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'It's in honor of her' | Inspired by her great-grandmother, Davenport woman aims for spoon collection record

Back in the 1980s, Cammie Pohl's great-grandmother gifted her three boxes of souvenir spoons. Now, Pohl estimates she has more than 8,500.

DAVENPORT, Iowa — Editor's note: Click/tap here to see an update on this story. 

A Davenport woman wants to take her collection to the next level, attempting to earn the World Record title holder for the largest collection of souvenir spoons.

A souvenir spoon, Cammie Pohl said, is one that represents a place, person or event. There's no Guinness World Record set currently for souvenir spoons, but an Australian man holds the record for a collection of 30,000 teaspoons.

At her official world record count, Pohl hopes to have at least 8,500, but she estimates she has much more than that. She's not even planning on bringing her entire collection since some are still unsorted in different bags and boxes.

"Every time I finally see one in the counter that I don't have, I get giddy and I'm like oh, a new one!" Pohl said. "I have a list of my spoons that are on my phone, so I try to look them up before I buy them, so I don't repeat. But my friends and some of my travel clients would bring me spoons when they traveled not realizing I probably already had one, so I just say thank you."

Her love of the silver souvenirs was inspired by her great-grandmother, Amelia.

"I was actually fortunate to live with my great-grandmother for a couple of summers," she said. "I was like three or four, I was fascinated with her silver souvenir spoons. And I would play with them gently and kind of have like tea time with grandmother."

Years later, Pohl was joining the Army and went to say goodbye to her great-grandmother before she left. 

"She handed me three boxes and instructed me to not open them until either I got married or bought my first home and I said, 'Oh, Great-Grandmother, you're going to be there,'" Pohl said. "She passed away in January of 1989 and we bought our first house in June of '89. I opened up those boxes and I was thrilled she gave me those souvenir spoons and ever since that day, everywhere we traveled, we will always get a spoon."

The spoons were from the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. 

"I actually started crying," she said. "I just felt like she was there in my new home with me."

Since opening those boxes, Pohl and her husband have traveled a million miles around the world collecting spoons.

"I thought I had everything in the world already," she said. "When my husband and I started going to antique shops, I realized that I didn't have all the spoons in the world. And so every time I buy a spoon, it's in honor of her no matter what it looks like."

Pohl has won seven blue ribbons for her spoon displays, including at the Mississippi Valley Fair and the Iowa State Fair. She also won first place silver for her spoon display at the Northeastern Spoon Collectors Guild Convention in Memphis last year.

Now, this world record attempt is a way to honor her great-grandmother and what she started.

"I hope that the Guinness Book of World Records will spark other people to start a collection of something that will remind them of their grandparents or great-grandparents and where they came from," she said.

Her six-year-old grandson has taken an interest in her collection as well.

"He'll come downstairs, 'Grandma, can I help you with your spoons?'" she said. "So it's pretty fun."

Pohl hopes to one day have a museum in the Quad Cities for her spoons so people can appreciate them and learn about the history they tell.

The official world record attempt count will take place on Thursday, April 27 at Bally's Quad Cities Casino & Hotel. Anyone can attend and look at the spoons from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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