Eduard Haas III Original 1920-30's Unopened Austrian Pez Dispenser

PEZ first came on the market in 1927. Eduard Haas lll was convinced that his tiny mints could be of use to those unfortunates who were trying to kick the cigarette habit. The original choice of flavors was limited to one, namely, peppermint. The lozenge was named using the German spelling of peppermint. By extracting the letters P, E and Z from ‘pfefserminz’, voila, PEZ! Original versions of the mint were round and called PEZ drops. Next came the rectangular PEZ which proved easier for machines to wrap and significantly lowered production costs. The 1940’s saw the introduction of the dispenser, which used springs to deliver the mints, as a fresh look in containers for PEZ. Coming to America in 1953, the product was met with lukewarm interest. To generate more enthusiasm, Haas Food Manufacturing decided to introduce various fruit flavors and to redirect their marketing towards children using colorful, fun and crazy dispensers. The rest is confectionery history1 As far as serious PEZ collecting, it didn’t become popular until the 1990s when vintage PEZ dispensers began to literally skyrocket in price!