ebay bidding words of advice - CLICK TO WATCH the item, rather than bidding on it (this will bookmark it for you). Then make a calendar reminder to go back within the last 15 minutes or so of bidding on something that you want. I learned early on that I've lost out on items, or ran the price up early on with other people who wanted it. You should wait until the last minute or so of the auction and bid as high as you feel comfortable bidding, and that way, you wont be suckered into bidding outside of your personal price range, and you will win it, as long as someone else doesnt bid higher than your price range at the last minute.

This was "standard" if I'm correct, because the way the order form use to be filled out, you could mark if you wanted to replace any particular pearls with a diamond. I dont know if this is still an option.

PM me with your email address if you want to see samples of the new quills that are being offered to the NMs this year. The document I have is copyrighted so I don't want to post it. I hear that the pictures on going to be on the FHQ website SOON! :)

Oh, I think you're right! If you look at the top, it looks like a piece is broken off, where the 20th pearl would be. Still, an amazing find!

20 pearl Quills were an option until sometime in the 1960s. When I initiated in 1971 we only had choices of the 15 pearls, plain, or 3 pearl tiffany setting.

Diamonds have always been an option. My Quill is 15 pearls with a diamond in the tip. One of the Quills I have from ebay is a 1928 Quill from Alpha Chapter and has 19 pearls and a diamond in place of the 20th pearl.

There were also options in the 1940s for closed crown setting for the pearls.

Ahhh Alpha Chapter! You are a pro at this! That's a truly amazing find!

I asked the seller about the 19/20 pearl question, and he said it didn't really look like there was one missing, but who knows. I still want it.

BUT, I keep getting outbid, so we'll see. I can't go much higher than it's at right now.

I lost it... in the last 4 seconds.

It's frustrating because the final bid was only a few dollars higher than my max bid, but I have to keep telling myself that
1) I had to draw the line somewhere
2) the winner's max bid may have been much higher

The winner actually wasn't the person who I'd been bidding against originally. Maybe she's a sister... fingers crossed!

Plus, on the bright side, now I can keep saving for a brand new colorful quill!!

yes there's a piece missing from the quill in the picture .. the end of the shaft with the pearls should be even with the barbs of the feather .. (if that made any sense).

that's to bad you lost the bid ...

I got the one from Alpha Chapter when ebay was relatively new but even then I paid way to much for it.

I got a 3 stone tiffany setting with light blue, dark blue, and yellow sapphires at convention. I really think the new ones with the sapphires are going to be very popular.

Yeah, I just looked at a bunch of new options. I really like a lot of them! I wish they let you have the 15 stone, d blue, l blue and yellow alternating, but still.

I'm going to still bid on the 3-stone pearl one, and we'll see about the new ones. To keep it even, I'd want a white gold one, but if i got the dark blue/light blue alternating (which i would since I don't have any "crown" style quills), i would want yellow so it could be double blue stones and gold.

Interesting.

The quill may not in fact have been from 1921. I can't quite read the picture on this one, but many quills listed on ebay are misinterpreted.

These day, quills have your chapter number-member number. Lots of sellers are assuming those are dates. Hmm... something to watch out for.

Yes .. prior to about the mid-1960s the quills have the initiate's name, chapter, and initiation date. Sometimes the initiation date is just month and year but usually month, day, and, year.

I don't know if it's changed, but the number on my quill is my member number. I initiated in 1985. When the numbers broke 100,000 maybe they changed it (?). When I went to register on InCircle I had to pull out my quill and read the very fine print for these old eyes to input the number for registration.

I hate that people sell quills on Ebay, but at least if they are, I'm glad they're going to Alpha Xi homes.

That's my feeling too. Sometimes I feel bad for encouraging the sellers by showing interest, but then again, if someone other than a sister is going to buy a quill, I'm going to be damn sure they pay as much as possible for it.

I just corrected a seller on a different quill. His quill said 30-942, and it tell everyone it's from 1942. I'm hoping that maybe if he has to take the year down, people will be less interested.

There's no way that Quill is from 1941. Its Alpha Eta, Purdue, chapter #30 Initiate number 941. Has to be after late 1960s.

I thought I counted it out to be Alpha Zeta, University of Oklahoma.

If this is the case, the chapter closed in the early 50s and reopened in the mid '80s, which is when (by my guess) the badge is from...