HOLIDAYS IN THE VALLEY : Exit Malls, Enter Museums : Shopping: Valley galleries offer unusual choices such as defused hand grenades and locomotive-shaped cookie cutters.

Chances are that there’s someone on your holiday shopping list who craves that slightly eccentric, hard-to-find gift--Guatemalan backpacks, hand-woven briefcases, do-it-yourself genealogy kits, Korean military boots, 1920s horseshoes and 1850s crucibles used for making gold pieces.

How about a gold-plated railroad spike that commemorates the joining of Northern and Southern California railroads?

San Fernando Valley museum and gallery gift shops offer a surprising, if not curious, array of holiday gift ideas. Museum shop selections may not always be traditional, but who needs a reason--or season--to give a favorite relative a Desert Storm battle dress uniform?

The following stores have fee-free entrances; hours given may differ from museum hours. Unless noted, stores do not accept credit cards. The availability of some specialty items may be limited, so call first.

The San Fernando Mission Shop specializes in imported Nativity sets. From Italy, hand-painted Fontanini-designed figures come in 5-, 7 1/2- and 12-inch sizes; life-size sets can be special-ordered and are delivered within a month. “You can buy up a whole village worth,” gift shop manager and buyer Nancy Hennelly said. Starter sets of seven to 13 pieces range from $60 to $150. Fontanini pieces, which number 30 so far, can be bought individually; a new piece is added each year.

A set of eight Lladro Nativity figures costs $850; a matching wooden stable sells for $65.

From Italy, Goldscheider alabaster and marble Nativity sets come in 10- and 14-inch sizes, priced from $90 to $110 per piece. Complete sets contain 12 figures. Matching stable is $75.

From Mexico, El Salvador and Ecuador, ceramic Nativity sets (11 to 13 figures, four to six inches high) cost from $32 to $60.

Wooden holiday items from El Salvador and Guatemala include crucifixes, tree ornaments in such shapes as chickens, angels, birds and cats for $3.50 to $5, and hand-carved, hand-painted wreaths from $20 to $25.

Mission shop hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Credit cards accepted. 15151 San Fernando Mission Blvd., Mission Hills. (818) 361-0186.

Los Encinos State Historical Park Gift Shop sells replicas of El Camino Real bells, which dot the Ventura Freeway as markers of early mission settlements.

The metal replicas, which stand 10 inches high and can be used as desk ornaments, are $15.

“California Landmarks,” recently published by the California Department of Recreation and Parks, details nearly 1,000 California landmarks for travelers. Hardcover is $20, paperbacks $12.

Children’s coloring books depicting historic events and native California Indians sell for $2.

Horseshoes salvaged from the blacksmith shop, some dating to the 1920s, are buffed to a coal-black shine and sell for $5.

Park gift shop hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. 16756 Moorpark St., Encino. (818) 784-4849.

The Military Museum of Los Angeles store offers a complete line of military uniforms--including woodland, desert, tiger stripe and basic black. Tops are $30.95, bottoms $29.95.

New leather flight jackets sell from $199 to $500. American and Korean military boots (leather bottoms, canvas uppers) come in all sizes and cost $95.

Winter military coats made of wool, nylon or flannel are priced from $29.95 to $150. Regulation army socks cost $1.99.

U. S. Geological Survey topographic maps (covering any U. S. territory) sell for $2.50 per 28- by 32-inch sheet.

Military patches, small flags and campaign ribbons, including Vietnam and Desert Storm, sell from 98 cents to $5.

Defused American, Russian, Chinese and Vietnamese hand grenades--”a real attention-getter on any office desk,” museum curator Dan McDougall said--sell from $5.95 to $12.95.

Military Museum store hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Credit cards accepted. 11796 Sheldon St., Sun Valley. (818) 504-9611.

The Bolton Hall Museum shop sells do-it-yourself genealogy kits ($10.25) for beginners desiring to trace family histories. For area history buffs, the shop sells a decorative plate for $5, embossed with a sketch of Bolton Hall, which was used as a meeting spot for the Little Landers Society, 1800s settlers.

Bolton Hall store hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. 10110 Commerce Ave., Tujunga. (818) 352-3420.

Cal State Northridge’s Arts Council Gallery store, next to the campus art gallery, specializes in folk art from many countries. Mexican Day of the Dead figures sell from $3 to $70. Small Mexican folk masks, four inches round, sell for $20. Scarves, bags and men’s shirts from Guatemala, Indonesia and the Philippines sell from $12 to $100.

Black Oaxaca pottery goes for $7 to $30, and whistles, candleholders and other decorative items from that city are also stocked. Hand-woven Guatemalan backpacks and purses sell from $20 to $35. Colorful briefcases from Thailand, hand-woven and dyed, cost $25 and come in blue and black, orange and gold, and black, white and brown.

Guatemalan wallets for men and women are $12. Mexican and American jewelry fashioned from wood, silver or beads sells from $15 to $85.

Wooden and ceramic ornaments and wreaths from Mexico, Indonesia, Russia and Japan sell from $2 to $35. Nativity sets are also available.

In conjunction with the upcoming “Voodoo Flags of Haiti” show Nov. 11 to Dec. 20, the shop will sell three-foot-square beaded Haitian flags for $200 to $600.

CSUN gallery store hours are noon to 4 p.m. Mondays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Fine Arts building, 18111 Nordhoff St. (818) 885-2226.

The Theodore Payne Foundation bookstore and nursery stocks 200 gardening books and 40,000 native California plants. Coffee-table books detailing native plants and wildflowers are included, as well as an assortment of general gardening books and volumes about cooking with herbs and other garden produce.

How-to books about growing native California plants and cultivating a drought-resistant garden are featured. For hard-core botanists, a line of reference books is offered, including flora and wildflower identification guides. Recreation books on hiking trails in the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains are also sold. Prices range from $5 to $250.

The foundation’s nursery is packed with 600 plant species native to California. Prices range from $5 to $65. Potted Christmas trees are also offered.

Payne Foundation hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. 10459 Tuxford St., Sun Valley. (818) 768-1802.

The Heritage Junction Historical Park and Train Station gift shop carries a full line of train-oriented merchandise for railroad enthusiasts. Train engineer hats replete with regulation blue-striped ticking sell in adult sizes for $5 and in children’s sizes for $3.50. An adjustable visor is $5.50.

Ballpoint pens shaped like locomotives cost $1. For the authentic sound of a train whistle, a nine-inch-long, red cedar whistle is a good mimic for $8. Various train-shaped toys and books sell from $2 to $4. A line of old-fashioned wooden and metal toys are also carried.

Locomotive-shaped cookie cutters cost $1.25, and enamel refrigerator magnets embossed with various railroad logos cost $3.

Gold-plated railroad spikes commemorating the centennial of the joining of Northern and Southern California railroads cost $25.

Ornaments in the shape of Victorian houses made from wheat straw are $2.25. Christmas lights shaped like tiny red lanterns in a set of 20 sell for $15.

Train station hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. 24107 San Fernando Road, Newhall. (805) 254-1275.

William S. Hart Ranch and Museum gift shop sells Western-themed boxed Christmas cards, 12 to a box, for $7.98. Themed calendars featuring Charles M. Russell oil paintings are $7.95. Christmas ornaments embossed with the Hart museum cost $5.95.

Colorful, hand-woven American Indian wool rugs up to three by five feet sell for $5.95 to $40. Beaded Indian jewelry and quartz, gemstone and leather necklaces are $5 to $20.

Patches and marshal badges depicting Western silent screen star William Hart in his famous two-gun pose sell for $5. Children’s coloring books featuring California missions are $1.95.

Hart museum shop hours are 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and noon to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. 24151 San Fernando Road, Newhall. (805) 254-4585.

Leonis Adobe Museum and Ranch shop sells hand-crocheted cotton sweaters, loose-knit pullovers in dusty rose, white and pink, for $40. Handmade two-foot-long cotton doily runners are $7.50 to $15.

Victorian costume jewelry, including cameos, earrings, brooches and pins, are priced from $7 to $20.

Hand-painted Victorian houses made from wheat straw and used for ornaments are $6. Locals often bring in holiday ornaments and wreaths. Call for availability.

Leonis Adobe shop hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. 23537 Calabasas Road, Calabasas. (818) 712-0734.

Andres Pico Adobe gift shop sells a set of eight ceramic mission tiles, each picturing early California life, for $5.99 each. Various historical books about Simi Valley cost $29 apiece.

For an unusual stocking stuffer, arrowheads unearthed in the area are $5 each. Ceramic crucibles, used to mint gold pieces in the 1850s, sell for $5 apiece and make a “great conversation piece on any desk,” according to museum curator Elva Meline.

Andres Pico Adobe shop hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. 10940 Sepulveda Blvd., Mission Hills. (818) 365-7810.