KFC Collectibles

KFC collectibles: Colonel Harland D. Sanders was born September 9, 1890. He worked on a farm at the age of 10, but at fifteen was a streetcar conductor in Indiana. At age 16, he became a soldier, serving for six months in Cuba. Later, he became a railroad fireman, studied law by correspondence, sold insurance, operated a steamboat ferry, sold tires and finally operated service stations.

It was in Corbin, Kentucky where the 40 year-old Colonel began to cook for hungry travelers at his service station. Without a restaurant, he served his guests on his own dining table. As more visitors arrived just for the food, he moved across the street to a restaurant that seated 140 people. It was there that he perfected his secret blend of herbs and spices and the cooking technique still used today.

In 1935, as his fame grew, Harland Sanders was made a Colonel by the Governor of Kentucky in recognition of his contribution to the state's cuisine. In 1939, his restaurant was listed in Duncan Hines "Adventures in Good Eating." In the early 1950s, with a new interstate highway planning to bypass Corbin, he foresaw an end to the business, so he auctioned off his restaurant, paid his bills and was reduced to living off Social Security. Confident of success in his culinary skills, he concentrated on the franchising of his business. He traveled across the country by car from restaurant to restaurant, cooking batches of chicken for the owners and employees. If the reaction was positive, he contracted by handshake for a payment of a nickel for each chicken the restaurant sold. In 1952 the first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise opened in Salt Lake City. Realizing that this was where the future lay, Colonel Sanders sold his Kentucky restaurant and went forth to sign up more franchises, including the first in Canada in 1956. In 1964 the Colonel sold the chain for a Finger Lickin' Good $2 million to a group of investors. Five years later, it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1980, the founder passed away from leukemia, and was buried in Louisville, Kentucky.

The company continued to pass hands, becoming a subsidiary of R.J. Reynolds Industries in 1982 (Nabisco) and then a subsidiary of PepsiCo Inc. in 1986, the price now reaching to $840 million. Becoming truly International, the famous chain opened a restaurant in China in 1987. 1991 saw the replacement of "Kentucky Fried Chicken" with the simplified "KFC". Expansion continued with non-fried chicken menus added in 1993, its 9000th restaurant opening in 1994, and plans for an additional 200 restaurants in 48 Chinese cities. In 1995, it broke the Guinness record with the "World's Largest Pot Pie" to promote its Chunky Chicken Pot Pie. That same year in Moscow, it opened its first restaurant.

Over the years KFC has become one of the most recognizable symbols of entrepreneurship, due primarily to excellent marketing, including the "finger lickin' good" motto, the use of the innovative pick-up bucket, and the Colonel's omnipresent image. KFC collectibles are vast and varied, including coin banks, coasters, coloring books, cookie jars, lapel pins, postcards, a 1968 record album, salt and pepper shakers, and many more. The most popular include Colonel Sanders representations such as nodders, and include a 1960s plastic hand puppet of the old gentleman that sells for a sizable premium.

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