A Sterling Silver Model Fighter Jet and New Pearls for Pence to Clutch

March 7, 2019 4:02 PM

The State Department has published its annual (for 2017) list of declared gifts to federal employees from foreign governments.

Highlights include:

Donald
- Portrait of President Trump smiling, holding up left hand, against U.S. Flag, approximately 23"h x 30"w, made of stone granules, called "gemstone painting", in frame. Rec’d 5/31/17. Est. Value- $1,880.00. Disposition- Transferred to NARA.
- Print, limited edition, printed on paper embossed "Tintin/Herge/since 1929", cartoon depicting cowboy eating out of a frying pan with dog eating bone, while Indians approach from behind, in oak frame. Rec’d 4/24/17. Est. Value- $470.00. DispositionTransferred to NARA.
Melania
- Dinnerware set, porcelain, approximately 85 pieces, featuring printed polychrome floral design, some of the liquid serving pieces labeled in both Chinese and English, 2 round plates displaying hand-applied slipware-enhanced printed image of the pink house of Mar-a-Lago, accompanied by 2 hinged wood display racks, also 2 glass holders, in 2 transport cases, the lids marked "The People's Republic of China". Box lid interiors marked "Honav National Banquet Tableware Set". Rec’d 4/7/17. Est. Value-$16,250.00.
Ivanka
- Bespoke tiered dessert plate, fine porcelain made up of 6 plates, hand painted with classical Islamic motifs. Rec’d 2/1/17. Est. Value- $625.00. Disposition- Transferred to NARA.
Pence
- Two different sets of pearl jewelry, presumably to clutch when Mother's not around.

There are lots of rules covering gifts made to Federal employees here and abroad.

Previous gifts have included:
Obama
- Keepsake box, polished metal with hinged lid. 16″ × 23″ print of a color drawing of the President's face, using phrenology, including an explanation of the facial features. 11″ × 16″ print of a color drawing of the President's face, using phrenology. 17″ × 25″ framed print of a color drawing of the President's face, using phrenology, including explanations for the facial features. Rec'd—11/15/2016. Est. Value—$465.00. Disposition—NARA
- Sculpture of a Bedouin group, entitled “The Small Caravan,” including two men and three camels, painted in gold and silver and decorated with precious stones, mounted on green granite. Silver tone letter opener with golden Falcon handle and silver tone Chopard pen. Rec'd—4/21/2016. Est. Value—$56,720.00. Disposition—NARA
Michelle
- Silver chalice with lid, repoussé metalwork of intricate flower design. Rec'd—9/4/2016. Est. Value—$1,100.00. Disposition—NARA
White House Staffer Josh Lyman
- Viennatelli silk smoking jacket from Miss Sarah Wissinger. Est. Value-$1189.00.
- antique scrimshaw cigarette holder, also from Miss Sarah Wissinger. Est. Value-$345.00

posted by ApathyGirl (18 comments total)

My favorite is the guy who bought the rug:
Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Douglas, Commander, Combined Task Force Rakk Solid, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division,
Afghan rug. Rec’d 3/11/17. Est. Value- $799.33. Disposition- Purchased by recipient.
But the pearls given to Pence aren’t really able to clutched—who clutches earrings?
posted by Ideefixe at 4:10 PM on March 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

Obama
- Keepsake box, polished metal with hinged lid. 16″ × 23″ print of a color drawing of the President's face, using phrenology, including an explanation of the facial features.

What the fuck, who sent him that? Fox News?
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:16 PM on March 7, 2019 [12 favorites]

He got an earring/necklace set AND an earring/brooch set, so I'm sure there's a way.
He also got a statue and a sculpture featuring a young woman. I don't imagine Mother would approve of that.
posted by ApathyGirl at 4:16 PM on March 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

The Honorable Donald J. Trump, President of the United States

But we don't have one of those. Just the other kind.
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:20 PM on March 7, 2019 [2 favorites]

The Rabbis got him a copy of the Psalms. They must have missed when his familiarity with the scriptures was called into question.

Ctrl-F for "suitcase of cash" yielded nothing, I'm not buying this.
posted by allkindsoftime at 4:21 PM on March 7, 2019

Ctrl-F for "suitcase of cash" yielded nothing, I'm not buying this.

These are gifts. Bribes are in a separate book.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:27 PM on March 7, 2019 [4 favorites]

who clutches earrings?

From now on my mental image for "clutching pearls" will be a person with their hands up to their earlobes. Thanks.
posted by axiom at 4:40 PM on March 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

Shoutout to the anonymous CIA employee(s) who, over the course of several years, donated a collection of expensive watches to the agency they work for that were, for whatever reason, only reported in 2017. Nothing weird about any of that. Godspeed to the thousand dollar watches on their journey to the GSA to be sold or thrown into a box next to the Ark of the Covenant or whatever.
posted by Copronymus at 5:03 PM on March 7, 2019 [5 favorites]

Also, I get why some random Saudi would gift Donald Trump a picture of Trump in an incredibly garish frame plus some accompanying gold baubles (pictures of himself and gold being things Trump loves), but apparently the Saudi Government also gave Trump/the US Government a signed photo of King Salman in a $1300 silver frame, which is just baffling to me. Even beyond the massive tackiness of giving acquaintances signed pictures of yourself unprompted, what is anyone even supposed to do with such an object?
posted by Copronymus at 5:13 PM on March 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

I wish when people gave me stuff that is really nice but that I don't actually need, I could just send it to NARA.
posted by biogeo at 5:21 PM on March 7, 2019 [5 favorites]

It’s all fun and games until conference organizers thrust gifts on you that have to be carried home and carefully evaluated to decide if they’re over the reporting threshold or not.
posted by wintermind at 8:28 PM on March 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

Donna: Congratulations, Josh.

Josh: What did I do?

Donna: You won our award for best gift valued over twenty-five dollars on the financial disclosure report.

Josh: Really?

Donna: Yeah.

Josh: What won it for me?

Donna: The $1,189 Viennatelli silk smoking jacket from Miss Sarah Wissinger.

Josh: Ah, yes.

Donna: You're also the runner up, by the way, with the $345 antique scrimshaw cigarette holder, also from Miss Sarah Wissinger.

Josh: Well, Sarah was very fond of me.

Donna: I'd imagine with that smoking jacket and the cigarette holder, you were quite the dandy.
posted by mecran01 at 9:15 PM on March 7, 2019 [6 favorites]

This isn't anything out of the ordinary; see, for example, the Gifts to Federal Employees From Foreign Government Sources Reported to Employing Agencies in Calendar Year 2016.

Every year, various government employees are given all sorts of gits which need to be reported and transferred to an appropriate agency.
posted by blob at 9:27 PM on March 7, 2019

One year my graduate school was the host for a big national conference. There was some talk among the faculty about trying to get one of the Nobelists (who was employed by NIST) to wear university swag during his plenary address. They managed to present him with a ball cap and/or tee shirt in school colors while introducing him to the keynote audience. When the Nobelist got the microphone back, when a normal person might have said "thank you," he said only "I hope that the value of this gift is less than twenty-six dollars" and then gave his talk.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 4:20 AM on March 8, 2019 [2 favorites]

I was part of an American delegation to Russia on open media a few years back and at the end of our activities, found myself in a hotel bar with a bunch of state department functionaries in Saint Petersburg. We got to talking on all sorts of topics but the subject of gifts came up because these diplomats had just received a bunch of very nice gifts at our event and all they could give in return were items purchased from the State Department store under some threshold like $35 (can't remember the exact number). What this ended up being was a bunch of ashtrays and small plates with images of the Potomac on them. The diplomats were all disappointed about what pitiful gifts they were limited to, but those were the rules.

Anyway, I asked what happened with all the gifts they received and they talked about this reporting process and how many gifts they get and how there's just way too much to do anything with, but that they also usually can't refuse the gifts. The end result of all this gift receiving was, they said, that every American embassy in the world has a room somewhere in the basement that is just crammed with expensive paintings, statues, and other gifts that the ambassadors receive.
posted by msbrauer at 7:37 AM on March 8, 2019 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: Non-acceptance would cause embarrassment to donor and U.S. Government.
posted by Naberius at 11:04 AM on March 9, 2019

Some of those gifts are so cheap that it is more of an embarrassment to accept them. A pair of 9K gold earings to Melania valued at $420???
posted by JJ86 at 7:55 AM on March 10, 2019

> From now on my mental image for "clutching pearls" will be a person with their hands up to their earlobes.

Imagine that they're removing their earrings before the fight.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:25 PM on March 20, 2019