PEZ COLLECTION (2019-) by MTB/PAMP

Certainly one of the more inventive candy products released over the last century, PEZ has spawned an entire worldwide collector’s market because of the way it is sold and used. With most other sweets, you buy it, you eat it. Simples, to quote a meerkat. Not so with PEZ. The candy is simple enough, just small blocky hard sweets sold in a packet. But then you put them in a plastic dispenser that, when you push the head, releases one for you to eat.

The clever part comes with the dispenser itself. Tapping into the eclectic collector market, an ever expanding range of different designs began to appear, until we reach the stage today when they tap into all the big popular culture franchises. In an inspired move, MTB-PAMP brought the whole concept, in officially licenced form, to the silver bullion market.

Reproducing the candy ‘pills’ exactly, they ape the size and shape so exactly that they can be placed in any of the hundreds of different dispensers that have been released over the decades, although the producer has decided to sell them in themed sets with their own one. Each set contains six 5-gram 0.999 silver pills for a combined weight just shy of a troy ounce, and they come packaged in a single neat capsule.

For each release, a new dispenser is included with a unique design, and the rest of the packaging is themed to match. In a cool touch, the silver pills in each set carry a matching privy mark. The sets, with mintages in the 2,500 to 4,000 range, have managed to consistently sell out, and the series shows no sign of slowing down. A unique and inventive product, it’s easy to see why it’s popular.

2019 SNOWMAN SANTA (3,000)

2020 RUBBER DUCK (3,000)

2020 GINGERBREAD MAN (4,000)

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.

2021 HAPPY SPRING (3,500)

2021 SUNGLASSES EMOJI (4,000)

2021 CHRISTMAS ELF (5,000)

PRIVY-LESS STANDARD PILLS

With the silver pills having exactly the same dimensions as the original candies, and the almost countless variations in dispenser styles, PAMP-MTB have taken the obvious step in making the silver capsules available as a seperate item.

The only difference from the seperate custom issues is that these don’t have any form of privy mark.

 

Each pack comes with the same six capsules, each 5 grams in weight, so just under a troy ounce in total. The six come packaged in a neat container and the beauty of them, is that they fit in any of the thousands of dispensers that are on the market, covering almost every media franchise under the sun.

It’s hard to imagine a better way to get the young interested in stacking, as long as they don’t try to eat them. If you see bits of tooth scattered around the house, it’s fair to say your kid might not be the next Albert Einstein… 😉

2022 SANTA CLAUS (4,000)

2022 BUNNY (2,500)

2023 REINDEER (3,000)

2024 JULY THE 4TH (2,500)

2024 POLAR BEAR (3,500)

SPECIFICATION

PEZ COLLECTION
DENOMINATION Not applicable
COMPOSITION 0.9999 silver
WEIGHT 6 x 5.0 grams
DIMENSIONS 15.0 x 8.0 mm
FINISH Reverse-proof
MODIFICATIONS Shaped
MINTAGE varies (see headlines)
BOX / C.O.A. Yes / Yes

GALLERY