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Biz Around the StateCedar Grove entrepreneur Rocco LoConte last week launched a company based on the assumption that people will pay hundreds of dollars for pens with ties to historical figures like Mickey Mantle or George Washington. “Pen collecting has become very popular,” says LoConte, who has operated the Main Street Gallery sports memorabilia shop for about 20 years.

The pens are handmade from slivers of wood taken from bats said to have been used by players like Mantle, or tree limbs from sites where U.S. presidents lived. Pens are also made from the seats of ballparks like Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park. LoConte says they retail for about $300 apiece and carry certificates of authenticity.

LoConte says his next project will be a “natural history line” that will include pens made from woolly mammoth tusks. According to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, such tusks have been traded since the Middle Ages.

“It’s a great business because the supply is limited [which tends to keep prices high],” says LoConte. “After all, Mickey Mantle is no longer around to use a bat, and all the woolly mammoths are long gone.”