This small gallery features an unusual collection-glass vases encrusted with different kinds of shells. They were made in fishing villages. Remember, Frederic Marès was born in Portbou, a small village on the Catalan coast near Cap de Creus, where these pieces are quite traditional.

They were usually kept on top of a chest of drawers or next to a religious image in a room just off the bedroom. These decorative compositions were also made with other materials and techniques, including wax fruits, birds and butterflies, paper and a combination of all of these on the same piece. Examples can be viewed in this room and in several other galleries in the Collector's Cabinet.

In this gallery, there is room to spare for other collections of interesting printed material from the 19th century-menus, Christmas cards and more. In the mid 19th century, it became popular to collect colored prints. The name given to the creative compositions found in the colored prints was mesas revueltas (or, "cluttered desks"). These were framed and used as a decorative element in period homes.

In the same century, the advertisements found in magazines, in newspapers and on product labels began to stand out as an effective method for increasing sales. Business cards for commercial brands were also quite popular, as were the erotic phototypes found on match boxes. These last items have been discreetly displayed behind the turnstile showcases where other, more decorous items, are on view.

Lastly, the center of the room features a ticket punching machine used by the Sarrià Railway Company, which linked the city of Barcelona with the town of Sarrià, about 5.5 km away. Inside the flat showcase located between the two windows there is yet another curiosity-a varied grouping of tram and bus tickets that forms a palindrome.