The king of biros: 200,000 ballpoint pens in one collection
Clicky pens, special editions, promotional freebies: Heinz-Hermann has them all. The story of the biro, from Budapest to Brockel.
By Inga Klöber (photos), Tosha Hausmann (text)
Hungary, 1938: the story is quickly told. László Bíró is fed up with blotchy fountain pens. He wants something faster and, above all, smoother. A game of marbles provides the inspiration and – bingo – the first ballpoint pen is patented.
The invention of the ballpoint was a small revolution. A simple little ball replaced leaking ink and bent metal nibs. In 1943 Bíró sold the patent, and shortly afterwards the British military was using the new technology too – after all, a ballpoint still works at altitude. In no time the new pen found its way into everyday life, and today it’s hard to imagine being without one.
In Heinz-Hermann Bending’s cellar, his collection is stacked to the ceiling in brightly coloured storage boxes. Every single pen is carefully sorted by type and catalogued.
Whether it’s a chunky four-colour pen or a tacky promotional freebie – we all have one: a favourite pen. But which one is actually ‘the best’? In April 2025 the FAZ’s product-testing site named the ‘Pelikan Jazz Noble Elegance’ its test winner. For €10 you can treat yourself to this ‘elegant-looking’ ballpoint. The budget pick, at €2.99, is the Schneider Slider Rave XB. And if you like things pricey, the ‘Graf von Faber-Castell Pen of the Year 2022 Aztec Rollerball – Limited Edition’ is currently on offer for €4,675 – though only 125 were made. Better be quick!
Even writing beyond Earth has been catered for. The ‘Fisher Astronaut Space Pen’ was developed especially for astronauts. The refill is made entirely of metal and is so robust that neither Arctic cold of −45 °C nor tropical heat of +120 °C can harm it. The world’s largest working ballpoint doesn’t quite make it into space: in April 2011 Acharya Makunuri Srinivasa set a Guinness World Record with a pen five and a half metres long and weighing 37.23 kilograms.
But however ubiquitous the ballpoint may be, for some people it becomes their life’s work.
Heinz-Hermann Bending collects ballpoint pens and shares his home with 200,160 of them.
Thanks to newspaper articles and a TV documentary, Bending is no longer an unknown.
Most pens find their way into the collection quite naturally: friends, acquaintances and strangers regularly drop off new ones at Heinz-Hermann’s door.
At Christmas I’d have loved to lock myself away and sort biros.
Heinz-Hermann Bendig
In Brockel, a village of 1,359 people, lives Heinz-Hermann Bendig – together with 200,160 ballpoint pens. In theory, this passionate collector could give one to every resident of Potsdam and still have plenty left over.
His treasures are stacked up to the ceiling in colourful storage boxes. Every single pen is carefully sorted and catalogued by type. Yet he doesn’t spend a penny on his hobby. Most of the pens find their way into his collection quite naturally: friends, acquaintances and strangers regularly drop off new specimens at Heinz-Hermann’s door. Even the SPD politician Lars Klingbeil has sent one along with his regards.
And if a particular pen is still missing, the collector is well connected: once a year there’s a ballpoint swap fair, and of course Heinz-Hermann is a member of the ‘Club der Kugelschreibersammler’, the club for ballpoint pen collectors.
