  We present the analysis of high resolution spectra of six red giant stars in
the old open cluster Collinder 261. Reddening values for individual stars,
derived from the relation between colours and temperatures (deduced from our
fully spectroscopic analysis) are consistent with previous determinations based
on photometry. For this cluster we derive an iron abundance of [Fe/H] = -0.03
+/- 0.03. We also obtain the abundances of light metals (O, Na and Al),
alpha-elements (Mg, Si, Ca, Ti), elements of the Fe-group (Sc, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni)
and the neutron-capture element Ba. No intrinsic star-to-star scatter is
present in any of these elements within our sample. We compare our findings
with previous investigations on this cluster, discussing in detail differences
in analysis methods and results.
