In the late 1980s and early 1990s, you weren't eating your candy properly unless you were eating it from a PEZ dispenser. We were a little late in catching on to them in America, though - they'd been available (and popular) in their native Germany since 1927. The name comes from what they used to contain - peppermints - which are known as 'pfeffermintz' in their home country. Rather than being a novelty, the original idea behind the tubes is that they would protect your candy from oxygen and touch damage until you were ready to eat them.
They started to become collectible when dispensers began to be released with the heads of famous cartoon, television and movie characters on them. The most obscure of these characters are the most wanted to complete people's collections. At the top of the tree is 'Astronaut B,' from the 1982 World's Fair - that's worth $32,000 all on its own!
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.