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Nokomia Joyner, aka Comy, has a collection of close to 6,000 clowns at her home in Barnwell County. She is hoping her collection will earn a spot in the Guiness Books of World Records.
Nokomia Joyner's clown collection now has more than 5,000 clowns.
Nokomia Joyner (right) holds her first clown named Peewee.
Joyner's collection includes clowns of various sizes and materials.
In the outskirts of Barnwell County lives 80-year-old Nokomia Joyner and her collection of over 5,000 clowns.
Known by her family lovingly as ‘Comy,’ a nickname born out of her refusal to be called ‘grandma’ and her grandchildren’s inability to say Nokomia at a young age, Joyner never intended to start collecting clowns.
Her retirement from the Savannah River Plant (SRS) in 1997 is when Joyner’s collection began to exponentially grow, but it started over a decade before in 1985 with a clown named PeeWee.
“I was in the hospital in ‘85, and one of the girls I worked with came to see me. Instead of bringing me flowers, she brought me PeeWee,” said Joyner.
PeeWee was the first of many to come into the company of Joyner. Although she never had a particular fascination with clowns, something about the statue’s presence sparked her interest to look for more.
Just about two years later, Joyner had to move her collection outside of her home due to its growth.
“I had them in the attic until I could build a house. We filled that house up, and then we built another,” said Joyner.
Two buildings sit on Joyner’s property, each with a clown on the door hand-painted by her son, completely filled with clowns.
While a night in these buildings may be the worst nightmare of some, it is a source of enjoyment and togetherness for Joyner and her family.
“She's been doing it for so long, and I’ve watched her collect them growing up,” said Tiffany Zieman, Joyner’s granddaughter.
Each clown is unique in some way, and Joyner tries to not have duplicates.
“There are some out there that are close, but one can have a hat and the other can have a stocking cap so they’re still different,” said Joyner.
In recent years clowns have been depicted as scary, when many are the exact opposite.
“When we were young, we couldn't wait to go to the carnival,” said Zieman, who finds nostalgia in the bright colors and exciting atmosphere of the circus. This is where her connotation of a clown lives rather than in movies depicting clowns creeping in sewers.
Zieman keeps an eye out for clown memorabilia in every store she enters from antique stores, flea markets, thrift stores, and even Halloween novelty stores.
“It’s like treasure hunting, but with clowns,” said Zieman, who has even painted some clowns on canvas for her grandmother.
Now that Joyner’s collection has grown into two buildings and reached nearly 6,000 clowns, her family thinks it could be record breaking.
The Guiness Book of World Records is known for maintaining world records for a slew of things ranging from the longest fingernails to the longest domino chain using mattresses, and Joyner hopes to be included for the largest collection of clowns.
The largest collection of clown-related items is 4,348 and was achieved by F.M. Kahn (Germany) in Hoogvliet, Netherlands, in April 2017, according to Guiness World Records.
Aside from clowns, she also collects Barbie dolls, but Joyner’s collections are not the only thing she is known for around Barnwell County.
“People know that she collects clowns, but she's known for cooking,” said Zieman. “Everyone knows if Comy cooked it, it’s good.”
Joyner worked on eight-hour shifts during her 15-year career at SRS and would always cook breakfast for her coworkers.
She would cook three pans of 30 biscuits, for the 16 people on her shift, and not one of the 90 biscuits would be left by the time breakfast was over.
“I always want to make things better,” said Joyner.
A comfort in cooking is something that has been passed from Joyner to Zieman, who revels in compliments comparing her cooking to that of her grandmother’s. However, the fate of the thousands of clowns are yet to be determined.
“Right now, I’m going through radiation treatments. But I can’t leave my family, I have to be here to fuss at them,” said Joyner laughingly.
Zieman hopes she and her family can move Joyner’s collection to a brick-and-mortar location if deemed a record by the Guinness World Records. They hope this will serve as a spot for tourism and give Barnwell County another unique namesake.
Joyner is always looking to grow her collection and with help breaking the world record. If you have clown memorabilia in need of a good home, contact Tiffany Zieman at tippyfay@gmail.com.
