Yard-O-Led Diplomat Barley Ballpoint Pen

Yard-O-Led Diplomat Barley Ballpoint Pen

The Yard-O-Led Diplomat Hexagon Barley ballpoint pen is a beautiful, small (well, they say “small is beautiful“) writing instrument, hand-crafted in Birmingham (UK) by the Yard-O-Led team, whose factory is in the Jewellery Quarter.

Yard-O-Led started in 1934, in London, to make L F Brenner’s patented mechanical pencil, and it is the pencils that made them justly admired in the industry. The name, incidentally, comes from the fact that each of their pencils hold twelve 3″ leads, which is 36”, or a Yard, of lead. After Yard-O-Led moved to Birmingham, they branched out into other writing instruments and since 2015, the company (now under the parent company Imperial Yard) has been concentrating on these exquisite silver pens and pencils.

The Diplomat series of ballpoint pens and mechanical pencils are made of 92.5% sterling silver, and the barley pattern on this version is hand-engraved, so there are minute variations that make each example unique. The pocket clips on these luxury pens are also hand-crafted, in a process that has eight stages, before being braised to the body and firmly attached with two silver staples.

Each pen or pencil is stamped with the Birmingham Assay Office’s marks (see the fourth photograph, above) – which is just round the corner from Yard-O-Led’s factory – and die-stamped with the individual serial number (see the fifth photograph – in this case, 6190).

The Yard-O-Led Diplomat Barley ballpoint is a twist-action pen that takes Yard-O-Led or Schmidt 700 refills. We at Write Here are pleased to offer you these pens and pencils for purchase online or in person from our shop on the HIgh Street, Shrewsbury, in Shropshire, UK.

We can normally fulfil your order overnight; for the more expensive items we may need to order them in for you, so please be prepared to allow five (5) days for despatch.

Details – Yard-O-Led Diplomat Barley Ballpoint Pen

Length (tip retracted): 124mm
Length (tip extended): 127mm

Diameter (barrel, across corners): 9mm
Diameter (barrel, across flats): 8mm
Diameter (section mid-point): 6mm

Weight: 23g

Ink: Yard-O-Led / Schmidt 700 ballpoint refills in black or blue
Click here for black refills or here for blue refills.

The photographs above were taken with the pen on the cover of a Paperblanks Week-at-a-Time Diary, also available from us at Write Here.