Feet

The feet are the flat piece of plastic that is at the bottom of the stem, and are shaped like two "feet".  The main purpose of the feet is to help the dispenser to stand up.  Older PEZ did not come with feet and are referred to as non-footed (NF) dispensers. The first style of feet used on a PEZ stem had a thin profile and are called "Thin Feet" or "Thin Footed". Around 1990, PEZ started molding the feet with a thicker profile. This new style of feet is called "Thick Feet" or "Thick Footed".

Typically, "Thin Feet" are found on dispensers with a 3.9 Patent number. But, as with all things PEZ, this is not always the case. There have been earlier patent stems with thin feet (2.6 and 3.4 Patents), but these are very rare. On these unusual stems, the stem also has the standard non-raised spine (typical for that Patent series). An example of this unusual thin feet/early Patent combination can be found on a Lamb Merry Music Maker (MMM).

The "Thick Feet" are usually found on 4.9 Patent stems. But, like thin footed dispensers, there are exceptions. Certain 3.9 Patent dispensers can also be found with thick feet. My opinion is that these variations are transitional pieces from when PEZ was making the change to thicker feet and were also changing the Patent number.