get_staticdata = function(self)
		local itemstring_length = string.len(self.itemstring)
		-- If an item with an itemstring of length 65375 is serialized, it
		-- is too big for serializeString16() – which means it will crash
		-- the server if the map block with the item entity is unloaded.
		-- That threshold was determined empirically and might change.
		if itemstring_length >= 65375 then
			new_itemstring = string.gsub(
				self.itemstring,
				"^(.-) (.-) (.-) (.*)$",
				"%1 %2 %3"
			)
			minetest.log(
				"Error",
				"Overlong itemstring shortened from length " ..
				itemstring_length ..
				" for " ..
				new_itemstring
		   	)
			self.itemstring = new_itemstring
		end
		return minetest.serialize({
			itemstring = self.itemstring,
			always_collect = self.always_collect,
			age = self.age,
			_insta_collect = self._insta_collect,
			_flowing = self._flowing,
			_removed = self._removed,
		})
	end,