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Coroner's Office Offers Gift Ideas

By The Associated Press 7 minutes ago

LAS VEGAS - Looking for off-the-wall Christmas gift ideas? The Clark County coroner's office can help.

Tucked away in the office is a gift shop with items that walk a fine line between humor and morbidity. There's a coffee mug with the inscription "Playing for Keeps," a $10 fake jawbone that holds business cards and a T-shirt that reads "Coroner ... Cashed Out in Las Vegas."

"That's about as risque as we go," Assistant Coroner John Fudenberg told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "We certainly don't want to make a mockery of death."

Styled after a gift shop at the Los Angeles County coroner's office, the year-old Nevada store primarily benefits a coroner's youth program.

"The Jaw" cardholder has proven its best seller so far. The shop's "Coroner's Collection" also offers a faux Nevada license plate, patches, pens and other knickknacks.

"We're always looking for slogans or phrases that have a little bit of a dual meaning, because I think that is part of the hook," Coroner Mark Murphy said.

Fudenberg says television shows such as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" have increased demand in such items.