter are hand-made or one-of-a-kind pieces, the low- or moderately-priced items on sale were also selected for their uniqueness by the museum shop directors. In addition, a cornucopia of computer software and hardware is available to Yale community members seeking gifts for the technologically minded at the Microcomputer Support Sales Center. The following is a look at just a few of the items that can be found at the various shops on campus. Be advised that there is a constant turnover in inventory during the holiday season, so items described here may no longer be available by the time this paper goes to press. Be assured, however, that merchandise will be arriving throughout the holiday shopping season, so return visits will invariably yield new discoveries. Peabody Museum of Natural History 170 Whitney Ave.; 10 a.m.-4:45 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon-4:45 p.m. Sunday. Mother Nature would feel right at home in the Peabody's museum shop, for much of the merchandise there is crafted from natural products or celebrates the Earth's plants, animals and indigenous peoples. Among this year's offerings are products that bring the scent of pine to the great indoors -- from cachets to mug mats and pot holders that release an aroma when heated. On a more personal note, the shop also carries a line of natural body care products called Burts Bees. Jewelry featuring natural stones such as garnets, amethysts and turquoise line the shop's display cases. New this year are jewelry pieces featuring green amber -- natural amber that has been heat-treated to enhance its inner beauty. Also on sale are pieces crafted from ancient Roman glass excavated in Israel. Hand-crafted items made by indigenous peoples also abound. There are silk and wool scarves and pashminas from South Asia; masks and art pieces from Africa and Papua New Guinea; and instruments from Africa and the South and Central American rainforests. For youngsters, there is a line of dinosaur claws cast from fossils in the Peabody's collections that feature materials written by the museum's curatorial staff. In conjunction with an exhibit devoted to children's literature opening at the Peabody in December, the shop's shelves will soon be stocked with books for youths, especially the adventures of the animal-loving Dr. Dolittle. Interactive kits, CD-ROMs and videos for both children and adults are also on sale. Peabody Museum Associates receive a 10 percent discount. In addition, a coupon offering a 10 percent discount on Peabody shop purchases has been mailed to Yale employees; it is good through Dec. 23. Yale University Art Gallery 1111 Chapel St.; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 1-6 p.m. Sunday. The shop's website (shared with a consortium of other museums) is at http://museumshop.com/yug.html. Many of this year's offerings at the Yale Art Gallery's museum shop are designed to bring out the inner-artist in all of us. There are henna kits that can transform the canvas of the human body into an (albeit impermanent) work of art; scarf-making kits that allow amateur designers to put their own stamp on the material provided; and activity kits that let children create their own collages or make their own paper. Also popular among the younger set is Bumpe, a red plush cow that hails from Sweden and that now stars in its own ABC book. Scores of other volumes filled with art images line the shop's shelves. There are also hand-made journals with blank pages, perfect for sketching future masterpieces, and "memory books" with fabric covers and acid-free paper so they can be handed down to future generations. Other unique items on sale include watches designed by architects Cesar Pelli and Maya Lin; hand-worked wooden frames from Florentine accented with gold leaf; a hand-carved lacquered tea tray from China with jade insets; one-of-a-kind African wedding baskets; and a set of soaps in the shape of fertility symbols. Now through Dec. 23, the Yale Art Gallery shop will give a 10 percent discount on purchases of $15 or more for anyone who joins the mailing list. In addition, shoppers who buy three sets of cards or Calendars will receive 20 percent off the purchase price, while supplies last. There is also a 10 percent discount for Yale Art Museums members, which cannot be used in combination with the other specials. Yale Center for British Art 1080 Chapel St. (shop entrance on High Street); 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday. There are so many items of British origin in this shop (and museum) that, if Queen Victoria were alive today, she might be tempted to treat it as a far-flung colony and visit it during her Jubilee tours. The British monarchy, in fact, reigns in various forms here -- most notably in the pages of the volumes and videos about diverse aspects of British life on sale at the shop. The newest additions to the shop's bookshelves include works on art collector and social commentator Horace Walpole (a central figure in the museum's current show "A Treasure House in Farmington: The Lewis Walpole Library"); pop artist Patrick Caulfield (featured in a retrospective exhibit); and James Tissot (the focus of yet another show), whose images of Victorian English society can also be found on assorted boxes and stationery. There are woven willow baskets in a variety of forms -- some filled with gardening tools and gloves; others designed for displaying blooms, British-style; and still others packed with picnic utensils and dinnerware. Backpacks, similarly supplied for dining outdoors, are also on sale. For children, there are puzzle-type games and plush toy characters from the popular British "Noddy" books, as well as a variety of playthings featuring the familiar figures of Winnie the Pooh, Paddington Bear and Alice of Wonderland fame. Other featured items this year include aluminum jewelry with whimsical images of cats and dogs, some pictured with fishbowls or bones in their bellies; pottery adorned with clever sayings; frames and boxes hand-painted in the Bloomsbury style; and window decorations featuring flower fairies. Members of Yale Art Museums receive a 10 percent discount on purchases. Yale Microcomputer Sales Center 175 Whitney Ave.; 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday; Yale I.D. required for purchases. The center's website is www.yale.edu/mcsc. If you want to get a head-start on the new millennium, this is one place to find the computer equipment you need to cross the technological bridge into the 21st century. The center carries Apple and IBM computers and monitors (the iBook and iMac are popular sellers this year) as well as Hewlett Packard printers and scanners. Also on sale are a range of software programs that can can be used with the MacOS, WindowsOS and WindowsNT operating systems. The latter include the newest versions of the Adobe Photoshop, Norton Utilities and Norton Antivirus applications. The center also carries all the equipment and supplies needed to support this hardware and software -- including networking cards, connectors and modems; diskettes, CDs, Jaz, Zips and superdisks; memory chips; cables; computer paper; and ink and toner cartridges. There are a variety of carrying cases for CDs and diskettes, and assorted computer mouses (or should we say "mice"?) and mouse pads -- including a line bearing the Yale logo. -- By LuAnn Bishop For the true Blue Alumni, students, staff and other Eli-enthusiasts can find Yale-related items at a new website launched this year by the Office of the Secretary. "Treasures from the Yale Collections," located at www.yale.edu/yale-goods, has the following items for sale: * high-quality silk scarves and ties blending residential college shields with architectural elements; these are manufactured for the University in Italy by the same companies that supply the world's leading designers, such as Ralph Lauren. * a sandstone reproduction of a carving from one of the residential colleges showing a student poring over a textbook (above, right). * a hand-cast sandstone brick bearing the word "Yale," like one currently adorning a campus building (below, left); this can function either as a unique paperweight or a usable brick. * a poetry magnet kit, featuring words associated with "Yale," including "Naples," "Woolsey," "Clinton" and "Bush"; it includes the makings for the phrase "For God, for country & for Yale." * a set of notecards based on Yale's collection of archival images. The items, which range in price from $12.95 to $125, are also on view locally at the Yale Tercentennial Office, 2 Whitney Ave. They can be ordered directly online. For the net set Here's a holiday gift suggestion: This year, give those on your list an empty box -- a box seat, that is, to the Year 2000 Pilot Pen women's tennis tournament, to be held Aug. 18-26 at the Yale Tennis Center. The tournament, which is presented by Michelob Light, brings together the top women players from the U.S. Tennis Association. Box seat prices range from $45 for early round sessions to $65 for semi- or final-round sessions. The tournament organizers will provide a gift card with your purchase. This offer is valid through Dec. 24. To purchase Pilot Pen seats, call 1-888-99-PILOT or visit the tournament's website at www.pilotpentennis.com. 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