It might seem like a minor, nerdy, even a comical distinction, but Aaron Bartholmey of Colfax, Iowa stands on the cusp of having his name added to the other remarkable and dubious entries in The Guinness Book of World Records for his pencil collection. Soon, he may stand with such Guinness luminaries as Fin Keheler, 11 of Sandy, Utah who currently holds the record for having the most live snails covering his face (43) and Radhakant Baiijpai of India who, at ll.1 centimeters, has the world’s longest ear hair. Then there is the astonishing Christian Adam whose performance remains unchallenged for cycling backward with a violin—60km while playing J.S. Bach!
Pending confirmation by officials from Guinness (the Irish brewery, makers of stout, a famous black beer, thick as molasses), Mr. Bartholmey appears to be the favorite for having the world’s largest collection of wooden pencils—70,000. The current title holder is Emilio Arenas from Uruguay whose comparatively paltry collection stands at 24,026. No longer number one in the world of pencil hoarders, Arenas will soon be downgraded to the, um, No. 2 Pencil Guy, erased from the Guinness Book.
Prior to his application to Guinness, Bartholmey had his collection tallied by two counters from the American Pencil Collectors Society. (Curiously, it turns out Mr. Bartholmey just happens to be the Society’s secretary and treasurer! Somebody might want to look into this. I’m just saying.)
Seriously, Aaron Bartholmey seems like a bright, kindly fellow, a nerdy math teacher whose wife Michelle teaches talented and gifted students. Bartholmey says he started collecting pencils as a child and now has pencils from every state in the country, some over 100 years old. He told station WHO 13 of Des Moines, “It’s kind of funny because it started out as it was, a small thing to collect, but when you get 70,000 of them, they take up a lot of space.” (Like one entire room of their house.)
You don’t have to be rich to collect even rare pencils. The very rare “Old Glory 242” pencil by the Eagle Pencil Company sells for $85. But most collectables are like the “Verithin 738” that goes for $2.75.
The process of making pencils is elaborate. The black graphite, called “lead” is mined, mixed with clay, baked, shaped into thin rods and waxed. Special cedar wood plates are grooved, glued, carved, painted, printed and fitted with erasers. It’s a wonder a single pencil doesn’t cost $50. But with 1.8 billion manufactured annually, it does bring down the individual cost.
Henry David Thoreau, American naturalist and author of Walden and Civil Disobedience worked in his family’s pencil factory. Thoreau Pencils were the best-selling pencils of their time. Novelist John Steinbeck was a great consumer of pencils. It is said while writing The Grapes of Wrath, he used 60 pencils a day.
Mr. Bartholmey will have to wait up to three months for Guinness to certify his place in the record book. That would suggest that Emilio Arenas still has time to collect some 46,000 pencils to keep his title (if he gets the lead out). When you think about it, a pencil is a symbol of hope and redemption. Author Robert Brault once observed, “The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half inch eraser—in case you thought optimism was dead.”