PEZ - Old and Valueable

PEZ was first marketed as a compressed peppermint sweet or candy in Vienna, Austria. It was invented in 1927 in Vienna by a confectioner named Eduard Haas III. Haas invented peppermints using family owned baking powders, and decided to serve the mints in small, hand-size containers. He manufactured a small tin to hold the mints, similar to the modern Altoids tins. The first PEZ mint dispensers, known as "regulars," were similar in shape to a cigarette lighter, and dispensed an adult breath mint marketed as an alternative to smoking. They were invented by Oscar Uxa. Haas Food Manufacturing Corporation of Vienna, Austria, was the first to sell PEZ products.

World War II slowed marketing and production. In 1945, manufacturers devised and promoted the PEZ Box Regular. In 1952 Eduard Haas introduced his product to the United States, and Curtis Allina headed PEZ's U.S. business. In 1955, the PEZ company placed heads on the dispensers and marketed them for children. Santa Claus and Mickey Mouse were among the first character dispensers. Since 1950, over 550 different PEZ dispensers, including the original character dispensers have been created.

In 1973, PEZ built their factory in Orange, Connecticut. In 1983, Scott McWhinnie became the president of the PEZ company. He would retire in 2003, transferring the presidential position to Joe Vittoria. In the 1990s the size of the plant was doubled, the PEZ dispenser was expanded, and peppermint flavored PEZ candies were reintroduced along with remakes of the 'regulars.'

In early 2006 the family of the original founder of the company bought back 32.5% of the stock from investment company PGH for €18M. They now own 67.5% of the company. The headquarters are in Traun, Austria. The PEZ candies are produced in Traun and Orange, Connecticut, while the dispensers are produced in Hungary and China.

Some PEZ dispensers can sell for large amounts as collectibles. The highest verifiable sale of PEZ dispenser was a private sale of a Mickey Mouse softhead at $7000 between an Austrian dealer and a California collector. This dispenser was never available for sale to the public, and was a factory prototype. The high prices which some PEZ items fetch has led to the manufacturing of fake PEZ items as well. The 2006 EBAY sale of a clear 50s Space Gun for $11,000 took place but according to noted PEZ author, David Welch, the dispenser was later proven by chemical testing to be a well made fake. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/PEZ-,category,1892,parent_id,categories

PEZ - More Than Just Candy

PEZ is the brand name of an Austrian confectionery and the pocket mechanical dispensers it was sold in. The confectionery itself takes the shape of pressed, dry, straight-edged blocks (15mm (5/8 inch) long, 8mm wide and 5mm high), with PEZ dispensers holding 12 PEZ pieces.

The name PEZ was derived from the letters at the start, the middle and the end of the German word for peppermint, Pfefferminz, the first PEZ flavor. PEZ was originally introduced in Austria, later exported, notably to the U.S., and eventually became available worldwide. The all-uppercase spelling of PEZ echoes the trademark's style of type on packaging and the dispensers themselves, drawn in perspective and looking as if the letters were built out of 44 brick-like PEZ confectioneries (14 bricks in the P and 15 in each of the E and Z).

Despite the widespread recognition of the PEZ dispenser, the company considers itself to be primarily a confectionery company, and says it produces over 3 billion confectionery bricks each year in the U.S. alone. PEZ Dispensers are part of popular culture in many nations. Because of the large number of dispenser designs over the years, PEZ dispensers are collected by enthusiasts. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/PEZ-,category,1892,parent_id,categories

Beanie Babies - Do you Have a Rare One?

During the Beanie Baby craze, the rarest general issue beanie, according to the Winter 2000 edition of Ty Beanie Babies, published by Collectors Value Guide, was considered to be the dark blue variation of "Peanut" the elephant. Peanut was available well into 1998 in a lighter hue, but the dark blue version that was only made accidentally in 1995 rose in value because of its scarcity. "Nana the monkey" was considered the second rarest Beanie Baby; because only a few early 3rd gen tags use that name instead of Bongo. The early wingless version of "Quackers" the duck, "Chilly" the polar bear, the earlier versions of "Nip" and "Zip" the cats, "Peking" the panda bear; a series of colored bears named "Teddy" (which are even harder to find with the earlier "old face"), and "Humphrey" the camel also command high prices. Some special edition Beanies, such as the #1 Bear or the Billionaire bears (which are only available as gifts to Ty employees), are hard to come across and highly valued. Earlier editions of common Beanie Babies (particularly with first or second generation hang tags) are often sought-after by collectors. Particular hang tag variations in mint condition continue to make record prices on eBay.

In the hysteria of the late 90s, the bears were perceived to be the most sought-after beanies, and often carried inflated price tags - however, many of the popular bears have since turned out to be fairly common.

MOST NOTABLE BEANIES

Garcia the bear

Garcia the bear was released in January 1996 and retired in May 1997. He is a tie-dyed bear that seems to be a tribute to Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead. The band used to use a set of colored dancing bears as their logo. The guitarist and the bear share a birthday, but the bear was supposedly "born" the year that Jerry died. The fast retirement for this Beanie Baby was due to an alleged lawsuit that the Garcia family filed against the Ty company, claiming that the name "Garcia" was used without permission from the family. In cooperation with the lawsuit, Garcia was retired and a similar bear named Peace was released.

The bright colors on Garcia the bear made him one of the most popular Beanie Baby styles. Many people enjoy trying to find different colors on Garcia and community of tie-dye collectors continue to make the bear's value unpredictable.

Princess the bear

Princess the bear was released in late 1997 as a charity release for the Princess, Diana of Wales Memorial Fund. All of Ty Inc's profits from the bear were donated to the fund. Many people expected the bear to become a major celebrity collectible, but the Ty company continued to make the bear well into 1999 so that they could raise more money for the charity. Princess is also notable as the first Beanie Baby to feature a special hang tag that does not clearly fit in with any particular hang tag generation.

It's also important to note that Princess the Bear was one of the very first Beanie Babies that Ty limited to stores. In its first shipment to stores, each account only received twelve of the bear to do with as they wished. Many stores auctioned it to help raise money, others kept the twelve for its store employees, yet others sold it normally. Ty manufactured the Princess Bear with two different types of "beans" within the bear itself. The PE pellets were in the original 12 to every account, and the PVC pellets came later, and is why the Princess Bear's value is really only determined by the styled of pellets inside. After the PVC pellets were introduced in Princess, Ty began to make all his Beanies with PVC pellets.

Decade the bear

Decade the bear was made in honor of Beanie Babies' tenth anniversary. Decade bears were made in white, royal blue, red, purple, orange, hot pink, green, gold, brown, and light blue. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Beannie-Babies,category,1874,parent_id,categories

Beanie Babies - Good While They Lasted

A Beanie Baby is a stuffed animal made by Ty Inc., which was founded by Ty Warner. The Ty company's famous special "posable lining" is under stuffed with plastic pellets (or "beans") rather than stuffing (see PVC and PE), giving Beanie Babies a flexible and cuddly feel. A Beanie Baby is essentially a fancy bean bag in the form of a stuffed animal.

The original nine Beanie Babies launched in 1993 were Legs the Frog, Squealer the Pig, Spot the Dog, Flash the Dolphin, Splash the Whale, Chocolate the Moose, Patti the Platypus, Brownie the Bear (later renamed "Cubbie") and Punchers the Lobster (later renamed "Pinchers"). The line became a phenomenon in the late 90s when Beanie Babies became both a fad and a collectible. Ty decided to stop making Beanies in 1999; however, consumer demand made Ty Warner change his mind. He continues to run Ty Inc. and design new Beanie Babies to this day.

Teenie Beanies, an offshoot of the Beanie Babies line, were made by additional manufacturers for a few McDonalds Happy Meal promotions.

Beanie Babies began to emerge as popular collectibles in late 1995, and became a hot toy. Ty systematically retired various designs, and many people assumed that all "retired" designs would rise in value the way that early retirees had. The craze lasted through 1999 and slowly declined after the Ty company's announcement that they would no longer be making Beanie Babies and made a bear called "The End". The line was brought back with completely new styles in early 2000 as a result of an online vote over whether more Beanies should be released. Many believe that the mass retirement and subsequent revival were a publicity stunt, but Beanie Babies had fallen out of favor with many children by the time the line was relaunched. In recent years, the popularity of Beanie Babies has continued to fade. Some of the more common styles can be found fairly cheaply. New Beanie Baby designs continue to be released, and increasingly include bears and limited edition items. On December 27, 2007, Ty made a massive retirement of its Beanie Baby line, retiring over 240 styles of Beanie Babies, leaving only licensed characters, key-clip versions of popular Beanie Baby styles, popular store exclusives and country exclusives as current. On January 2, 2008, Ty introduced a "replacement" line called Beanie Babies 2.0, the next generation of the beanbag toys. While the aforementioned current styles will continue to be produced and special Beanie Babies will be released, the remainder of future retail styles will be produced under the new line, in which collectors can purchase their Beanies and use a scratch-off code to go online and play with their new pet in a virtual world, much akin to other collectibles like Neopets and Webkinz.

The tags on Beanie Babies are considered a very important part of its value. It is widely believed by collectors that a Beanie without a tag loses half of its value. Every Beanie Baby has at least two tags: a swing tag (also known as a "hang tag", "ear tag" or "heart tag"), and a tush tag (usually attached to the Beanie's rear end). Both tags have gone through many changes over time; these changes have become known as "generations". There are currently 15 generations of swing tags and 13 generations of tush tags. Additionally, there are also extra tags for certain regions that include things like safety information to comply with the Canadian Stuffed Articles Act or the CE Mark requirements in Europe.

A few tag "generations" have become particularly noteworthy. Most Beanie Babies with first, second, or third generation hang tags have held their value (or in the case of some harder to find styles, increased in value), while fourth and fifth generation hang tags indicate Beanies that were available during the Beanie fad. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Beannie-Babies,category,1874,parent_id,categories

Barbie - Competition has Arrived

In June 2001, MGA Entertainment launched the Bratz range of dolls, a move that would give Barbie her first serious competition in the fashion doll market. In 2004 sales figures showed that Bratz dolls were outselling Barbie dolls in the United Kingdom, although Mattel maintained that in terms of the number of dolls, clothes and accessories sold, Barbie remained the leading brand. In 2005 figures showed that sales of Barbie dolls had fallen by 30% in the United States, and by 18% worldwide, with much of the drop being attributed to the popularity of Bratz dolls.

Mattel sued MGA Entertainment for $500 million alleging that Bratz creator Carter Bryant was working for Mattel when he developed the idea for Bratz. On July 17, 2008, a federal jury ruled that the Bratz line was created by Carter Bryant while he was working for Mattel. The jury also ruled that MGA and its Chief Executive Officer Isaac Larian were liable for converting Mattel property for their own use and intentionally interfering with the contractual duties owed by Bryant to Mattel. On August 26, the jury found that Mattel would have to be paid US $100 million in damages.

On December 3, 2008, U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson banned MGA from selling Bratz. He allowed the company to continue selling the dolls until the winter holiday season ended. The ruling will be in effect on February 11, 2009 at the earliest, and Mattel and MGA will meet in court on that date. According to the terms of the court order, after the end of the holiday season, MGA must remove, at its own cost, all the Bratz dolls from store shelves, including the reimbursement of the cost of the dolls and all shipping costs to its vendors and distributors. The court gave exceptions for some toys if they are packaged separately from infringing toys. MGA announced that it would be appealing against the court's ruling.

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Barbie - A True Collectors Item

Mattel estimates that there are well over 100,000 avid Barbie collectors. Ninety percent are women, at an average age of 40, purchasing more than twenty Barbie dolls each year. Forty-five percent of them spend upwards of $1000 a year.

Vintage Barbie dolls from the early years are the most valuable at auction, and while the original Barbie was sold for $3.00 in 1959, a mint boxed Barbie from 1959 sold for $3552.50 on eBay in October 2004. On September 26, 2006, a Barbie doll set a world record at auction of £9,000 sterling (US $17,000) at Christie's in London. The doll was a Barbie in Midnight Red from 1965 and was part of a private collection of 4,000 Barbie dolls being sold by two Dutch women, Ietje Raebel and her daughter Marina.

In recent years Mattel has sold a wide range of Barbie dolls aimed specifically at collectors, including porcelain versions, vintage reproductions, and depictions of Barbie as a range of characters from television series such as The Munsters and Star Trek.^[48][49] There are also collector's edition dolls depicting Barbie dolls with a range of different ethnic identities. In 2004 Mattel introduced the Color Tier system for its collector's edition Barbie dolls, ranging through pink, silver, gold and platinum depending on how many of the dolls are produced.

Barbie celebrates her 50th anniversary in 2009, and Mattel released a new reproduction of the original 1959 Barbie doll to mark the occasion. This blog brought to you by http://www.thecollectorsbay.com/Dolls--Barbie,category,1884,parent_id,categories

Barbie - Popularity brings Controversy

Barbie's popularity ensures that her effect on the play of children attracts a high degree of scrutiny. The criticisms leveled at her are often based on the assumption that children consider Barbie a role model and will attempt to emulate her.

One of the most common criticisms of Barbie is that she promotes an unrealistic idea of body image for a young woman, leading to a risk that girls who attempt to emulate her will become anorexic. A standard Barbie doll is 11.5 inches tall, giving a height of 5 feet 9 inches at 1/6 scale. Barbie's vital statistics have been estimated at 36 inches (chest), 18 inches (waist) and 33 inches (hips). According to research by the University Central Hospital in Helsinki, Finland, she would lack the 17 to 22 percent body fat required for a woman to menstruate. In 1965 Slumber Party Barbie came with a book entitled How to Lose Weight which advised: "Don't eat." The doll also came with pink bathroom scales reading 110 lbs., which would be around 35 lbs. underweight for a woman 5 feet 9 inches tall. In 1997 Barbie's body mold was redesigned and given a wider waist, with Mattel saying that this would make the doll better suited to contemporary fashion designs.

During Barbie's 50th anniversary, BBC did a follow-up article on what a real woman would look like with Barbie's proportions, and discovered that real-life model Libby would have a 20 in. waist and 29 in. hips with her 5'6" height, and a 28 in. waist and 40 in. hips if she was 7'6" tall.

In July 1992 Mattel released Teen Talk Barbie, which spoke a number of phrases including "Will we ever have enough clothes?", "I love shopping!", and "Wanna have a pizza party?" Each doll was programmed to say four out of 270 possible phrases, so that no two dolls were likely to be the same. One of these 270 phrases was "Math class is tough!" (often misquoted as "Math is hard"). Although only about 1.5% of all the dolls sold said the phrase, it led to criticism from the American Association of University Women. In October 1992 Mattel announced that Teen Talk Barbie would no longer say the phrase, and offered a swap to anyone who owned a doll that did.

• "Colored Francie" made her debut in 1967, and she is sometimes described as the first African American Barbie doll. However, she was produced using the existing head molds for the white Francie doll and lacked African characteristics other than a dark skin. The first African American doll in the Barbie range is usually regarded as Christie, who made her debut in 1968. Black Barbie and Hispanic Barbie were launched in 1980.
• In 1997 Mattel joined forces with Nabisco to launch a cross-promotion of Barbie with Oreo cookies. Oreo Fun Barbie was marketed as someone with whom little girls could play after class and share "America's favorite cookie." As had become the custom, Mattel manufactured both a white and a black version. Critics argued that in the African American community Oreo is a derogatory term meaning that the person is "black on the outside and white on the inside," like the chocolate sandwich cookie itself. The doll was unsuccessful and Mattel recalled the unsold stock, making it sought after by collectors.
• In May 1997 Mattel introduced Share a Smile Becky, a doll in a pink wheelchair. Kjersti Johnson, a 17-year-old high school student in Tacoma, Washington with cerebral palsy, pointed out that the doll would not fit into the elevator of Barbie's $100 Dream House. Mattel announced that it would redesign the house in the future to accommodate the doll.
• In March 2000 stories appeared in the media claiming that the hard vinyl used in vintage Barbie dolls could leak toxic chemicals, causing danger to children playing with them. The claim was rejected as false by technical experts. A modern Barbie doll has a body made from ABS plastic, while the head is made from soft PVC.
• In September 2003 the Middle Eastern country of Saudi Arabia outlawed the sale of Barbie dolls, saying that she did not conform to the ideals of Islam. The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stated "Jewish Barbie dolls, with their revealing clothes and shameful postures, accessories and tools are a symbol of decadence to the perverted West. Let us beware of her dangers and be careful." In Middle Eastern countries there is an alternative doll called Fulla which is similar to Barbie but is designed to be more acceptable to an Islamic market. Fulla is not made by the Mattel Corporation, and Barbie is still available in other Middle Eastern countries including Egypt. In Iran, Sara and Dara dolls are available as an alternative to Barbie.
• In December 2005 Dr. Agnes Nairn at the University of Bath in England published research suggesting that girls often go through a stage where they hate their Barbie dolls and subject them to a range of punishments, including decapitation and placing the doll in a microwave oven. Dr. Nairn said: "It's as though disavowing Barbie is a rite of passage and a rejection of their past."
• On February 12, 2009, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader Barbie won the inaugural TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award for the worst toy of the year. The award was given by the campaign for a Commercial-free Childhood for its "...host of harmful expectations about what girls are supposed to be like."
• In March 2009, West Virginia Delegate Jeff Eldridge introduced a bill to "ban the sale of Barbie dolls and other dolls that influence girls to be beautiful" within the state of West Virginia. The bill does not provide a punishment for violation, and Delegate Eldridge admitted that the bill "doesn't have a lot of teeth."
• In April 2009, the launch of a "Totally Tattoos" Barbie with a range of tattoos that could be applied to the doll, including a tramp stamp, led to controversy. Mattel's promotional material read "Customize the fashions and apply the fun temporary tattoos on you too", but Ed Mayo, chief executive of Consumer Focus, argued that children might want to get tattooed themselves.
• The word Barbie has come to be used as a derogatory slang term for a girl or woman who is considered shallow, most notably in the 1997 pop song Barbie Girl (see Parodies and lawsuits below).
  

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