Are the kids suddenly into silver stacking? Maybe PAMP’s new PEZ homage is the reason

>We’ve seen a huge increase in the number of licenced franchises hitting the coin and bullion world, and fortunately, with a corresponding rise in quality and inventiveness as well. This new bullion release from PAMP is a particularly clever piece of commemorative memorabilia for a product that has long since entered popular culture – PEZ.

The way the iconic candy is being celebrated iis through the use of an actual working PEZ dispenser, into which you can put the solid fine silver tablets. Each tablet apes the dimensions of the original sweets, and carries a brand on one size and the composition on the other. There are six of the 5g pieces in the package, so just shy of a troy ounce in total weight.

Themed for the Christmas holiday, this is a limited package for which only 3,000 sets will be produced. PEZ enjoys not only a huge day to day following, but an active collectors market with fans paying big bucks for rare and unusual items from the companies almost century long history.

Available any time now with pre-orders about to start, this is a perfectly themed homage to an iconic brand, with plenty of potential for further themed releases in the future should demand warrant it. A cool release that clearly doesn’t take itself too seriously.

THE PEZ STORY

Pez (stylised as PEZ) is the brand name of an Austrian candy and associated manual candy dispensers. The candy is a pressed, dry, straight-edged, curved-corner block 15 mm (​5⁄8 inch) long, 8 mm (​5⁄16 inch) wide, and 5 mm (​3⁄16 inch) high, with Pez dispensers holding 12 candy pieces.

1927 – PEZ is born when Austrian Eduard Haas II introduces tins of peppermint candy. known as ‘Pffefferminz’ in German, hence PEZ.

1949 – After years of selling them in small tins, the inventor Oscar Uxa patents a small mechanical dispenser and shows it at the Vienna Trade Fair that same year. It held 12 tablets, just as the latest dispensers do.

1952 – PEZ sets up operations in the USA in New York City and gets their first dispenser patent

1956 – A dispenser styled like a space gun is released, followed a year later by a three-dimensional character head, and then a year after that, their first licenced dispenser – Popeye.

1960’s – The range of flavours and character styles increases dramatically, with unusual flavours like Chlorophyll and Flowers.

1973 – The company finally starts manufacturing the candy in the US after decades of production in Europe.

1978 – New interchangeable rubber head character dispensers are introduced.

1984 – Little tabs are added to the dispenser base to allow it to stand up. These feet are used by collectors to date and value vintage dispensers.

1991 – PEZ becomes part of popular culture with the first collector convention in Ohio. Just two years later, PEZ hits the cover of People magazine and is the star of a Christies auction in New York.

2000 – The first furry ‘plush’ dispenser launches.

2005 – Star Wars comes to PEZ, followed by American Chopper family, the Teutals, in 2006 and Mickey Mouse in 2007, the last of those celebrating the 80th anniversary of PEZ.

Today, PEZ remains super popular with over 70 million dispensers sold annually, along with 5 billion candies across 90 countries. A new range of designs are released in a catalogue every year.