Gunther doesn't say anything about donated items?

[Pancakes]

The game tells me that if I donate items, Gunther will tell me more about them. Well I can't examine the items on the display stands, and Gunther doesn't have any new dialogue. Is it the inventory tooltips that change?

[lordlycanthrope]

A description is shown when you get other items that goes into greater detail about them.

[txh0881]

Go up to the item on the shelf and inspect it.

The item also gains a description, in case you get a duplicate later.

[AvatarMan]

Depending on where you put the item on the stands you might of placed them out of reach. But you should be able to click on the items by the edge to get a short description (flavour text).

[NotThatHarkness]

In the option screen there's a collections tab and in that an artifacts tab. You can see the descriptions there, and in the tool tip the next time you find that item.

[Pancakes]

Ah thank you, indeed you can right-click the items on the stand to look at them. I assumed you couldn't because when I hovered over them, the cursor did not turn into a magnifying glass.