The beaming yellow face of Mr. Peanut greets visitors outside of the otherwise prim and stately historic Governor Calvert House.
“He’s cool, he’s dapper, he’s, need I say, sexy?” saidScott Schmitz, the president of the Peanut Pals Club, a group dedicated to the monocled mascot of Planters peanuts, during their annual meeting in Annapolis over the weekend.
By their own admission, these are the legume’s most “die hard” fans; if it’s related to Mr. Peanut, they either have it or they want it. Collectors, most of them grey-haired retirees from across the country, sat at tables showing off their wares — like Mr. Peanut purses, paint kits, even an 80 year old candy bar wrapper preserved and valued at $1,000 dollars.
Tony Scola’s first experience with Mr. Peanut wasn’t actually a good one. He was a baby on the Atlantic City boardwalk when a costumed Mr. Peanut appeared.
Read more (and listen) at WYPR.
