Beanie baby
Price Of A Beanie Baby: A beanie baby is a toy animal stuffed with plastic pellets, also called ‘beans’. Rather than using the conventional stuffing material for stuffed toys, the manufacturers of beanie babies use beans, and hence the name. They are therefore also very similar to beanbags. Beanie babies were first introduced to the world by Ty Warner. Original beanie babies are manufactured and produced by Warner’s company, Ty Inc. All the essential information of each beanie baby is printed on a hangtag, which is attached to the ear of the stuffed toy. The hangtag is heart shaped and red in color. This heart shaped tag greatly influences the price of the beanie baby. During the year 1996, there emerged a growing trend of collecting beanie babies, similar to that of the Cabbage Patch Kid, which lasted for about three years. During this period, many people bought beanie babies in large numbers with the purpose of selling them later at a better price. They intended to sell them as rare beanie babies in the hope of earning a large fortune. To add to this frenzy, Ty also retired several beanie babies as a part of their marketing strategy. Unfortunately, in the end, the collectors had to relinquish their hopes, since many people had similar ideas and taken the same course of action. Hence, very few people profited from their investment.
A General Guide And Information On A Beanie Baby: Ty has the ownership rights of all the names and various designs of authentic beanie babies. One company even marketed a range of replicas of the original beanie babies, known as ‘meanie babies’. Most of the original beanie babies are in the form of animals in bright and attractive colors. Each beanie baby has its own identity by giving it a name, a birthrate, as well as some kind of poetry. This information, contained on the ‘swing’ or hangtag, serves as a guide to the personal identity of each beanie baby. Although in the beginning beanie babies were started as merely toys for kids, very soon these cute stuffed animals caught the fancy of adults as well. Gradually, exchanging and gifting beanie babies became a popular trend amongst grown ups as well. Original and cheaper imitations of beanie babies were produced in hundreds of varieties and colors to meet the growing craze. One such popular beanie baby that was created during this period is the teddy bear shaped beanie babies. These became such a big favorite, that later, they were used for commemorative purposes as well. For instance, special models of teddy bear beanie babies were created specially for Princess Diana and the Fourth of July. You can easily find a guide on the price of each beanie baby and a list of other relevant information on the official website of Ty.
Market Value Of A Beanie Baby: While there are imitations of the Ty beanie babies available in the market, it is the original beanie baby that carries a high market value. The state of the hangtag is the main factor that determines the value of the beanie baby in the market. Hence, covers made of hard plastic are readily available to protect and maintain the hangtags in good condition. A beanie baby without a tag is worthless and the price of a tagless beanie baby drops tremendously. Beanie babies come with two tags affixed on their body. The first is known as the ‘swing’ tag, also popularly known as heart tags because of their shape, and the other is the ‘tush’ tag. While the heart tags are attached to the ears of the stuffed toy, the tush tags are are attached to the rear end of the beanie baby. The teddy bear beanie baby is a common favorite with everyone and hence considered to be of high value.
Prices Of Rare Beanie Baby Specimens: Royal Blue Peanut the elephant, Nana the monkey, Wingless Quackers the duck, Chilly the polar bear, Derby the horse, Peking the panda bear, and Humphrey the camel are some of the rare specimens that speculators eagerly looked forward to including in their collection. Of these, the Royal Blue peanut elephant is the most rare of the beanie babies. This stuffed animal was available in two shades of blue. Although the lighter shade of this beanie baby was very common, it was the darker hued toy that commanded greater prices. Peanut was followed by Nana, whose name was later changed to Bongo. The other rare specimens of the beanie baby like Chilly, Peking, and Derby also fetch good prices. Special beanie babies, such as the Billionaire Bear, which were specially created and gifted to Ty staff members are also eagerly sought by collectors.
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