Unique PEZ packaging may command royal price

PEZ collectors are gathering this weekend in Stamford, CN, just in time for some royal chatter: The iconic candy company with its U.S. headquarters in Orange has created Prince William and Kate PEZ dispensers for an online charity auction.

It's a one-of-a-kind pair and it won't be mass produced, the company said – so the set commemorating the Wedding of the Century could well break the all-time record for a PEZ dispenser.

PEZ is auctioning the set on eBay's British website and will donate the proceeds to a charity supported by the royal couple, Starlight, for seriously and terminally ill children. Bids are open through April 17, in plenty of time for the buyer to bring the plastic prize to the April 29 nuptials.

PEZ collectors are holding their 13th annual convention, where they will trade and admire some of the rarer examples of the candy dispensers, which PEZ cranks out at a rate of about 80 million a year.

For the collectors, news of the royal couple dispenser is bittersweet. "Any publicity about PEZ is good because it brings more people into the hobby," said Richard Belyski of Myrtle Beach, S.C., editor of PEZ Collectors News and organizer of the convention.

But, he said, "I had people come to the convention and say, 'When are they going to sell more of them?' People would like to have a set and they're upset that they can't buy one, but PEZ people are very giving people, and they understand that the money is going to a good cause."

The company produces about 65 models a year of the dispenser, in plants in China and Hungary, said Keith Whitaker, vice president of marketing for PEZ Candy Inc. USA. The plant in Orange makes the candy itself for the U.S. market -- but the royal set will have candy made in Europe.

PEZ, with between 200 and 225 employees in Connecticut, is building a visitor center in Orange, which is scheduled to oepn in September, Whitaker said. It's rare for PEZ to produce one-of-a-kind dispensers, and of course the set could go to a royals collector, not a PEZ collector -- so the likely selling price is anyone's guess.

PEZ says the highest price ever fetched was $32,000 for the "Astronaut B" dispenser in 2006, but Belyski doesn't believe that sale ever closed. A verified sale was a space gun model for more than $6,000, he said, and the royal couple could go higher than that, especially since it's a charity sale.

"This wholly original item will symbolise appreciation for our extensive community of collectors as well as serving a charitable purpose. The 'eBay for Charity' auction enables us to achieve both these aims," said PEZ marketing chief Gabriele Hofinger.

Source: PEZ