Iowa Man’s Collection of 70,000 Pencils Being Evaluated as Possible World Record

Colored pencils are displayed at the shop of Iranian merchant at the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, Iran, on May 22, 2023. Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images

COLFAX, Iowa—An Iowa man may be well 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. Now, he claims to own more than 70,000. That’s substantially more than the Guinness World Record for the largest pencil collection—24,000, held by Emilio Arenas from Uruguay since 2020.