unnumbered commemorating token were create to honour the 2011 wedding of Great Britain ’s Prince William and Kate Middleton . But perhaps the most typical was a bent of especially made PEZ dispenser with tiny shaping flop of the Royal couple , which bring a princely sum of $ 13,360 at a Greek valerian auction . Amazingly , that is n’t even the high-pitched price pay by a collector for a PEZ dispenser ; that honor goes to a limited - variant cosmonaut - theme dispenser that sell for $ 32,000 in 2006 [ source : Reuters ] .
There ’s just something about PEZ , a red gum confect that originated in Austria in the 1920s , and the odd piddling plastic statues it comes in – ordinarily semblance of sketch characters and costumed superheroes . Children are entertained when they campaign the triggers and figurine spew out petite brick of confect , like hen laying eggs . For Baby Boomers who grew up in the fifties and sixties when PEZ became a candy - store fixing , those little dispensers are a treasured mo of nostalgia . And to highbrow connoisseurs , the flyspeck polystyrene homages to drink down cultivation picture are fantastic model of American kitsch . But no matter what brought you to PEZ , you ’ll no doubt find " it is unacceptable to hold that small giraffe or Winie - the - Pooh or cowpoke dispenser in your hired man without tipping back the head and crowd the confect forward , " write Susan Kahn and Nina Chertoff in their record book " celebrate PEZ " [ informant : Kahn and Chertoff ] .
Our collective obsession with PEZ manifests itself in numerous ways . Enthusiasts check annual PEZ convention , avidly read publications like PEZ Collectors News , and thirstily bid for prized and/or rare PEZ figurine in Web auction sale . In fact , Silicon Valley entrepreneur Pierre Omidyar says he was inspired to find the phenomenally successful online mercantilism site eBay in part by his married woman ’s hobby of collecting PEZ dispensers [ reservoir : Lacy ] . In the nineties , PEZ mania even spread to the media and political worlds : The popular TV drollery " Seinfeld " air an sequence in which a Tweety Bird PEZ dispenser figured into the plot , and a Chicago Tribune columnist derided then - President Bill Clinton as a " PEZ dispenser of government programs " [ source : Balz ] . Today , there ’s even a holidaymaker drawing card devote to PEZ , the Burlingame , Calif. , Museum of PEZ Memorabilia [ seed : PEZ Museum ] .
In this article , we ’ll look at the nuances and temptingness of PEZ collecting , and tell you more about the PEZ museum . But first , get ’s take a look at the history and growth of PEZ .
PEZ Dispensers and Candy
Eduard Haas III , the Austrian confectioner who dreamed up PEZ , was born near Vienna in 1897 . He first became successful in the household grocery business by hawk a new brand of broil powder that made bar lighter . But in the mid-1920s , vernal Haas had an inspiration of his own . He bought peppermint oil from a chemist and used it to create tiny , sugar - based candy that he shaped like bricks to make them easy for a machine to wrap . The candy ’s name , PEZ , was an abbreviation of " Ppferrerminze , " the German Word of God for peppermint gum .
Haas ' unexampled candy get on in Vienna , and after World War II , the inventor looked for ways to branch out his market place . He settled on the melodic theme of market his peppermint to smokers who were trying to quit – or , if they could n’t resist puff away , they could expend PEZ to refreshen their breath [ source : MIT.edu ] . To that end , one of Haas ' employees , Oscar Uxa , designed the first PEZ dispenser , which was mean to resemble a cigaret lighter [ source : PEZ.com ] .
PEZ became a hit among fag - craving adults in Europe , with the help of sexy " PEZ girl " the companionship used in its advertising . But when Haas start selling the confect in the United States in 1952 , he was surprised to identify that it seemed to appeal mostly to American child . In 1955 , he altered his marketing scheme ; he created new fruit - flavored PEZ and put the heads of characters like Santa Claus and Popeye atop the dispenser . The repurposed candy and dispensers became an immediate hit , and the party presently come after with dispensers feature popular children ’s TV figures like Bozo the Clown and Casper the Friendly Ghost .
In 1970 , Haas , by then a loaded military personnel , sold the company , which proceed its phenomenal success by come up with conception like interchangeable heads , and feet that stabilized the dispensers so they could stand upright [ source : MIT.edu ] . The society also made a mint with dispensers found on characters like Darth Vader , Yoda and Chewbacca from the " Star Wars " films [ source : PEZ.com ] . Today , Orange , Conn.-based PEZ Candy Inc. ’s product are sold in more than 80 area across the world , and more than 3 billion of the confect are consumed in the United States alone annually [ beginning : PEZ.com ] .
Next , we ’ll expect at how PEZ dispensers became a collectors ' favorite .
PEZ Collectibles
small fry have been collecting their favorite PEZ dispenser for decennary , and today , with many of them still useable at low-cost price – a new Buzz Lightyear orDarth Vadercan be had for less than $ 5 – it ’s possible to begin a aggregation with allowance money or by ingest out a sneak loan from Dad ’s spare variety dish .
But there are also wad of adult hook on PEZ dispenser collecting . The pursuit really took off in the 1980s , and in the decade that follow , PEZ partisan begin to print guidebooks and a newssheet , PEZ Collectors News , and hold yearly convention [ source : Kahn and Chertoff ] .
Vintage , rare and particular - variation PEZ dispenser go for prices in the one C or even G of dollars , but equate to other sort of collectables , they ’re comparatively cheap . Additionally , the PEZ company , which had just about $ 50 to $ 100 million in 2009 gross revenue , on a regular basis comes out with new innovation , based upon everything from Hello Kitty and the latest Disney animated characters to the colors and Word of major - conference baseball and college sports teams [ source : Pacyniak ] . So there ’s an ever - blow up assortment for PEZ - heads to covet .
While PEZ collecting may seem like a small pastime , the collectors that scrutinize the tiny plastic figurine have an middle for item that might put some art historians to disgrace . Savvy collectors know that there are seven different components to a PEZ dispenser , and that older , more worthful time of origin dispensers made before 1963 have metallic element , rather than plastic hinges , and no feet [ author : Popapez.com ] . They also bonk that among the more than 450 sort of dispensers that have been issued since 1955 , there are three dissimilar versions of Santa Claus , including a full - soundbox version issued in 1955 , and there ’s aSalvador Dali - esque 1968 " Psychedelic Hand " dispenser with a hand that hold close a green orb [ sources : Popapez.com , Pez.com , Pez.com ] . They ’re intimate with the " Bride " and " hostess " dispensers , both issued in 1975 , and they ’re aware that the special confine - edition " Orange County Chopper " gift set , issued in 2006 , is the first ever to feature living people [ germ : PEZ.com , PEZ.com ] . They also know about the PEZ Museum , which we ’ll handle on the next page .
PEZ Museum
PEZ dispenser are such a curious turn of Americana that back in the late eighties , the Stamford , Conn. , Museum and Nature Center featured an assortment of them conspicuously in an exhibition , " mass and Their Collections . " The show was even write up in by a New York Times critic , who felt compelled to explain to readers that the dispenser " were bright colored charge card item about the size of a coffin nail lighter … crown by the head of Mickey Mouse , Popeye and other cartoon celebrities , which snap back so as to squirt the candy " [ source : The New York Times ] .
Since then , however , PEZ dispensers have arrive at their own unofficial shrine , the Burlingame , Calif. , Museum of PEZ Memorabilia . The museum , which is not consort with the company that makes PEZ , was show in the 1990s , when , in a spirit of notion , a computer dealer named Gary Doss and his wife Nancy began displaying PEZ dispensers between electronic wares . moderately before long , the PEZ dispenser were getting more attending than the reckoner , and the Dosses gradually converted their entire shop into a mecca for PEZ heads . Twelve thousand visitant a year , some from as far away as Japan and Australia , pay admission charge to wonder at the impressive aggregation of rare dispensers , including a rarefied Ananas comosus - wearing - sunglasses dispenser that took Gary Doss 12 years to find and cost him $ 3,000 to prevail . Also on showing are assorted PEZ - brand point , from vitamins to vending automobile , and a sign from the original PEZ manufactory in Austria . There ’s also an outsized replica of a PEZ snowman dispenser that stands nearly 8 foot ( 2.4 meters ) in tallness and is capable of holding 6,480 of the candy brick at a time [ source : Levy ] .
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