An Oklahoma man has been awarded a Guinness World Record for having an impressive collection of 8,882 different bricks.

Clem Reinkemeyer, 87, was out of town when his daughter, Celia, and son-in-law, Dan Bisett, organised a gathering of friends to count and document each item in his brick barn in Tulsa.

Upon his return, Reinkemeyer was surprised with an official certificate recognising his collection as the world's largest of its kind.

"I got back in town and it was a big surprise, and I'm very happy to have this certificate," he told Guinness World Records.

Reinkemeyer's collection, which he has carefully amassed over 40 years, includes a Roman brick dating back to A.D. 100, though most of the bricks are from the past few hundred years.

"The brick tide for making the bricks was about maybe 1870 to 1910," he explained. "A special kind of brick like this has a certain clay that withstands heat, and everybody needed a fireplace."

He noted that some of his most valuable bricks are those with misspellings, such as one featuring "Tulsa" with a backward "s."

"I think Oklahoma has a history for the most misspelled bricks," he added. "I don't know why."

One of his favourite pieces is a sidewalk brick made at a Washington facility where the Pentagon now stands.

"There may be some of these under the Pentagon," he mused. "But I think this is one of a kind."

Reinkemeyer’s fascination with bricks lies in the history they represent.

"What appealed to me about bricks is, they have names and you can trace them back historically to places, and that always intrigued me. It's unusual, but I like it," he said.