Last year, August, September, and October 2024, to be precise, I wrote a cop show trilogy of novellas. All have bookish/author themes, and one of them concerns a quill.

That got me thinking about my quill that mum bought me in 1987 at Sovereign Hill in Ballarat, Victoria. We were on holiday, and went one cold and drizzly Saturday. Afterwards, we went across the road to the Gold Museum.

Anyhoodle, while at Sovereign Hill, we bought some hard candy, I got a metre of royal blue ribbon, and acquired a white feather quill from the old schoolhouse where I sat and practiced writing with said quill.

It got me thinking. Where the hell was it?

I knew I still had it, it was a matter of where it had been packed away.

So, one hot November/December day, I pulled apart my bedroom and scoured through the cupboard, my trunk, and my desk. Zip, zilch. Nada!

While I lay on the bed having a rest, I thought about everything in the spare room, and realised, I knew exactly where it was and scolded myself for not remembering.

It was in the spare room, under my desk, in a container I had filled especially with my “writing” implements. Pens, notebooks with writing, sayings, images of pens on, pen and pencil stickers, etc.

And there she was. My 28 year old white quill from Sovereign Hill.

Hey, that rhymes!

Anyhoodle x 2, I decided to collect quills.

Insert eyeroll.

Yep. One more thing to collect.

But thankfully, I decided to try and get a few colours and not go overboard.

So here they are. The collection I have spent all year collecting, due to trying to find different metal bases so they were all different.

 

Sovereign Hill Quill

 

I bought the dark blue first, and then the lighter blue.

 

The red followed, with a rose metal base. The company thinks they can dress them up in Harry Potter style cardboard boxes with the same font. Oi!

The pink was the last one I bought. It has a steampunk vibe and is the only one I bought with ink as it was the only way to buy it. Unfortunately, the tip is broken, but that happened in the packaging and shipping.

 

I bought the green at the same time as the pink. It has a gold tip.

 

This is my set so far. I have no need for any others, or any other colour. But I am on the hunt for a multi-coloured one, if it’s out there. And, if I find one “author” related, then I might add it to the collection.