Yard-O-Led Viceroy Grand Barley B Nib

[hari317]

very nice pen thanks for the review

 

Thank you Georges.

 

As a Yard-O-Led owner myself, I found this précis of a WES lecture very interesting:

 

John, thank you for the link to the article. It is indeed very interesting to note that the pens are made on machines that are a century old.

 

So beautiful pen! Thanks for review. What is the weight of this pen?

 

I have a cheap pocket digital balance, the weights are taken on it.

 

Pen with empty converter: 66.24gms

 

Cap only: 19.44 gms

 

Pen opened without cap and empty converter: 46.80 gms

 

Best

Hari

Edited August 22, 2011 by hari317

[adyf]

Hallmarks on the barrel: each symbol has a specific meaning as explained on the Filofax website.

 

 

Could you point me to this information please as I can't find it. I'd like to date my Corinthian.

[jar]

Hallmarks on the barrel: each symbol has a specific meaning as explained on the Filofax website.

 

 

Could you point me to this information please as I can't find it. I'd like to date my Corinthian.

 

Date codes for Birmingham and Sheffield

[hari317]

Could you point me to this information please as I can't find it. I'd like to date my Corinthian.

 

Picture linked from: andyspens

 

http://www.andys-pens.co.uk/yardpix/uk_hallmarks_image1.jpghttp://www.andys-pens.co.uk/yardpix/uk_hallmarks_image2.jpg

 

The last hallmark is the date code which can be decoded from the Birmingham assay office guide linked to by Jar.

 

http://www.theassayoffice.co.uk/images/dateletters1.gifhttp://www.theassayoffice.co.uk/images/date_letters1806_1845.gifhttp://www.theassayoffice.co.uk/images/dateletters3.gifhttp://www.theassayoffice.co.uk/images/dateletters4.gifhttp://www.theassayoffice.co.uk/images/dateletters5.gifhttp://www.theassayoffice.co.uk/images/dateletters6_2010.jpg

Edited August 22, 2011 by hari317

[Ghost Plane]

Just for fun and comparison of the runs, I have the following Grands:

Victorian 2007 - 5678

Barley 2001 - 7278

Lined 2005 - 3778

 

Now if I could find one of the plain... :hmm1:

[jar]

Just for fun and comparison of the runs, I have the following Grands:

Victorian 2007 - 5678

Barley 2001 - 7278

Lined 2005 - 3778

 

Now if I could find one of the plain... :hmm1:

 

Corinthian 2007-9870

Barley Grand 2010-2417

Victorian Grand 2011-5736

 

From all this it appears they run up to 9999 and then start over.

[adyf]

Could you point me to this information please as I can't find it. I'd like to date my Corinthian.

 

Picture linked from: andyspens

 

http://www.andys-pens.co.uk/yardpix/uk_hallmarks_image1.jpghttp://www.andys-pens.co.uk/yardpix/uk_hallmarks_image2.jpg

 

The last hallmark is the date code which can be decoded from the Birmingham assay office guide linked to by Jar.

 

http://www.theassayoffice.co.uk/images/dateletters1.gifhttp://www.theassayoffice.co.uk/images/date_letters1806_1845.gifhttp://www.theassayoffice.co.uk/images/dateletters3.gifhttp://www.theassayoffice.co.uk/images/dateletters4.gifhttp://www.theassayoffice.co.uk/images/dateletters5.gifhttp://www.theassayoffice.co.uk/images/dateletters6_2010.jpg

 

 

Thanks hari and Jar.

[Russ]

I have one of the rare smooth, untextured Grand's numbered 069. The bold nib, as you know, is outstanding!

[Ghost Plane]

I'm going to sit down and have a moment of sheer jealousy :notworthy1:

[lewis]

Wonderful pen hari. I really love your passion. Enjoy.

[ballboy]

I have one of the rare smooth, untextured Grand's numbered 069. The bold nib, as you know, is outstanding!

 

My Astoria Grand went back to Yard-O-Led for feed correction and de-skipping of its medium nib, to return with a new 'medium' nib that writes like my departed Pelikan M805's broad.

Now it's an unstoppable writer on all paper; even my dry Clarefontaine with dry Cross Black

 

 

 

[spinningtrees]

Now if only I could find a benefactor to indulge my silver-lust for Yard-O-Led!

[kazoolaw]

I saw your close-ups of the clip, nib and feed. I didn't recall the rivets on my Y-O-L GB looking like that, and became curious about the nib and feed.

 

The rivets on my clip are neatly done, with no extra "ring" around their heads. They are as nicely done as the rivets on my Waterman 452.

 

Neither the nib nor the feed show the markings you demonstrate.

 

Though I wasn't man enough for the broad nib, my medium is as smooth and dependable a writer with different inks and papers as any I own.

 

Enjoy yours for a long time,

 

gary

[RBC]

Very cool...like silver gator skin. Nice review!

[bookmanjl]

A truly beautiful pen! I am sure many of us will miss Pam Braun's service in the months and years to come. I had the opportunity to purchase four or five pens from her over a couple of years. The YoL is still certainly a 'someday' purchase.

[hari317]

I have been using the pen for some time now, so time for an update, I am sorry for the length:

 

The pen started skipping in the first few days of use. I was anyway sending a small lot of pens to Oxonian and I sent the YoL in the lot for him to take a look. He reported that the nib was generally OK, but the problem was with a loose fit of the nib and feed and he did the best he could to make them sit together firmly. The pen was away for a few weeks with the express shipping and repair times.

 

The pen was still not satisfactory, still used to skip annoyingly and then I decided to use the warranty on my pen and have Filofax have a look at the pen. I got in touch with Filofax in the US explaining the problem and that I had bought the pen from an US dealer, they asked me to send the pen in, but the problem was in paying them the 10USD handling cum return shipping charge, they accept only a cheque and no paypal. This is where our FPN member Jar volunteered to come to my rescue, taking care of the payment part. I am really grateful for his help. I got many generous offers of help from members in the UK like carlc and twdpens with useful contact information of the UK headquarters. Anyway, I sent the pen off back to the US by Express mail, Lloyd G and Bob at Filofax were super efficient and turned the pen back within a few hours of receipt! They detected the loose feeder housing and replaced that. I received the pen back in a few days from my shipper in NYC. The pen came back all nicely polished up. The pen was behaving itself this time, but still skippy certain times. Then I decided to take matters in my hand and reset the nib and feed and adjusted the flow, after some tuneup the pen is now finally a satisfactory skip free writer, I have found the ideal ink, works well with Aurora black and pre slovenia Skrip Jet black, uniform wet lines finally.

 

In conclusion, since I fell in love with the feel and the balance of the pen, I think, I stuck to the pen despite the problems, I am glad I could work it out. It is a very sturdy pen and never did I baby it. Now I have acquired a few more YoLs. The second Yol, a Smythson edition was delivered today which I will seperately review once I get a chance to use it a bit.

 

Regards,

Hari

[Uncle Red]

Thanks for the update Hari, I'm glad the trouble was fixed.

[pelman]

Glad to hear that some of the problems got fixed. Can't wait to read the next review. Always dangerous to read your reviews as I ending up wanting the pen :embarrassed_smile:

 

I was trying to look at a Smythson but haven't a found a pic of the pen yet. Never mind. I found pics.

Edited December 12, 2011 by pelman

[akrishna59]

dear hari,

 

congrats on a good pen and now you have quite a collection. i am so happy for you.

 

i dont know what to say about the problems that you have mentioned, they seem coarse and too much for me considering the amount that you would have spent on it. my impression of yol as a quality pen maker has taken a severe beating after seeing your pictures. the so called "craftsmen" at yol must also be pre world war 1 vintage along with their machines, looking at the way they have done that riveting and stamping.

 

but still i understand that you are satisfied with it, which shows the golden heart that you have when it comes to fps. also you have reported matters factually, instead of gushing and glossing over imperfections as others may tend to do.

 

i am sure that it will be a jewel in your collection.

 

rgds.

 

krishna.

[hari317]

Found this interesting video: