Noun

(en-noun)

A keepsake; an object kept as a reminder of a place or event.

I kept the shell as a memento of my visit to the seashore.

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=December 16 , author=Denis Campbell , title=Hospital staff 'lack skills to cope with dementia patients' , work=Guardian citation , page= , passage=Many hospitals have not taken simple steps to lessen the distress and confusion which dementia sufferers' often feel on being somewhere so unfamiliar – such as making signs large and easy to read, using colour schemes to help patients find their way around unfamiliar wards and not putting family mementoes such as photographs nearby.}}

Noun

(trophies)

.

An object, usually in the form of a statuette, cup, or shield, awarded for success in a competition or to mark a special achievement.

He won the trophy in a running competition.

An object taken as a prize by a hunter or conqueror, especially one that is displayed.

* Dryden

Around the posts hung helmets, darts, and spears, / And captive chariots, axes, shields, and bars, / And broken beaks of ships, the trophies of their wars.

The set of antlers which hung on the wall was his prized trophy .

Any emblem of success; a status symbol.

His trophies included his second wife, his successful children, the third and fourth homes in Palm Beach and Malibu, his three yachts (for the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Mediterranean), his jet, and his mistresses.

(criminology, by extension) An object taken by a serial killer or rapist as a memento of the crime.

* 1994 , Philip Jenkins, Using Murder: The Social Construction of Serial Homicide [http://books.google.com/books?id=nhXmk3Tm-SQC], ISBN 0202305252, page 117:

The souvenirs which many killers retain of their victims are often described as trophies , and Norman Bates's taxidermic interests derived from the real-life Ed Gein.

* 2001 , R. Michael Gordon, Alias Jack the Ripper: Beyond the Usual Whitechapel Suspects [http://books.google.com/books?id=n5PWnVtQs4MC], ISBN 0786408987, page 82:

A trophy from this murder would have been of great importance.

* 2004 , Ronald F. Becker, Criminal Investigation [http://books.google.com/books?id=YDGaGSdjc6kC], ISBN 0763731684, page 168:

The offender is also likely to mentally relive his killings, often with the help of souvenirs or trophies , such as a bracelet or a body part taken from the victim.