Dateline: August 28, 1999
Who hasn't had a PEZ growing up? Even if you aren't a collector, they are hard to resist with their cute colorful designs and so easy to pluck off the rack while standing in line at the supermarket or drug store. For many years a PEZ has been a standard addition to my kids Christmas stockings, if they had only kept them!
As a cross collectible PEZ is a real winner -- Disney, Looney Tunes, Star Wars, Santas, Garfield, Snoopy, Batman, Captain America. It's hard to think of licensed characters who aren't in the PEZ family. These small candy dispensers are not only inexpensive and fun to have, they can fit in well with the your other collections.
Along with the candy dispensers of numerous characters, there are PEZ Christmas Ornaments, key chains, cookie jars, watches, snow globes and diecast cars.
PEZ will always have a special spot in the heart of collectors worldwide. If it wasn't for PEZ, who knows if there would have ever been another auction site as popular as eBay. We might have been relegated to searching numerous small sites to find the collectibles we covet, instead of the one giant spot where everything is bought and sold.
PEZ History
The candy was sold in small tins for adults trying to quit smoking! PEZ was invented in 1927 by Austrian Edward Haas in the original flavor of peppermint. (PfeffErminZ) The first dispenser appeared in 1948 and was made to look like a cigarette lighter (think Bic), hoping to appeal to those who wanted to mask their smoking breath. It was called an "easy hygienic" dispenser. These early pieces are referred to as "regulars".
The first cartoon type of dispenser appeared a few short years later and it's thought to have been either a Mickey Mouse or Popeye.
The Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia
Approximately twenty miles south of San Francisco is a museum. Not an unusual place for a museum, but it is an unusual museum, The Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia. What a fun place this must be to visit! And apparently it has had lots of visitors if you take a look at all the media reviews. We all can't travel there by car, but as we all know, the best thing about the internet is the vast material brought right into our home with just a few clicks.
Visit Burlingame PEZ Museum of PEZ Memorabilia online!
Also Read:
- PEZ Facts, Trivia and Collectibles
- Richie Belyski Talks About PEZ
- Rare Astronaut PEZ
- eBay 2004 PEZ Exclusive
- FAO Schwarz Swarovski PEZ
- Pricing PEZ Links
From eBay
| From eBay's company history: "eBay was conceived initially as a result of a conversation between Pierre Omidyar and his wife, an avid PEZ collector (she currently covets a collection of more than 400 dispensers). She commented to Pierre how great it would be if she were able to collect PEZ dispensers and interact with other collectors over the Internet." |
