A US million painting from Saudi Arabia. A US,000 pen from the United Arab Emirates. A US jar of fish bait from Morocco.

　　These sundry gifts to US President George W. Bush from foreign leaders share little other than the grace and goodwill with which they were given. But those gifts and hundreds more share a similar fate - they barely brush the president's hands before being carted off, crated and left to gather dust.

　　Gift-giving among foreign leaders is as common as a handshake. Much less common is putting those presents to use.

　　"The ironic twist is that all this money gets spent on things that no one ever gets to enjoy," says Jenny Sternaman, archivist at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

　　Sternaman says thousands of gifts are carefully stored. Only a relatively few make it into displays at the presidential libraries; there are simply too many to exhibit.

　　White House aides log the foreign gifts given to the president and send them to the National Archives. There, the gifts are packed up and put in storage for Bush's future presidential library. Some are on display in the White House or president's ranch in Texas during his term only.

　　Gifts given to Bush include wooden stirrups from Peru, a cowboy hat from Canada and a long-handled axe from the Slovak Republic - the president likes to clear brush at the ranch. If he chooses to keep them, he has to disclose the gifts on financial forms.

　　The US Constitution says the US president cannot accept any foreign present without the consent of Congress. Congress allows for acceptance if refusing the gift would probably cause offense or embarrassment to the giver or to the United States. That's usually the condition on which the gifts are accepted.

　　Some world leaders were generous, showering the president, first lady Laura Bush and others with the US,000 "Stars and Stripes" Mont Blanc pen inset with rubies and diamonds on an American flag pattern. From Italy, there was an alabaster sculpture of four figures, titled "Allegory of the Triumph," valued at US,000 and a wristwatch worth US,500.