The Pillsbury Doughboy Has Been Baking Up Love Since 1965
Collectors still melt for Poppin’ Fresh and his irresistible giggle.
Getty Images/GummyBone.
From the tip of his chef’s hat to his blue button eyes, scarf, and that signature giggle, Poppin’ Fresh (better known as the Pillsbury Doughboy) has been a cultural icon since 1965, rising to stardom quicker than Grands! Biscuits inflate in the oven.
Super collectors Lial and Sandy Miller of Willow Spring, North Carolina, and Bailey Essary of New Douglas, Illinois, have turned their fascination with the Pillsbury mascot into full-blown collections. In separate interviews, the Millers and Bailey shared how their love for the Pillsbury Doughboy began and what keeps them collecting.
flour sack from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Image courtesy of Lial Miller
“Thirty years ago, Sandy saw a commercial and the Doughboy giggled, and she giggled because it was cute. That weekend, we found a Doughboy cookie jar, and I lifted the head. The jar giggles, she giggles and next thing we know, we have over 2,000 unique Pillsbury/Pillsbury Doughboy items,” explains Lial, who was born on November 6, 1965, the day before the Doughboy first debuted.
The couple began collecting while living in Michigan. They noted that the Doughboy was easy to find at Midwest estate sales. Since moving to the South, it’s been harder to find the mascot in that region, they say, perhaps because Pillsbury is a Minnesota-based brand.
What started as a hobby evolved into the dedicated sport of collecting. Visitors to their home are greeted by “Pillsbury Blue” walls and displays of the baking mascot at every turn. Their “conversation breakers” include figurines, trinkets, toys, cookbooks, ephemera, and more from around the world. A prized piece in their collection is a cooler that once housed Pillsbury products in a grocery store. Only 500 were produced, and although they were slated for destruction, a number have since found their way into collectors’ hands.
“That’s the fun part of the hunt,” Sandy adds.
Scouting flea markets, antique stores, garage sales, online auctions, and Facebook groups, the Millers have even driven cross-country to pick up their finds in person. As their collection grew, fueled by Lial’s habit of surprising Sandy with new Doughboy finds, he decided to catalog their holdings online to avoid duplicates.
The Millers, who have four children, say their kids aren’t interested in inheriting the collection. Their stash may eventually end up in a museum. “I don’t have the heart to get rid of it quite yet,” Sandy says. “You find that piece and you just get all giddy about it. You can’t stop. It’s really like an addiction.”
Doughboy enthusiasts also collect the companion characters, including his family members—wife Poppie Fresh, Granmommer and Granpopper, Uncle Rollie, son Popper, and daughter Bun-Bun—as well as the family pets, Flapjack and Biscuit. These related characters are much harder to find than the Pillsbury Doughboy himself. Among the Millers’ favorites is Sandy’s 1975 Uncle Rollie finger puppet and car.
Ironically, though their home is filled with tempting Pillsbury imagery, the Millers don’t actually indulge. Sandy follows a gluten-free diet, and Lial is diabetic. “General Mills won’t like us very much for that,” Lial says with a laugh.
While the Millers’ collection reflects decades of Doughboy history, a new generation of collectors is keeping his giggle alive.
Bailey Essary, 23, admits her devotion to the Doughboy is a bit unusual for someone in her early 20s. “I feel like a lot of people my age want to do the black-and-white, modern and minimalist. And I love the look-of-a-grandma, there’s-too-much-stuff-in-here vibe,” Essary explains. “I got Facebook just so I could be in the Doughboy groups initially, so I started collecting when I was 18. I didn’t know that I was gonna start collecting the Doughboy. I’m very impulsive. I like to visit local antique shops. The one closest to me is the Pink Elephant Antique Mall in Livingston.”
Her collection began with a 7-inch vinyl doll, a mass-produced favorite still easy to find online through eBay, Mercari, and Facebook Marketplace. After spotting a giant Styrofoam Doughboy in an eBay listing located in Chicago, she and her father made the trip to claim it in person. “It is a store advertisement from 1974. His eyes are all messed up, because it’s very old. I fight all the time about, do I want to fix the eyes,” she says.
Her favorite brands include Danbury Mint, Simson Giftware, Willabee & Ward, and Pillsbury/General Mills. The most she’s spent is $250 on a wooden spice rack with porcelain jars—all intact. “Somebody just kept it in storage,” she says. “I’ll see people post in the groups selling the jars individually.”
Image courtesy of Bailey Essary.
While she hasn’t counted every item in her collection, Essary says if she tallies “collections within collections,” that figure is around 500 pieces. “If I look at somebody’s collection online, I can tell if they’re in it for the long haul, and then I can tell at what point they got tired and stopped collecting,” she said. She also notes that, while the late-1980s items were heavily mass-produced, interest in them declined afterward.
She points out that the Doughboy’s appearance varied by decade and manufacturer: “In the 80s, they kind of chubbed him out—he’s like a little chunkier. With the Simson Giftware, his face is skinnier,” she says.
For Essary, being a young collector has its advantages. “A lot of the collectors started as they were producing the items,” she says. “I was on an auction on Whatnot for a lady who’s starting to piece out her collection [and] who has been collecting for 50 years. I’m like, I’ve been collecting for five, and I have so much stuff. It’s kind of cool in a way, because they walked so that I could run.”
Image courtesy of Bailey Essary.
As both longtime collectors and new fans like Bailey continue to grow the community, experts say Doughboy memorabilia remains a steady favorite among kitchen collectibles.
Appraiser Dr. Lori Verderame, Ph.D., explained in an email exchange with the author that kitchen collectibles remain popular because they evoke a sense of homemade quality. “The Pillsbury Doughboy is a wholesome, homemade, endearing advertising mascot. He is endearing for his childlike reaction to a regular belly poking. His recognizable giggle is familiar and engaging,” Dr. Lori says.
“I have appraised many Pillsbury Doughboy collectibles dating back to the late 1960s and early 1970s including wristwatches, 3D calendars with figurines for each month, radio earphones, plush toys, message boards, tabletop telephones, etc. The most valuable and rare Pillsbury Doughboy piece that sold recently was a gold and diamond figural pendant in the form of the Pillsbury Doughboy, which sold for nearly $5,000.” She adds that collectors also favor large-scale store display figures, which can fetch between $750 and $1,000 depending on the market.
As noted earlier, Dr. Lori says that companion characters such as Poppie Fresh, Uncle Rollie, and the rest of the Fresh family are significantly harder to find than the Doughboy himself, making them especially sought after by dedicated collectors.
These observations underscore how the Doughboy’s nostalgic appeal bridges generations, inspiring both seasoned collectors and newcomers alike.
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