It’s not every day you see an official Guinness World Records title attempt, but come Thursday, Sept. 28th, Valley entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael Pollack will do just that.
Michael Pollack is attempting to set the Guinness World Records title for the largest collection of advertising statues. Starting at 6:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 28th an official adjudicator from Guinness World Records will begin counting the more than 6,000 pieces located in Pollack’s collection. The counting is expected to last well into the afternoon hours that day.
The collection, which is currently housed in Pollack’s 3-D Advertising Museum at his Mesa based headquarters of Pollack Investments, contains more than 6,000 pieces. The pieces vary and range from rare life-size characters and signs, to miniature mannequins to 144 of the Barranger displays that were leased to jewelry stores between 1937-1977.
Pollack who has spent 44 years redeveloping shopping centers across California, Nevada and Arizona, says he started his collection when he was 14-years old.
“I use to go to flea markets and antique stores when I was a teenager on the weekend and find advertising pieces. I would then go home and spend the rest of the weekend restoring the piece and sometimes I would sell them to antique stores to make a profit. The best pieces I would keep, never imaging my collection would grow to what it is today,” said Pollack.
Over the years, Pollack’s appetite for collecting made it necessary to build a special facility to house his vast advertising collection. Pollack says he believes his museum is the largest assemblage of 3-D advertising in the world and looks forward to the official count by the Guinness World Records adjudicator.
“I have flown all over the world to buy these individual items and sometimes entire collections for my museum,” said Pollack. “I once bought an extremely rare advertising statue from Paris. The chalk statue was so old and delicate that I actually bought an extra seat for it on the plane so I could get it home to the United States safely.”
The various pieces are displayed throughout the museum so they can be enjoyed in the spacious surroundings. To see more of the collection, visit http://www.pollackmuseum.com/history.php.
