CAÑON CITY — Around town, John Butts is known as the Pezident, thanks to his prolific collection of Pez candy dispensers, the novelty candy close to many baby boomers’ hearts. Butts, the chief custodian at Washington Elementary School, began collecting the dispensers about 13 years ago, after inheriting a dozen or so of them from his predecessor, who distributed the candies to encourage a peaceful lunchtime cafeteria. Today, whenever the Dutch door of his Pez-studded office is open, the jovial Pezident freely distributes candy to students. Claire Martin
Q: Good Lord! How many Pez dispensers do you have in there?
A: Give or take 50 to 100, probably about 1,300. At home, I have probably 8,000 to 10,000.
Q: Where do you get them?
A: For years, I had a confectioner’s license, which allowed me to buy them by the case. It’s easier to collect whole sets that way. And when my partner and I travel to Europe in the summer, I take an empty trunk that’s 4 by 2 feet and 2 1/2 feet deep. Then we go to pharmacies and grocery stores while everyone else in the group is at the tourist attractions.
Q: European Pez is different from Pez in the U.S.?
A: Yes. Different characters. There’s one Disney set that includes characters that aren’t in the American version of the same set.
Q: Did your confectioner’s license cover Europe, too?
A: No, I just buy the European Pez one at a time. You can get a European Pez for $1 there, and they’re worth $18 here. That’s how we finance our vacations.
Q: You sell these as well?
A: Oh, yes. You get 72 pieces in a case, and once you’ve taken out your sets, what are you going to do with the rest? During the summer, we took them to the Colorado Springs flea market and got rid of them for 50 to 75 cents apiece. Once we had enough money accumulated, we’d buy another case.
Q: Do you have a favorite?
A: Yeah. My favorite is the plain ol’ — wait, I’ll show you. It’s this one, which started the whole mess. It’s a Pez regular patent 2.1620, the one that the company’s Austrian founder, Edward Haas, originally sold.
Q: Why is the number important?
A: It tells you how old it is. In the 1970s, the patent numbers start at 3-something, and now they’re up to 6-something. Older ones are worth more.
Q: So is your Pez collection going to finance your retirement?
A: Who knows? Maybe. But in the late ’90s, early 2000s, that’s when Pez collecting was really in. Then eBay made it a lot easier, and the prices went down. People are still collecting, but now you have to be into it for the love more than the moneymaking.
Q: And what happens to your school collection when you retire?
A: I hope that the next custodian will continue the tradition! The kids love it. Some of these are from kids.
Q: Really?
A: They’ll tell me, “I have a Pez at home. I ate the candy, but do you want the dispenser? It’s really old. I’ve had it a year or two.” “I say, sure!” A year or two — that’s old to them.
