"I had a bag of about 100 in my closet at my mom's place, and my mom decided it was time for her to reclaim that space," Trauman said. "I had to decide whether to throw them away or keep them. So, I kept them, and decided 'I'll just get the rest.' Little did I know what that would entail!"
Trauman said he started out by getting some cheaper dispensers off eBay before moving on to the more rare and expensive items. He said several more PEZ dispensers came as gifts from friends and family.
"My sister gave me a Yoda PEZ to help me study for the bar exam," he said. "There were others along the way."
The collector said some of the dispensers in his North Caldwell home have been valued at more than $10,000.
He said two of his rarest items are PEZ dispensers bearing the likenesses of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
"Very few of these were ever made, and they were auctioned off by PEZ to raise money for Make a Wish," he said. "I won an auction and made a sizable donation to the charity, in exchange for these dispensers."
