PEZ Yearbook 2014

Interested in reading about fellow PEZ collectors and seeing cool photos of their collection?  Well then you definitely should check out the PEZ 2014 Yearbook.  You can preview the entire book or buy your own copy (6 inches by 9 inches).  The book is 148 total pages with 125 pages devoted to PEZ collectors (one per page) and 17 pages for PEZ conventions and gatherings.

One of the things I love about collecting PEZ is that it's international.  PEZ collectors from all over the world are represented in this yearbook.  Here's a breakdown of the collectors by country (16 countries):

USA: 95
Israel: 6
Canada: 4
Spain: 4
England: 3
Sweden: 3
Australia: 1
Austria: 1
Bahrain: 1
Belgium: 1
Croatia: 1
Estonia: 1
Finland: 1
France: 1
Indonesia: 1
Norway: 1

Each PEZ collector had the opportunity to include half a dozen photos of their collection and answer these 11 questions:

Name
Pez name
City, state, & country you live in
First Pez you owned
Your favorite Pez that you own
Favorite Pez you wish you owned
About how many Pez dispensers/Pez items are in your collection
How long have you been collecting for
How and why did you start collecting Pez
Any Pez awards or certificates or you have won or earned
Any other info you would like to include in your yearbook bio

Kudos to Aaron Lamay for organizing this project and releasing this fantastic PEZ yearbook!

Funny Faces

Back in the 1960's and 1970's there were candy dispensers known as Funny Faces.  These competed against PEZ in the marketplace and dispensed Smarties candies.  Below is a photo showing four Funny Face dispensers for auction on eBay now.  I enjoy the primitive looking graphics on the face and molded pocket and arms/hands on the stem.  These don't appear on eBay very often, so I was surprised to see them.  We'll see how the auction ends, but right now the bids range from $20 to $76.

UPDATE (11/30):  Two people did all the bidding and snatched up the Funny Face dispensers, with one person getting all but the Cherry dispenser.  The Egg dispenser went for $78.66, the Cherry dispenser went for $55.88, and the Lemon and Lime dispensers sold for $20 each.

Left-to-Right: Egg, Cherry, Lemon, and Lime

Presidential Series: Volumes 6 and 7, Stem Colors, and Vol. 9 Release Date

Just released this November are Vol. 6 and Vol. 7 of the Presidents of the United States PEZ series.  Below are photos showing the sets from PEZ.com.  I really like the detailed packaging with the continuing trend of alternating blue and red boxes.  The odd numbers in the series are blue and even numbers are red.

U.S. Presidents volume VI: 1909-1933 (L-R) William Taft, Calvin Coolidge, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Warren G. Harding.

U.S. Presidents volume VII: 1933-1969 (L-R) Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Something I was curious about was whether the PEZ stem color matched the party of the President or whether the color choice was random.  As we know, the expected color scheme is Red for Republican and Blue for Democrat.  So with the help of Wikipedia's List of Presidents of the United States I created the table below showing the party of each President and the PEZ stem color.

The bottom line is that the stem color does not appear to be random.  Out of the 35 Presidents released so far as PEZ, there are only 5 that conflict with Red for Republican and Blue for Democratic.  Specifically, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, and William Taft were all Republican Presidents, but their stem colors are Blue.  The 5th conflict is James Madison (Vol. 1) who was a Democratic-Republican, but the stem color is Blue.  

Democratic-Republican can be thought of as Republican, per the Wikipedia page: "Most contemporaries called it the Republican Party. Today, political scientists typically use the hyphenated version while historians usually call it the Jeffersonian Republicans, to distinguish it from the modern Republican Party, which was founded in 1854 and named after Jefferson's party."

The Whig party seems fair to be colored Red for Republican.  Each of the 4 Whig Presidents has a Red stem color.  Per the Wikipedia page: "The northern [Whig] voter base mostly joined the new Republican Party.  Most of the founders of the Whig party had supported Jeffersonian democracy and the Democratic-Republican Party.  Most remaining Northern Whigs, like Lincoln, joined the new Republican Party.  Succeeded by Republican Party."

The Federalist party seems fair to be colored Blue for Democratic, since at the time the Democratic-Republican party opposed the Federalists, similar to the situation of the modern Democratic party.  Per the Wikipedia page:  "The Federalist Party was the first American political party.  The United States' only Federalist president was John Adams.  Their political opponents, the Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, denounced most of the Federalist policies."

Our first President, George Washington, was an Independent, so the stem color could have gone either way in my opinion.  Red was the chosen color.

We'll see how the stem colors will turn out in volumes 8 and 9, but I'm guessing the Red for Republican and Blue for Democratic trend will (mostly) be followed.  :-)
 

	President	Stem Color	Party
1	George Wahington	Red	Independent
2	John Adams	Blue	Federalist
3	Thomas Jefferson	Red	Democratic-Republican
4	James Madison	Blue	Democratic-Republican
5	James Monroe	Red	Democratic-Republican
6	John Quincy Adams	Red	Democratic-Republican
7	Andrew Jackson	Blue	Democratic
8	Martin Van Buren	Blue	Democratic
9	William Henry Harrison	Red	Whig
10	John Tyler	Red	Whig / Independent
11	James Polk	Blue	Democratic
12	Zachary Taylor	Red	Whig
13	Millard Fillmore	Red	Whig
14	Franklin Pierce	Blue	Democratic
15	James Buchanan	Blue	Democratic
16	Abraham Lincoln	Red	Republican
17	Andrew Johnson	Blue	Democratic
18	Ulysses S. Grant	Red	Republican
19	Rutherford B. Hayes	Blue	Republican
20	James A. Garfield	Blue	Republican
21	Chester Arthur	Red	Republican
22	Grover Clevland	Blue	Democratic
23	Benjamin Harrison	Blue	Republican
24	William McKinley	Red	Republican
25	Theodore Roosevelt	Red	Republican
26	William Taft	Blue	Republican
27	Woodrow Wilson	Blue	Democratic
28	Warren G. Harding	Red	Republican
29	Calvin Coolidge	Red	Republican
30	Herbert Hoover	Red	Republican
31	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Blue	Democratic
32	Harry S. Truman	Blue	Democratic
33	Dwight D. Eisenhower	Red	Republican
34	John F. Kennedy	Blue	Democratic
35	Lyndon B. Johnson	Blue	Democratic

There are 9 total volumes planned with vols. 8 and 9 in Nov. 2015, per the release schedule at PEZ.com
 

Since the next U.S. Presidential election doesn't happen until Nov. 2016 and there are only 8 U.S. Presidents left to be made into PEZ dispensers, will vols. 8 and 9 each have only 4 Presidents?

Clear Test Stems

Up for auction on eBay is a unique set of PEZ dispensers I've never seen before.  A set of five crystal Halloween PEZ with clear stems!  Very cool looking set.  The clear crystal heads and clear stems look amazing together.

Below is info from the listing:
"Clear stems have never been mass produced or been available for sale to the public. These purpose built stems are designed to allow a close inspection of the molding process and verify the integrity of the mold and spring assemblies."

Interested in owning these?  Well, you've got some competition because there currently are 10 bids and the price is $325.  Auction ends this Monday 11/24.

Gruss vom Krampez

Gruss vom Krampez or Greetings from Krampez!

Krampus is the counterpart to St. Nicholas or Santa Claus.  Where St. Nicholas rewards good children with presents, Krampus scares naughty children, leaves them coal or birch sticks (ruten), or even carries them off in a basket!  Although mostly known in Europe, Krampus has been gaining popularity in American cities such as Los Angeles and was even featured in the TV show Grimm last December.

Christmas cards featuring Krampus are known as Krampuskarten and reportedly go back to the 1800s.  There are tons of variations of Krampus as you can see in this huge gallery of Krampuskarten.  Most often Krampus is depicted covered in black fur with horns, long tongue, and holding a bunch of sticks.

After learning about Krampus last year, I'd been thinking about creating a custom Krampus PEZ.  Something tells me the PEZ company will never create one. ;-)  After some trial and error, below are photos of what I came up with.  Master Shifu from Kung Fu Panda seemed like the perfect starting point.

In Austria, birthplace of PEZ, on the night of December 5th, Krampusnacht is celebrated each year.  On this night before St. Nicholas day, boots or shoes are left out and the next morning children find them filled with treats left by St. Nicholas, if they are good, or filled with coal or switches left by Krampus, if they are bad.

The Krampez Challenge:
Are you a veterean fantasy PEZ creator?  Or even a novice at making fantasy PEZ (like me)?  Interested in making your own version of Krampez?  Great, because I'd enjoy seeing it and featuring photos of your work here for others to see.  Just email me photos of your Krampez by November 30th.  Then on the night of December 5th I'll feature all the sumbitted photos in a new post, KramPEZnacht.

Happy Halloween

In honor of Halloween you'll find an assortment of PEZ treats below.  The images of the crystal Linz pumpkins / witches and Mr. Ugly / One-Eyed Monster / Octopus are from the excellent MoMoPez site.  The photos of display boxes and header cards are from the entertaining and informative McPEZ Kooky Zoo site.

Have a happy and spooky Halloween!

Halloween PEZ Piano

Each October I like to proudly display my Halloween PEZ on top of our family piano in the living room.  Below are photos showing my Halloween collection.  This year I added a red Linz pumpkin.  I couldn't resist including the Wicked Witch of the West from Wizard of Oz even though technically it wasn't released for Halloween.  I don't collect stem variations, so I decided to pass on this year's purple stem witch and green stem pumpkin.  

One day I'd love to add some Linz gathering pumpkins and some vintage PEZ to the Halloween collection (Eerie Spectres, Mr. Ugly variations, Universal Studios Monsters, Witch A and B, and Witch Regular).  Hey, if you're gonna dream, then dream big, right?! :-)

Sexy PEZ Advertising

In the 1950's PEZ advertising was much different than today.  During that time, PEZ was selling "regular" dispensers without the character heads for kids that we're familiar with now.  Regulars were being sold to an adult market, so the ever popular "sex sells" marketing approach was used, essentially featuring PEZ pin-up girls.  For an excellent article on this era, don't miss "The Sexy Side of PEZ!".  

Gerhard Brause was the graphic designer PEZ employed to create many of the iconic "PEZ girl" images we know.  His signature is shown on the Menthol Eucalyptus image below ("Schutzt vor Erkältungen" is German for "Protects against colds").  The four images above it are not signed and while they look very similar, they are probably modern reproductions of his style.

The PEZ Visitor Center has displays featuring many of the different PEZ girls, which can be viewed here.

The photo at the bottom shows the newly (2010) redesigned PEZ dresses by Lena Hoschek (middle in photo) and is from the PEZ International blog post "New styling for our PEZ ladies".  So even today, PEZ is still staying sexy!  

Menthol Eucalyptus PEZ Sign

Being a fan of both PEZ and Edward Gorey I was immediately drawn to this sign.  I've never seen a gloomy and rainy PEZ advertisement before, so this is unique.  Apparently, the sign originates from the former Czechoslovakia and is circa 1930.  Translated, "chran se vezmi" in Czech is "protect yourself and take" in English (I wasn't able to translate "Mlholi se", anyone know?).  So the message was that Menthol Eucalyptus PEZ would protect you on those cold, rainy days.  It measures 20 x 18 cm and is up for auction on eBay here until Sep 25, 2014 09:01:08 PDT.

Interestingly, today PEZ sells Fisherman's Friend "a menthol cough suppressant lozenge and one of the strongest and most effective cough and cold lozenge available."  Fisherman's Friend is "manufactured by Lofthouse of Fleetwood, LLC, located in Lancashire, England, and sold exclusively in the United States by PEZ Candy Inc."

MTV Moonman Giant PEZ

For those of you interested in adding the elusive MTV Moonman Giant PEZ to your collection, now is the time.  An eBay seller has reduced the price on these quite a bit.  Below is a photo showing the six different colors available: Pink, Gold, Green, Silver, Blue, and Black.

Months ago this same seller had each Moonman listed at $100 including shipping.  Recently the seller dropped the listing price to $40 plus $16 shipping.  Apparently the seller has a stockpile of these and is motivated to sell.

The Silver version was given away in celebrity gift baskets at the MTV Video Music Awards in August 2005.

Info from the eBay auction listing:

"In 2005 Brand New Products was commissioned to replicate a limited edition of the iconic MTV Astronaut award onto a giant PEZ dispenser. These Limited Edition High Gloss Silver Electroplated Dispensers were produced for an exclusive group of MTV V.I.P's during the awards ceremony in Miami Beach in 2005.

During the production process an even smaller 96 piece production run of test dispensers were made matching the (5) primary colors used on the MTV box design; Blue, Black, Yellow, Pink and Green."
 

Pezamania 2014 Convention Pucks

This has been a good year for those who like their PEZ pucks.  They have been very popular as convention dispensers this year.  Let's see... there were the PEZcific silver and gold pucks, the six FEB pucks from the ANPC, the six pucks from the Slovenia PEZ Convention, and most recently, six pucks from Pezamania 24.  Wow, 20 pucks!

Now technically, of the convention pucks mentioned above, only those from the Slovenia PEZ Convention are completely made by the PEZ company.  The other pucks have either a sticker (PEZcific) or metal pin (Pezamania) attached to a PEZ Visitor Center blank puck after manufacture.  Either way, these PEZ pucks are great and I wish I could have them all. :-)

Below is a photo showing this year's six different Pezamania pucks.  There are five different bubbleman variations and a single Peter PEZ puck.  The Peter PEZ puck was given to kids attending the Pezamania convention.

The following info was given to me by John Gliha, one of the Pezamania hosts...

Each of the bubbleman pucks are designed like coins and have mint marks - A for attendance, C for Charity, D for dealer and P for prize.  Very nice touch.

Green Charity Puck - 80 made  
Magenta Charity Puck - 120 made 
Yellow Attendance Puck - 80 made
Orange Prize Puck - 80 made
Blue Dealer Puck - 120 made
Kid's Puck - 80 made

There were (60) Puck sets made with all six pucks and most of the other pucks were given away at Pezamania, except for the Charity variations.  These were sold to collect Charity money.  Many of the Puck Sets of Six were donated to other Pez Conventions and Gatherings so that their hosts could raise money for Charity too.

Right now there is an eBay auction where you can bid on the complete set of six Pezamania pucks.  Current bid is only $9.99.  Auction ends Aug 22, 2014 19:01:25 PDT.

Hannibal Lecter Custom PEZ

Today I decided to browse Craigslist and came across this custom PEZ creation -- Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs!  Quite frightening I must say.  Great detail including the gurney.  I've never seen this on eBay before, so I thought I'd share this creepy PEZ with you :-)  I wouldn't mind adding this to my collection, but the seller doesn't ship and lives about 100 miles away, so I'll have to pass.  For those interested, here is the link.

 

  

St. Louis ANPC 2014 Photos

Be sure to check out these awesome photos of the 22nd ANPC (Annual National PEZ Convention) in St. Louis.  The photos were taken over 4 days (June 18-21) by Michael at PEZmonster.com.

I've never been to this PEZ convention before and I must say these photos really make me want to go.  I'm really digging the set of convention pucks too (photo below).

Thanks Michael for taking the time to photograph and share these so we all can enjoy!

Indian Chief Marbleized Headdress

The Indian Chief is an interesting and beautiful PEZ dispenser from the early 1970's that I hope to include in my collection one day.  I'm drawn to the amazing marbleized / swirled colors in the headdress.

Per the Warman's PEZ Field Guide 2nd Edition by Shawn Peterson: "The swirled headdress combinations are virtually endless.  It is rumored that the plastic used to make the headdress was molded from the ground up and re-melted remains of unsold Make-a-Face dispensers.  CAUTION: watch out for reproductions!".  

On that note... if you are considering buying one then please read this PDF file first, which discusses how to identify fake Indian Chiefs, One-Eye Monsters, Ponies, and Mimic the Monkeys that originated from Hong Kong.

The photos below are from scouring Google and eBay along with contributions from Jeff Chanesman.  I cropped the photos to focus on the headdress and tried to group them by color the best I could.

My favorites are the ones with blues and greens, how about you?

Anders Christiansen

Jeff Chanesman

Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia

Anders Christiansen

Jeff Chanesman

David Welch

David Welch

David Welch

Rob Yarak (PEZmorized)

Rob Yarak (PEZmorized)

Rob Yarak (PEZmorized)

BEWARE: This one is a fake!

Anders Christiansen