I just wanted to mention a great show that I've been addicted to lately, Toy Hunter. I'm guessing other PEZheads will really enjoy it too. It airs every Wed night on Travel Channel. For those who don't get that channel, there are lots of video clips and photos to check out at the website.
Each show is a half-hour and features Jordan Hembrough who travels around the U.S.A. in search of vintage and rare toys, usually from the 60's and 70's. His goal is to buy the toy and sell it for about twice what he paid for it. Think American Pickers (another one of my favs), but centered around toys, if you watch that show. He's a really likable guy and you can sense the excitement he still gets even after decades of dealing with toys.
One of my favorite episodes this season has got to be the one where Jordan is on a quest for Gene Simmons of KISS. He wants Jordan to locate and deliver an extremely rare KISS toy for Gene's personal collection. Below is a photo from the episode with Jordan acting like a dork and Gene looking annoyed.
I haven't seen any episodes yet that focus on PEZ, but I'm hopeful because in the background of some of the interviews with Jordan you can see giant Wolverine and Iron Man PEZ dispensers.
If you get excited hearing any of these then the show is for you too: Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, Transformers, A-Team, Mego, Mattel, Lite-Brite, View-Master, metal lunch boxes, etc...
Tonight I spotted three more golden PEZ dispensers for auction on eBay by one of the same sellers from yesterday. I wanted to share these with you in case you missed them. All three auctions end tomorrow (4/19).
The golden psychedelic eye is extremely cool, but the price is a bit too high for me (right now at $57.56 with the reserve not met). The same seller has an auction for a silver psychedelic hand with blue eye, which is going for about the same price.
Btw, for those curious about the one-of-a-kind golden flake regular that was listed for $550, the auction ended yesterday with no bidders. We'll see if it gets relisted someday with a lower price.
Tonight while browsing the listings on eBay I noticed a series of auctions with golden PEZ dispensers. There are 9 total auctions, 7 from one seller and 2 from another, all ending tomorrow (4/18). I just wanted to share this "golden moment" because it was so neat and unexpected to see all these golden PEZ grouped together.
Apparently, the second one from the bottom is the only one known to exist, so the Buy It Now price is deservedly high at $550. I recall seeing an auction awhile back for this same dispenser from the same seller, so we'll see if it sells this time.
While perusing eBay I noticed an auction for the complete set of series A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) released in the mid-1990's. I had forgotten there were so many variations to the set, so it was cool to see all 56 of them standing together.
There are three variations in this set: character (4), expression (2), and stem color (7). 4x2x7 = 56. PEZ math, thank you. ;-)
There are four characters: Raphael (red mask, top row), Leonardo (teal mask, 2nd row), Michelangelo (orange mask, 3rd row), and Rafael (purple mask, bottom row).
There are two expressions: angry (a.k.a. "with teeth") (left side) and happy (right side).
The stem colors are: orange, yellow, red, black, green, blue, and purple.
There actually are other slight variations on the stem, such as country (China, Slovenia, Austria, and Hungary) and spine thickness.
Apparently, there are quite a few collectors (me included) who don't have this complete set because the auction ended today at $96.83 with 32 bids. About $1.73 per dispenser. More PEZ math, thank you. ;-)
Now, if 56 TMNTs weren't enough, in 2005 a series B set was released (shown below). This set didn't have as many variations, only 4 (one of each character). It's interesting that the series B heads are different shades of green, while series A didn't have that variation (thankfully). Of course, to really be complete, series B comes in in both 4.9 and 5.9 patents (series A was all 4.9 patent).
Series B has a more serious/menacing look to it, since the pupils are no longer present (kind of like police officers wearing mirrored glasses!). However, series A could take down series B in a battle due to sheer numbers. ;-)
French collector Christian Pez has an excellent page devoted to both series A and series B TMNT Pez here. It looks like he has all 60 TMNT Pez in his collection, nice!
