According to some research, one Beanie Baby actually sold for over $3,000.
If you’re an avid toy collector, you need to learn about the history of the best Beanie Babies.
They were first released in 1993, and ever since then, they’ve been the best toy collection for many collectors. If you want to know what to look for when starting your toy collection, make sure you keep reading.
The Beginning
H. Ty Warner originally founded the company that started selling Beanie Babies. He wanted to create a stuffed animal that was affordable, and he had no idea he would be creating a cultural icon along with an investment strategy for many people.
These toys first appeared in New York City, and they had cute names attached to them. They had plastic pellets inside, so you could pose them in different ways. However, they weren’t stuffed as much as other animals on the market may have been.
These toys were different because, in 1995, Ty decided that he was going to start retiring some of the animals. This made it harder to find some of the animals, and the market went crazy.
In addition to that, he would also make them really scarce on the market, so it was even harder to find them. This made their price of them go up.
This created an entire investment strategy revolving around these stuffed animals. It was so crazy that if a Beanie Baby was arriving at a store, adults would go to the shops to try and find one before it even sold out.
There were also magazines that came out with pricing guides to help you know the future value of your stuffed animal. They also sold protectors to make sure that your collector was in good condition.
Another reason the value of these stuffed animals went up so much was thanks to eBay. This was a new platform where people could post their belongings and auction them off to the highest bidder.
This helped people find the stuffed animal they want, but it also drove the price up. The mania came to a peak in 1997 when McDonald’s started partnering with mini Beanie Babies by putting them into Happy Meals.
The Downfall
However, this investment bubble and the craze over these toys eventually ended when Ty announced that he was going to stop making these toys.
Because of that, they stopped being popular, and many adults turned to Furby instead. However, Ty realized that the value was going down for his toys, and he said that he would continue making them, but it was already too late.
The value of Beanie Babies crashed in 2000, and resale prices fell. Many people tried selling their stuffed animals at the same time, but it was too late.
The Original Nine
When these stuffed animals were originally released, there were originally nine. These came out in 1994, and people first found them in Chicago. They included:
- Squealer the Pig
- Patti the Platypus
- Cubbie the Bear
- Chocolate the Moose
- Spot the Dog
- Pinchers the Lobster
- Legs the Frog
- Splash the Killer Whale
- Splash the Dolphin
After that nine, there were fifty Beanie Babies released each ear, but they were hard to find at major retail outlets.
Instead, you’d be able to find them at specialty stores and gift shops, which made them more exclusive and even harder to find.
Unique Design
Another reason that Beanie Babies were so popular (aside from the marketing strategies) was their unique design. With the pellets, they were under-stuffed.
Many people said that this made the toys look cheap, but these actually set them apart from other stuffed animals on the market. Since the other toys were stuffed more, they couldn’t be posed as easily. These understaffed toys could easily be posed and would then look real.
They also had the tag, which was very important. This was a way to identify which toy you had in your collection. There were normally two tags on each Beanie Baby.
There was a fabric tush tag and a heart-shaped swing tag. Both of them had a few redesigns, and eventually, the swing tags said “To” and “From” on them to be given as gifts.
However, in 1996, the tags included poems for each Beanie Baby, and they even had a birthday for each toy. Lina Trivedi created this trend, and she was able to include it on over a hundred Beanie Babies.
However, there were some toys that had misspelling or incorrect tags. Sometimes, this would even increase the value of the toys.
Collectibles
Beanie Babies started becoming collectibles in 1995. Because the company designed the toys to be scarce and only have a few releases for each toy.
However, they also became collectibles because they were unique and creative. Each product had different identifiers, and people wanted to collect them all.
Ty knew that the bubble would burst eventually, and that’s why he also made sure that stores stocked other products that he designed. However, no toys did as well as these Beanie Babies did.
If you’re interested in buying your own, make sure that you check them out.
Discover More About the History of the Best Beanie Babies
These are only a few things to know about the best Beanie Babies, but there are many more important factors to be aware of, especially if you want to collect these toys.
We know that getting into toy collecting can be stressful, but we’re here to help you out.
Did you find this article interesting and informative? Explore our website to find even more articles just like this one!
