An Iowa man may be on his way to an official world record — for pencils.
Aaron Bartholmey of Colfax has been collecting wooden advertising pencils since he was a child, the Associated Press reported.
Now, he claims to own over 70,000 pencils.
That’s substantially more than the Guinness World Record for the largest pencil collection of 24,000, which has been held by Emilio Arenas from Uruguay since 2020, the AP also said.
Bartholmey said his most treasured pencils are those from his hometown.
He noted that in many instances, the pencils "are the only place where there is any record of that business 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 ones you may have never thought could exist," KCCI.com noted.
"But his most treasured are old, historical pencils from his hometown," the same source noted.
Bartholmey recently had every one of the pencils in his collection counted by individuals from the American Pencil Collectors Society.
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That society is a not-for-profit hobby organization devoted toward the exclusive interests of "establishing and maintaining communication among pen and pencil collectors and the dissemination of information relative to writing instruments," the group notes on its website.
The counting event took place at the Colfax Historical Society, a nonprofit organization.
On its Facebook page, the Colfax Historical Society and Museum recently posted a message about the counting event.
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"Please share this," it wrote.
"In addition to the World Record attempt that will be going on all day, the museum will also be open for several hours in the middle of the day. Everything is free. So come see a truly unique event, support Aaron and see the museum to learn the truly amazing history of Colfax."
It added, "See you Saturday."
Bartholmey said the counting event was "a success."
Bartholmey added that he could "confidently say" he passed the 70,000 mark.
Now, he is awaiting word about whether Guinness approves the count.
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It will take an estimated 12 weeks for his submission to be reviewed and then responded to, he said.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
