Jim Blaine first noticed a PEZ candy dispenser in a gas station store and bought it, thinking the plastic candy container was “kind of cool.”
At a flea market, Blaine found another dispenser, different from the first and just as unique. He bought the PEZ pink cardboard box containing 36 dispensers from Europe.
“I saw them and thought it was kind of cool. It kind of became a feel-good moment,” he said about finding new dispensers. “I'd see them, and say, ‘Here's a new one I don't have.’ I bought 30-some boxes, and then I started getting involved in the PEZ community.”
That was in 1999.
Today, the Hartland Township resident estimates that he has 17,000 PEZ dispensers, 4,000 of which are his personal collection while the rest he trades internationally with collectors as far away as Spain.
“It's more than collecting a plastic toy,” he said. “It's collecting memories.”
Shawn Petersen, a project manager for PEZ Candy Inc., said there “is definitely a collectability” to the popular candy dispenser. He said company leaders have tried to estimate the number of collectors, but it is an unattainable number.
“There are people who identify themselves as collectors and attend collectors’ conventions, but there are thousands who collect it and keep it to themselves,” said Petersen, whose PEZ collecting interest led to a job managing the company’s visitors' center.
Peterson and Blaine agreed that PEZ dispensers are popular because they are relatable.
PEZ Candy began in 1927 in Vienna, Austria, and was first marketed as a compressed peppermint candy. The first PEZ dispenser was introduced in 1948. In 1952 the candy came to the United States, where it is currently manufactured in Orange, Connecticut.
The first dispensers were a Santa, full-body robot and the Space Gun, which dispensed PEZ tablets.
Available in more than 80 counties, PEZ dispensers’ character has changed numerous times. The first licensed character featured was Popeye in the late 1950s, with Mickey Mouse following in the early 1960s, which also saw a change in the dispenser — stickers and die cuts.
The ever-popular Star Wars characters were introduced in the 1990s.
Since its beginning, PEZ has introduced interchangeable rubber-head character dispensers, feet to the bottom of the dispensers, and limited edition character sets.
“There’s a saying at PEZ,” Petersen said. “’You’re not famous until your head is on the PEZ dispenser.’ It needs to be something that resonates and is easily recognizable.”
The first living people to be feature on a PEZ dispenser were the Teutuls of Orange County Choppers. Since then, the company has completed a presidential series from George Washington to President Barack Obama.
Blaine, founder of Dad2Mom.org, which brings low-cost clothing to families, said collectors learn one thing quickly: One can never have a complete PEZ collection.
“There are so many variations,” he said. “Plus, you have American (versions) and European PEZ. … I’ve traded in 36 countries and know people all over the country.”
Blaine traded a PEZ with a man in Spain who sent him a PEZ from Spain as well as a handkerchief the man used when running with the bulls.
Blaine said his favorite is Dr. Skull, a dispenser from 1971.
When collectors find a favorite, they create what they call an “army.” To date, Blaine has 720 Dr. Skull dispensers, which he describes as a “cool little bald head with a missing tooth.”
“It’s the hunt and search,” he says. “I have another shipment with over 500 coming.”
Blaine houses his collection in a room in the family’s Hartland Township home. He said he and his wife have an understanding: She doesn’t go into the PEZ room and he doesn’t bring the PEZ out. His son also is collecting PEZ and has about 400.
Blaine said he finds his PEZ dispensers at garage sales or on Craigslist. The most he has spent on a dispenser is $250 for a rare, soft-head zombie dispenser. He also has a dispenser featuring Ralph Macchio, the actor from the movie “Karate Kid.”
Peterson said a man in upstate New York found a dispenser in his family’s belongings that was owned by the man's grandfather. When the man contacted Peterson, he knew it was a rare find.
“It was a political donkey dispenser from 1961 that was never released to the public,” Peterson said. “It belonged to his grandfather.”
The grandfather, who worked as an accountant for the candy company, received the dispenser from the PEZ Candy owner. He gave it to his children who played with it until the paint wore off.
The PEZ Candy officials helped the grandson negotiate a private sale. The sale price: $12,000, Peterson said.
Blaine enjoys sharing his PEZ locally. He will often put up a display in local libraries and recently had a Disney princess character display in one. As he finished creating the display, he heard a little girl excitedly tell her mother that Princess Ariel the mermaid was in the case and that was the one missing from her own collection.
Blaine reached into one of his boxes, pulled out a duplicate and handed it to the little girl.
“That is what collecting PEZ is all about,” Blaine said. “When you can make someone feel awesome.”
Contact Livingston Daily justice reporter Lisa Roose-Church at 517-552-2846 or lrchurch@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @LisaRooseChurch.
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