Global Courant
An Iowa man may be on his way to an official world record – for pencils.
Colfax’s Aaron Bartholmey has been collecting wooden promotional pencils since childhood, the Associated Press reported.
Now he claims to own more than 70,000 pencils.
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That’s substantially more than the Guinness World Record for the largest pencil collection of 24,000, held by Emilio Arenas of Uruguay since 2020, according to the AP.
Bartholmey said his most treasured pencils are those from his hometown.
In many cases, the pencils were collected by a man in Colfax, Iowa (not pictured), “the only place where there’s any record of that company left, and I think it’s just a neat way to preserve history,” he said. (Ted Fitzgerald/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)
He noted that in many cases the pencils are “the only place to find anything about it that company still, and I think it’s just a neat way to preserve history,” as KCCI-TV in Des Moines reported.
The Colfax Man reportedly has every kind of pencil available and “even the ones you might never have thought existed,” KCCI.com noted.
Bartholmey had all the pencils in his collection counted by members of the American Pencil Collectors Society, a non-profit hobby organization.
“But his most treasured are old, historic pencils from his hometown,” the same source noted.
Bartholmey recently had all the pencils in his collection counted by members of the American Pencil Collectors Society.
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That association is a non-profit hobby organization dedicated to the exclusive interests of “establishing and maintaining communication between pen and pencil collectors and the dissemination of information about writing instruments,” the group notes on its website.
Close-up of a pencil on the page of an SAT college entrance exam book. An Iowa man is waiting to hear from Guinness whether he has set a world record for his extensive pencil collection. (Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
The counting event took place at the Colfax Historical Society, a non-profit organization.
The Colfax Historical Society and Museum recently posted a message about the counting event on its Facebook page.
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“Please share this,” it wrote.
“In addition to the world record attempt that continues throughout the day, the museum is also open for a few hours in the middle of the day. Everything is free. So come watch a truly unique event, support Aaron and check out the museum to learn about Colfax’s truly amazing history.”
Aaron Bartholmey of Colfax, Iowa, noted that he “can say with confidence” that he has crossed the 70,000 mark for his pencil collection. (iStock)
It added, “See you Saturday.”
Bartholmey said the counting event was “a success”.
Bartholmey added that he could “say with confidence” that he had crossed the 70,000 mark.
Now he is waiting for Guinness to approve the count.
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It will take an estimated 12 weeks for his submission to be reviewed and then acted upon, he said.
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The Associated Press contributed reporting.
Maureen Mackey is editor-in-chief of lifestyle for Fox News Digital.
