Collyer ? There are cow figurines, dice, eight balls, light bulbs and even grains of wheat.

It might sound like the inventory of a junk drawer, but those are just a few of the notable tops to Mike Schwarzenberger’s pen and pencil collection.

For about 50 years Schwarzenberger has held onto pens and pencils of just about every variety. With no rhyme or reason, he stuffed them in drawers, boxes and crates up until five or six years ago when he decided it was time to sift through his collection and do something with it.

Not only did he count every piece — 6,405 so far — but he also masterminded his own display case. He framed pieces of standard window screens with wood, then wove pieces of elastic cording through holes in the screen. In and out, that weaving created a series of stretchy bands where Schwarzenberger slips the pens and pencils into place.

There are now 44 boards lining the walls of Mike and Ida Schwarzenberger’s basement, and every one is full of pens and pencils. Both fine and frivolous, the collection includes a little bit of everything.

Whether there’s anything valuable mixed in with the pens from the grocery store and bank is yet to be determined.

There are bullet pens — ones shaped like ammunition — and old style writing tools with tips designed for dips in tubs of ink.

And there are others with more entertainment value than anything else. One looks and works just like a syringe — Schwarzenberger jokes that he could set up shop and dispense flu shots. Others are shaped like french fries, candy canes, wrenches, a tube of lipstick and even a corn on the cob. Of course there are a few with the notorious naked ladies that appear with a tip of the pen.

The 86-year-old doesn’t remember what got him started on pens and pencils, “but they kind of fascinated me for some reason.”

He wishes every item were organized and inventoried, but it’s not quite that scientific. Now it’s to the point that he doesn’t dare pull the pens out of place and try to organize them. That would take years.

He wishes the pens from other countries were separate from the others. His eight children all are frequent travelers — both in the U.S. and abroad — so they know to keep their eyes open for anything unusual. So far, his collection includes pens and pencils from at least nine foreign countries.

Mike Schwarzenberger talks about his collection of more than 6,000 pens and pencils at his home in Collyer. Schwarzenberger began saving them about 50 years ago.

On some boards, there is a bit of organization. There are a few rows of pens from Canada together, and there are like-colored pens and similar designs grouped together.

But for the most part, it’s a random history lesson.

There are items with the sports schedules of local teams, and others with calendars printed on the side. Officially, he knows he has a pen from the early 1940s, and he thinks it might be the oldest in the set.

He has pens and pencils from businesses that closed up shop years and even decades ago, including one from his own life.

The pen printed with “Schwarzenberger Pontiac and Co.” is one of the well-worn items in his collection. He and his wife owned a car dealership in Collyer from 1952 to 1961.

There are items personalized with his name, his children’s names, and even his father-in-law’s name. Until last week he had no idea that there was nothing with his wife’s name on it.

“I wish she would say something sooner,” he said of Ida’s recent revelation.