A California couple's museum sets a world record with 40,550 rabbit-themed items

Dec. 12 (UPI) – The owners of a Californian museum dedicated to rabbits have received a Guinness World Record for their collection of 40,550 pieces.

Candace Frazee and Steve Lubanski of Altadena said their collection began in 1993 when Lubanski, affectionately called Lubanski's “Honey Bunny,” gave her a white stuffed bunny for their first Valentine's Day as a couple.

Frazee responded with a gift, a porcelain bunny, for their first Easter together.

With the gifts, the couple began a tradition of buying each other bunny memorabilia, and soon they were buying bunny items together.

“When we started collecting, we joked that we lived in a rabbit museum,” Frazee told Guinness World Records.

The couple opened their then-home in Pasadena to the public in 1998, but in 2017 the collection outgrew their home, leading them to open the Bunny Museum in its own building in Altadena.

The museum's 40,550-piece collection was certified by GWR this year as the world's largest collection of rabbit-related items.

The couple said they continue to expand their collection.

“Most people collect teddy bears, cats, dogs and cows. They don’t have holidays,” Frazee said. “The bunny does, so new things are guaranteed every Easter.”