LYRA Pencil Deals: Compare Sale Prices & Find the Best Discount UK

Germany has produced some of the world’s greatest pencil makers, and LYRA is one of the oldest of them all. The story begins in 1806 in Nuremberg, when a pencilmaker called Johann Froescheis took over a workshop that would become the city’s oldest pencil factory. In 1848 the family began mass production, and in 1860 the business moved to a water-powered mill to support machine-assisted manufacturing. In 1868 the company registered the LYRA trademark, named after the lyre, the stringed instrument of classical antiquity, presumably as a symbol of quality and craftsmanship. The factory survived devastating bomb damage in the Second World War and was rebuilt, and in 2008 LYRA became part of FILA, the Italian group behind several well-known art brands. Remarkably, LYRA pencils are still made in Nuremberg today, more than two hundred years after the company began.

For artists, the most important part of the LYRA range is Rembrandt, the brand’s fine art line. Rembrandt Polycolor is LYRA’s flagship coloured pencil, a permanent, artist-quality pencil available in 78 colours with a generous 3.7mm core. Polycolor is known for being smooth and easy to layer, and LYRA describes the pigments as UV-resistant, so it’s a strong choice for detailed coloured pencil work, botanical illustration and drawings you want to last. Many artists consider it one of the best-value artist-grade coloured pencils available, sitting comfortably alongside better-known names at a friendlier price.

Rembrandt Aquarell is the water-soluble version, available in 72 colours, also with a 3.7mm core. You can use it dry like a normal coloured pencil, then add water with a brush to dissolve the colour into soft, transparent, watercolour-like washes. It’s a brilliant tool for sketching on location, urban sketching and mixed-media work, where you want the control of a pencil and the softness of paint in one.

LYRA’s graphite pencils are just as respected. Rembrandt Art Design is a pure graphite drawing pencil available in 17 grades, from 9B to 6H, giving smooth strokes and fine detail across the full tonal range. There’s also Rembrandt Graphite Aquarell, a water-soluble graphite pencil with a 3.8mm core, which lets you blend graphite into soft grey washes, as well as sketching pencils and graphite pastels in both standard and water-soluble versions. For tonal and traditional drawing, the Rembrandt monochrome range includes white, sanguine, sepia, charcoal and carbon pencils, with some colours in both dry and oil versions, the classic tools for figure drawing and old-master-style studies.

The range goes further still. Splender is a colourless blender pencil for smoothing coloured pencil layers and burnishing drawings to a polished finish. LYRA also makes oil pastels, Aquacolor water-soluble wax pastels, Polycrayon Soft square chalks, Art Pen water-soluble fine-tip markers in 36 colours, and Aqua Brush Duo dual-tip brush markers in 80 colours for lettering and illustration. The Graduate series offers a more affordable range of pencils and markers, popular with students and hobbyists, and LYRA’s chunky triangular pencils have long been a favourate in schools.

In sixteen years in the art supplies industry, including nearly a decade running digital marketing at ARTdiscount, I’ve seen LYRA quietly win over artists who discover it’s every bit as good as pricier brands. Within our community of 36,000 UK artists at Discount Art Supplies, coloured pencils are always popular, and LYRA Rembrandt Polycolor is one of the names that comes up when people want artist quality without the premium price tag. Plenty of artists end up with it as their prefered everyday pencil.

Getting the best deal on LYRA comes down to a few things. First, compare prices before you buy. Coloured pencil sets, especially larger tins of Polycolor or Aquarell, can vary noticeably in price between retailers, and our comparison above checks Cass Art, Jackson’s, Amazon and others in real time. Second, think about sets versus open stock. Big tins are great value per pencil, but if you only need certain colours, buying individual pencils lets you build exactly the palette you want and replace the colours you use most. Third, consider whether you need permanent or water-soluble pencils. Polycolor and Aquarell look similar in the tin but behave very differently, so make sure you’re buying the one that suits how you work. And finally, watch for sales. LYRA sets are regularly discounted, especially around back-to-school, Christmas and Black Friday.

A few questions come up again and again. Is LYRA Rembrandt Polycolor good? Yes. It’s an artist-quality coloured pencil with a 3.7mm core, smooth layering and UV-resistant pigments, and it’s widely regarded as excellent value. What’s the difference between Polycolor and Aquarell? Polycolor is a permanent coloured pencil, while Aquarell is water-soluble and can be turned into washes with a wet brush. Who makes LYRA pencils? LYRA was founded in Nuremberg in 1806 and has been part of the Italian FILA group since 2008, with pencils still made in Nuremberg. Are LYRA pencils good for beginners? Yes. The Graduate range is ideal for beginners, while the Rembrandt range gives you room to grow.

With more than two hundred years of pencil-making behind it, LYRA is one of the most underrated brands in the art world. Looking for a LYRA sale, discount or discount code? Check the price comparisons above, updated in real time, and you’ll always know you’re getting the best current UK price.