Grandfather collected the largest collection of bricks in the world (4 photos)

An 87-year-old grandfather from Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, got into the Guinness Book of World Records thanks to his unusual hobby. Over the past 40 years of his life, Clem Reinkemeier has amassed the largest brick collection in the world. Each of the 8,882 unique bricks tells its own story.





When Clem was out of town, his daughter Celia and her husband Dan Bicette, who helped Reinkemeier build his special brick barn, gathered a group of friends to count the bricks. They secretly applied for the record and were able to surprise Clem with a Guinness World Records certificate.

"When I came back to town, it was a big surprise, and I'm really happy to get this certificate," he said.

Clem, a retired mathematician and real estate developer, has bricks from all over the United States, organized by state in his vault.

The bricks come from the street, old commercial buildings, and homes, and each one has its own unique story. Clem even has a brick with misspellings carved into it, like the upside-down "S" in Tulsa, making it even more special in his collection.

"Sometimes they're worth more than the ones that are spelled correctly," he says. "I think Oklahoma has a reputation for having the most misspelled bricks. I don't know why. The peak of brick production was around 1870-1910. Every town had to have its own brick because they needed it for fireplaces. A certain kind of brick like this has a certain clay that can withstand high heat, and everyone needed fireplaces."



One of his favorites in his collection is a sidewalk brick made by a manufacturer in Washington, D.C., that was once located where the Pentagon now stands.

"There are probably a few of these bricks under the Pentagon," he says. "But I think this one is one of a kind."





Clem's collection also has an international section, with shelves filled with bricks from Germany, Greece, Ireland, and New Zealand.

Some of his bricks are even thousands of years old, like a Roman brick dating back to 100 AD.

"When you collect something, it kind of runs away from you," he jokes. "What I like about bricks is that they have names and you can trace them back historically, which has always intrigued me. It's unusual, but I like it."