The story of PEZ begins with Eduard Haas III in Vienna Austria in 1927. Believe it or not, he developed these fun candies as an aid to quit tobacco use. The very name PEZ is an abbreviation of “Pfefferminz,” the German word for peppermint, and of course that was their original flavor.
The PEZ peppermints were originally round “drops” and available in rolls or pocket sized tins, but as they grew in popularity around Europe through the 30s and their shape evolved into the familiar brick we see today. In the late 1940s, Oscar Uxa patented the small mechanical PEZ dispenser. Called a “Regular” to look like a cigarette lighter and in 1949 they were introduced to the public. Obviously, the idea for these pocket-sized PEZ dispensers was a big hit!
After 1952 PEZ made its way to the United States and the creativity with both the dispensers and the candy flavors took off. Did you know chlorophyll, coffee, and flowers were all PEZ flavors? In a brilliant move, PEZ started making cute toy-like dispensers to increase the appeal to children. By 1973 PEZ was so popular in the states they opened a manufacturing plant a few hours away in Orange, Connecticut. In addition to custom characters, the dispensers started featuring the three dimensional heads of licensed characters in pop culture, like Popeye, along with historical figures like Betsy Ross.
From the 1970s and beyond, folks loved PEZ not only for the candy but for the variety dispensers they came with, and the desire to collect them grew. As we all know, pop culture has a direct effect on collectability, and the incorporation of fan favorite characters from Disney, DC Comics, Warner Bros., and Marvel attracted collectors of all ages. Today, PEZ is available in over 80 countries around the world, and you can find PEZ conventions throughout the year in different cities; There is even a PEZ visitors center you can visit in Orange, Connecticut, home of the largest PEZ memorabilia on display anywhere!
If you’re wondering what PEZ dispensers (if any) are valuable, don’t worry; I’m here to give you the scoop on that too. The ones that would bring in the biggest bucks are only a few of a kind: those include the “Political Donkey” (one of which belonged to JFK) and “Political Elephant” from 1961. Their estimates are over $10,000 each. Legend has it there is also an extremely rare variant from the 1978 PEZ Animals series where the Panther has green eyes and a black nose instead of the regular yellow eyes and pink nose. If you can find one of those, you’d be looking at an estimated value of $4,000. Another cool one to keep an eye out for is the 1972 Mr. Potato Head-like “Make-A-Face” dispenser. As the name implies, you could actually build custom faces for your PEZ dispenser with tiny accessories they provided. If you happen to have one of these sealed in its box with all its pieces intact, you’d be looking at a value over $3,000.
