Readers, add to our gallery of weird and wonderful travel souvenirs

In a minute we’re going to tell you how reader Bob Lentz wound up with the sculpture above. And I’ll confess to a souvenir fail.

But first, let’s talk about you, dear reader. You have been places. And you now have time to roam your home. So we have some questions:

What is that thing on the shelf behind you? Why is that thing on the shelf behind you?

As long as we’re all at home, we’d like to see and learn about your souvenirs.

Share a photo of a favorite travel keepsake (preferably in a square format against a plain white background). With it, send a few details about where and when you found it, and 50 to 100 words on how and why you acquired it. (That’s the Tell us about it box below.)

By the way, we don’t necessarily want to see the souvenir you love the most or the costliest one. We want the one with the best story attached.

Use the form below, or write to us at [email protected]

We’ll share your stories online and in print in the future. For now, here’s the story behind Bob Lentz’s souvenir.

A souvenir win

Sculpture, Costa Rica, 2005. After arriving in Costa Rica, I rented a car to drive to the Arenal volcano. I don’t recommend this because the roads are steep, winding, poorly paved, poorly signed and mountainous. I decided to hike at the base of the volcano in the evening, when it is most spectacular because of the balls of fire exploding from the top of the volcano and then tumbling down the flanks. After parking my car, I noticed an old man selling his homemade sculptures at the trailhead. I have no idea what this sculpture represents but I love it, and it will always remind me of a magical evening at Arenal.
— Bob Lentz

A souvenir fail

Beatles nesting dolls, not from England.

(Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times)

Beatles nesting dolls, Northern Hemisphere, early 21st century. Clever, right? This artisan used the Russian nesting-doll concept to put Paul inside John, George inside Paul and Ringo inside all of them. I might have bought this in Moscow in 2013. But you know what? I was in Anchorage in 2014, and I have this vague memory of a goofball tourist shop with Russian goods. ... I just can’t be sure. Which makes this a complete failure as a souvenir. As witty as it is, it reminds me of no place.
— Christopher Reynolds