For a trip down Memory Lane, check out this Narratively essay on Jason Liebig’s candy-wrapper collection.
Daniel Slotnik writes, “It’s seven p.m. on election night, yet a steady flow of pedestrians are still streaming in to the London Candy Co. … Beneath the Upper East Side shop’s Day-Glo paintings and amid its colorful displays of Chupa-Chups and shelves stocked with Curly-Wurly bars is Jason Liebig, shuffling through a sampling of his personal collection of candy packaging—bright plastic and paper wrappers that most would consider trash, or at best a tease.
“Liebig, 43 … selects a glassine folder from the pile, containing several examples of Kit Kat wrappers dating back to the candy’s official incarnation in 1937, two years after its introduction under a different name.
“One of the wrappers is uncharacteristically blue. Liebig begins an enthusiastic disquisition on Kit Kat history, explaining that the cobalt wrapper dates from World War II, when the chocolate-and-wafer confection was impacted by rationing. …
“For Liebig, the London Candy Co., on Lexington Avenue at the corner of East 94th Street, is more than a sweet shop—it’s a treasure chest, an archive and an art gallery all rolled into one. Liebig is a die-hard candy packaging collector whose sprawling personal trove includes some 10,000 wrappers and boxes spanning from decades past to last Halloween’s special promos, stored entirely in his one-bedroom Astoria apartment. By his estimation, he has the largest, and possibly only, such hoard in New York City. …
“ ‘I figured out certain ways to open candy bar wrappers without ripping it,’ Liebig says. ‘And one of those ways is running it under hot water. And I’ve never questioned my sanity, but when I’m at the sink running hot water over a Snickers wrapper and my hands are burning, I kind of think, “What am I doing? There have to be more productive ways to spend this time.” ‘ “
More at Narratively, a great place to read about curious characters you would likely never know about otherwise.
Photo: Brad Horrigan
Select pieces from Jason Liebig’s candy wrapper/box collection
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