Minnesotan Certified as Having World’s Largest KISS Collection
One Minnesotan has just been certified by Guinness as having the world's largest collection of KISS memorabilia.
Vern Simon lives in Maple Lake in an average-sized house, but what he has inside the house is anything but averaged-sized as his collection of KISS cards, comics, action figures, toys, posters, and even condoms has landed him in the Guinness Book of World Records after counting and certifying his collection of 3,799 items.
Before Simon came along there was no category in the Guinness Book of World Records for the Largest KISS Collection, to certify the collection he had to recruit some friends, and even the Mayor of Maple Lake, to help count each item in the collection, verify with signatures and submit a video of the uninterrupted count as verification of the size of the collection.
The collection includes nearly 700 comic books, 1670 trading cards, a slot machine, and much more, unfortunately, Simon and his family have come under some financial hardship and he is selling his collection, as of now he's selling the collection piece by piece and not as one big collection, you can see the Facebook Marketplace listing here.
KISS is not only known as one of the most popular rock bands ever, but their knack for marketing and licensing has made KISS a nearly one-billion-dollar brand. According to Brandweek Magazine, KISS has licensed its name to 3,000 product categories.
Some of the strangest KISS products include a $4700 KISS coffin, known as the KISS Kasket it went on sale for the first time in 2001 and version 2.0 was released in 2011. You could also buy an inflatable Gene Simmons tongue, a cookie jar, and a Mr. Potato Head collection of the band. But, my favorite odd KISS item has to be their "Air Guitar Strings," it was literally a bag of nothing.
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Gallery Credit: Stacker