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Beanie Babies: Ty Beanie Babies
built 131 days ago
Beanie Babies are authenticated by their hang tags. The first generation Beanie Baby tags were straightforward: double-sided with a Ty logo on the front and the animal’s name and style on the back. Locket-style tags with poems came in later generations. Beanie Babies ... had white “tush tags” with black lettering. It’s difficult to find the original Beanies with tush tags because they were often removed for child safety.
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Shortly after the original nine Beanie Babies were introduced in 1993, the demand for the small plush toys became insatiable. Beanie Babies are named for their unique beanbag-style stuffing that is a mixture of plush filler and plastic beads. The stuffing allows for the toys to be manipulated into several different types of poses. These popular toys are shaped like animals and are made of basic color combinations and minimal detailing. Even though the craze for Beanie Babies has died down, the toys continue to have a high secondary market value.
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The line became a phenomenon in the late 90s when Beanie Babies became both a fad and a collectible. Ty decided to stop making Beanies in 1999... consumer demand made Ty Warner change his mind. He continues to run Ty Inc. and design new Beanie Babies to this day.
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Beanie Babies cost $4.99 each. If it's a rare one, it may cost as much as $1,000 on the collector's market. It's this perceived value that is one of the most intriguing aspects behind the marketing of Beanie Babies. Ty limits the supply so the demand is always greater, which drives up the value.
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Beanie Babies are the largest selling toys of Ty Inc. and have been imitated by many of its competitors. Parodies were ... manufactured, a particular example being “Meanie Babies”. Still the official line-up of Beanie Babies is more popular, largely thanks to the “limited production” strategy adopted by Ty Inc. This enabled Ty Inc to increase the popularity of Beanie Babies and bestow them with a “collectible” status. The official line-up mainly featured brightly colored animals. Each Beanie Baby comes with its unique name, birth date and a small humorous poem. All this information is contained on a red heart shaped hang tag.
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During the Beanie Baby craze, the rarest general issue beanie, according to the Winter 2000 edition of Ty Beanie Babies, published by Collectors Value Guide, was considered to be the dark blue variation of "Peanut" the elephant. Peanut was available well into 1998 in a lighter hue, but the dark blue version that was only made accidentally in 1995 rose in value because of its scarcity. "Nana the monkey" was considered the second rarest Beanie Baby; because only a few early 3rd gen tags use that name instead of Bongo. The early wingless version of "Quackers" the duck, "Chilly" the polar bear, the earlier versions of "Nip" and "Zip" the cats, "Peking" the panda bear; a series of colored bears named "Teddy" (which are even harder to find with the earlier "old face"), and "Humphrey" the camel ... command high prices. Some special edition Beanies, such as the #1 Bear or the Billionaire bears (which are only available as gifts to Ty employees), are hard to come across and highly valued.
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Ty Beanie Babies