Foster City resident unveils M&M’s collection

“I didn’t care about the candy, I just thought the toppers were cute,” he said. “They make me smile. I like the bright primary colors.”

With that purchase, Gordon’s fate as an M&M’s collector was sealed. He has since accumulated hundreds of candy dispensers, clocks, radios, watches and telephones that feature the wide-eyed smiling M&M’s characters in a variety of poses and outfits and in every available color.

About 40 pieces from his extensive collection are on display at the Foster City rec center through April 12, including the largest one he owns — a more than 3-foot tall yellow peanut M&M on wheels.

Most of the items showcased are a little over 1-foot tall and include M&M’s as athletes, dancers, scuba divers and firemen, to name a few examples. Most of them are able to move and dispense candy in clever ways, some talk and play music and others reflect moments in time, including one dispenser commemorating the turn of the new millennium and another one of an M&M playing the saxophone that was made during Bill Clinton’s presidency.

“It’s been satisfying having this exhibit here because I’ve seen little kids stopping and pointing to it and some taking pictures,” he said. “It’s very gratifying, but I don’t know if anyone else gets a bigger kick out of seeing them than me.”

Gordon, a longtime Foster City resident who sells eyewear for a living, has decorated his home office with much of his collection, including M&M’s lamps, an M&M’s cuckoo clock and he has a waterproof M&M’s radio in the shower. The rest of the collection lives in boxes in the attic.

“My wife doesn’t allow them downstairs,” he said. “I’m about to be 72 years old, but as my wife said, I have the mentality of a 5-year-old.”

His collection also includes M&M’s tin cans and glassware, but these days he sticks to plastics only.

Gordon purchased the items in his collection over the years at local supermarkets and drug stores and never online.

“That feels like cheating,” he said.

He began collecting M&M’s items long before the company opened two extensive retail stores in Las Vegas and in New York, the latter encompassing five floors of M&M’s merchandise.

“When I first went there I was euphoric,” he said, adding that on his latest visit he was underwhelmed. “I couldn’t find anything then that I don’t already own.”

He has never paid more than $25 for an M&M’s item, most of which today are only worth about as much as he paid for them, he said.

Gordon can recount the year and corresponding holiday when most of the M&M’s items he owns appeared in stores and has observed subtle changes in the characters since he began collecting them.

“They started to get more lively over the years,” he said.

In the past, Gordon has also collected toys from Jack in the Box restaurant, but these days collects M&M’s items exclusively. He’s also a card-carrying member of an M&M’s collectors club.

“I’m kind of known as the M&M’s man,” he said.

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 102