The Collector - One-Time Box Purchase

In November 2024, subscribers met the Collector.

The Museum of Recollections is housed in an imposing building on Pont Lacuna’s main square. Founded in the city’s heyday and designed by ambitious architects, its ornate façade was once covered in mosaics. Now, some of the glittering tiles are missing; and the lagoon sometimes laps at the building’s foundations. 
 
Its visitors have dwindled, but it seems that the Collector hasn’t noticed their absence.  She is focused on her own projects. Above all, she values small, personal moments. 
 
Hence, only a few of the museum’s exhibits are dedicated to historic battles, decrees, and changes in government. But gallery after gallery overflows with carefully tended letters, intimate tokens, and little curiosities gathered on walks.

The Collector lives in an attic apartment under the Museum’s sloping roof. Both her days and her evenings are occupied by sorting, rearranging, and dusting the displays. Many of the memories she cherishes are her own. 

The Collector Box includes an abundance of beautiful objects; hints and additions to expand the story; a mysterious document; and a lore card.  

Some items are available for individual purchase.

• Mysterious Document
• An instructional document is augmented with marginalia which will help you interpret clues.  It is available only in the Collector Box.

• Lore Card
• The Collector are introduced in a full-color collectible 4x6 inch lore card.  The artwork for this month's lore card was created by Joanna Rzepecka, a Warsaw, Poland-based illustrator. She says, "My work is inspired by biodiversity, mainly animals. Through my work, I'm trying to capture moments where nature is untouched by humans. Peaceful scenery, colors, and rough textures are some things that I enjoy the most."

• Reptile Companion
• As you step into the Museum’s foyer, you are greeted by a brightly-colored reptile. You are initially intimidated by the creature’s sharp teeth; but he obviously bears you no ill-will.  The Collector befriended this beast in the desert. He trembles at the smallest vibration, so attuned to the Earth’s grinding layers that he can signal the approach of an earthquake.

• Curiosity Cupboard
• Both the public spaces and backrooms are lined with shelves, drawers, and cupboards. The Collector invites you to explore them as she puts away her work. Their contents are, by turns, awe-inspiring, whimsical, intriguing, and inscrutable. You find blue and purple pearls, studded with iridescent bubbles; a recipe for a warming tea; little vials of ink. One cupboard is empty.

• Selection of Curios
• You find a jumble of glass jars and treasures waiting to be put on display. The Collector’s methods are mysterious. Why are some items on view in the galleries, and others hidden away in backrooms?

• Stone of Design
• In Birdmoss, sodalite is used to channel artistic expression and to inform the development of big plans. The architects and artisans of Pont Lacuna used the stone’s blue and white pigments to create the city’s hallmark tile motifs. Your stone has been quickened with salt water to draw inspiration from the sea and its lagoons.

• Specimen Labels
  • The Collector wears an apron as she makes her rounds. Its pockets are full of the tools of her trade: writing utensils, a small knife, lengths of string, and specimen labels. You receive a few adhesive tags to mark your own collections.
    

• Reference Books
  • The Museum’s accumulation of scholarly texts rivals that of the city’s library. In addition to books that illuminate the Museum’s holdings, the Collector is also partial to books that re-tell the stories of Birdmoss:  personal accounts of historic moments, family traditions, diaries.

Photo props are not included.