Supreme Court Plume

If you haven't been able to tell yet, I'm very big on pens. Aware of this, my boss presented me with a very unique, out of the blue, gift last week: a quill pen from the United States Supreme Court. Apparently, the Court maintains the tradition of placing two white turkey feather quills at the petitioner's and respondent's tables every day during session.


A few years ago my firm worked on a case that went before the Supreme Court and one of the attorneys was given one of the quills from their table. That attorney gave the quill to my boss. My boss then kept it inside a cardboard tube for the next five years. Then, hearing about my love of fountain pens, my boss gifted the quill to me. I couldn't have been more excited or appreciative! He's such a nice guy.

This quill really is a work of art. It must take lots of practice and good deal of skill to get the cuts for the nib just right. When done well, like on this example, the nib can reach a virtually unparalleled degree of fineness. Here is the tip of the quill compared to an Esterbrook 9556, intended for fine writing, specifically for writing records and charts.

That's super fine!

I would compare written lines, but there's no way I'm going to ink this quill... yet. Unfortunately, I'm probably going to stick the plume back in the cardboard tube it was given to me in. I want to keep it safe until I can find/afford something worthy of displaying it in.


I might have to go out and buy a quill pen for myself, for when I really want to add something special to my personal correspondence. Or, maybe for just addressing my envelopes, depending on how good I get.

Have you ever used a quill pen? If so, leave a comment, I'd love to hear about it!