Life-Long was originally a Mentmore trading style which was taken over by Conway Stewart, as sole agents, in 1933. The pencils were then produced by BCM/Life-Long, as a Conway Stewart associated company.
This is a fine example of an 'Airline' model pencil, made in the late 1940/ early 1950s.
In near mint codition throughout, the pencil is constructed in rolled Gold with an engine turned 'barleycorn' finish, two decrated plain bands, and a blank cartouche. The top band is clearly stamped:
'Rolled Gold. Life-Long'
At 12.5 cm. in length it is a full sized pencil with a very solid, high quality feel. The lead is extended and retracted by a smooth twist mechanism operated by turning the end cap, whic can be removed to expose the eraser.
The pencil is presented in its original box along with an instruction leaflet. The box and instructions are in vey good, clean condition. The instructions identify the pencil as an 'Airline model 3615', the number is repeated on a sticker on the underside of the box.
Mechanical pencils have seen an upsurge in popularity recently wiith new models ranging from a few pounds to over twoo hundred. The vast majority of these use a simple and cheap to make 'click action' continuous feed mechanism which depends upon plastic 'catches'. The original rotary mechanism, as in this pencil, is much more robust and is only found towards the top of the price spectrum.