What are Beanie Babies?
Beanie Babies are soft, cuddly animals stuffed with beans (PVC pellets, in actuality.) They are collectables and toys at the same time, and are collected by adults and children alike. You can find them for as low as $5 a piece, and they are as cute as any toy (or collectable!) out there.
Where did they come from?
It all started with a guy named Ty Warner. He quit Dakin Toys in 1980, created a line of understuffed animals, priced them for the elementary school crowd, and Voila! As legend has it, the Beanie Baby concept was hatched in 1992, and developed in 1993. "Spot the Dog" was first, born on January 3, 1993, and three days later came his cousin "Patti the Platypus. They were an instant hit, and the rest is history.
Where can I find them?
Not in a large chain store like Meijer or Wal-mart. Ty Warner doesn't sell them to these stores. Look in Hallmark stores, or the small gift shop type of store to find them retail. If you're buying on the secondary market, though, you can find them almost anywhere.
How much do they cost?
If you find a current at retail price, you can get it for $5. Retired Beanie Babies go anywhere from $25 to $1000.
Why are some Beanie Babies so expensive?
The cost of a beanie is determined solely by two factors: supply and demand. The smaller the supply, the more a beanie will cost. The other factor is demand: the higher the demand, the more a beanie will cost. When you have a beanie with a very small supply and a huge demand, such as the dark-blue Peanuts, the price goes through the roof.
What is this whole "retirement" thing all about?
Every so often, Ty "retires" a group of Beanies, or stops making them, which causes them to be worth more.
How often do they retire?
No one knows! The first couple years, Ty had one retirement a year. Then they switched to two. In 1997 they had three, and most people expect at least four retirements in 1998.
What are tush tags and hang tags? And what are they for?
The tush tag is the tag sewn into the Beanies, well, tush. The hang tag is the heart shaped tag that is usually sewn to an ear, wing, etc.
Ty changes their tags every year, to provide collectors with a method of dating the year of manufacture of a given Beanie. In June of 1997 Ty added a little red star above and to the left of the Ty logo on Beanies' tush tags. First it was a sticker placed on old tags, and later it was printed on. It simply identifies that beanie as being made after May 1997.
There are four versions of the hang tag. The first is a single heart that does not open. It has the skinny "ty" on the front and To:______ From: _______ on the back. The second version looks like the first, but it opens like a book. The third generation changes the "ty" letters to make them larger and more rounded; this is called the "bubble" Ty. The fourth generation tag added a yellow star above the "y" with the words "ORIGINAL BEANIE BABY" in black ink printed inside the star. The fifth generation tag has a different font inside, and the style number is gone. The date is longhand (October 17, 1996 instead of 10-17-96), and the phrase "Visit our web page!" is gone, and the address appears as "www.ty.com". Also, there is a ® at the end of the name "The Beanie Babies Collection."
