Exhibitions of eccentricity

From Iceland to Missouri, quirky museums explore male anatomy, marzipan, pencil sharpeners and more

Sure, you’ll be enlightened by visits to the Louvre in Paris, the British Museum in London and the Smithsonian Institution in our nation’s capital. But for an atypical take on the human experience, check out these unusual museums and their oddball collections. history. Europeans used handcarved wooden molds to press dough into a variety of shapes, and when they emigrated to the U.S. they brought their molds with them.

Tinsmiths created the first American-made cookie cutters in the 1700s. These were followed by cutters made of aluminum and then, when metal was scarce during World War II, plastic. Companies gave away free cutters as an incentive to buy their baking products. curiosity at the Hocking Hills Regional Welcome Center near Logan, Ohio.

The Rev. Paul A. Johnson began collecting pencil sharpeners more than 25 years ago, after his wife gave him two shaped like metal toy cars as Christmas gifts. The collection grew to 3,450 sharpeners in a variety of shapes and themes. Some celebrate the holidays, while others replicate animals — horses, cats, dogs. Some are shaped like food, some like symbols of the zodiac. There are sharpeners representing popular travel destinations, like Disneyland and Spain, and some devoted to history and religion.

After Johnson’s death, the tiny museum building was moved on a flatbed truck from the Johnsons’ property to the front garden of the welcome center, where visitors to the Hocking Hills region stop in for tourist information. The sharpeners were carefully unpacked and placed on shelves in their original positions.

KATHERINE RODEGHIER/FOR THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE Delivered all the way from Argentina, a vintage Coca-Cola delivery truck occupies a corner of the World of Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta, the city where the soft drink giant is based.

KATHERINE RODEGHIER/FOR THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE The late Rev. Paul A. Johnson’s collection of 3,450 pencil sharpeners is on display in a tiny building in the garden at the Hocking Hills Regional Welcome Center near Logan, Ohio.

KATHERINE RODEGHIER/FOR THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE Life-size marzipan figures draw attention in the Marzipan Museum at the Niederegger confectionary and cafe in Lubeck, Germany.