Archive for June, 2020

Another project I’ve been working on…

Monday, June 29th, 2020

Hi guys!

This post isn’t Beanie-related, but it refers to a project I’ve been working on in the background for another interest of mine.

Those who know me will also know that as well as being a collector of Beanie Babies, I also collect another brand of plush toy, called Jellycat. I also know that a number of you of the site collect these too, so I’m posting this up in case it is of interest.

Jellycat are a UK-based toy brand that make cute and quirky toys, and their most popular range are Bashful Bunnies, which are adorable rabbits in a variety of colours, some of which are quite sought after. Below is my first Bashful Bunny, which I’ve had since it was released, in the original beige colour. She is nicknamed Flo and has travelled all the way across Europe and back!

I am happy to announce that I have set up another collectors’ website, called Jelly Collector, where myself and others can track their Jellycat collection!

It’s in the early stages yet, so please bear with me while I populate the site, and please feel free to suggest Jellycats to add to the site that you may have!

If this website is of interest to you and you are also a Jellycat collector wanting to track your collection, come and check Jelly Collector out!

Happy collecting!

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Beanie Baby Birthday – Happy Birthday Frolic!

Sunday, June 28th, 2020

Today is 28th June, which can mean only one thing!

It’s Frolic’s Birthday!

Frolic is a gorgeous spaniel-type dog with a fluffy white body and black fur running along his back. He has button eyes and a black nose, with scruffy, black floppy ears.

One of the things I really love about Frolic is the amount of detail Ty have put into him. On his muzzle and around his paws, he has grey, airbrushed patches to give the appearance of the markings on a real spaniel.

Below is a picture of a real Springer Spaniel to compare. I think that Ty have done a great job with Frolic and making him look like the real deal!

Frolic’s Birthday is on 28th June 2001 and his poem reads as follows:

Please take me to the park today
Where I can run and jump and play
It’s so much fun to be with you
I hope you feel the same way too!

Frolic was also made into a larger Beanie Buddy version, which looks equally as amazing as his Beanie Baby counterpart. Here is the Beanie Buddy version pictured below.

Happy Birthday my little springer spaniel friend!

Do you have Frolic in your collection?

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It’s “Take Your Cat to Work Day!”

Monday, June 22nd, 2020

Hi everyone!

It’s Monday again (Booooo!), so I thought I’d write a post that is a bit more fun today!

Today is 22nd June, so that can only mean one thing! It’s National Take Your Cat to Work Day!

I’m not quite sure where this “National Day” came from, but it sounds like my kind of day!

I’m a big fan of Ty cats (Beanie Babies, Beanie Boos, Classic, you name it!) and seem to have a growing collection of them. Here’s my latest little cutie who “just needed a home”…

Little Zip here is helping me out with the website today!

Interestingly, Zip has had four different facelifts in her lifetime! This is the latest, and most common, version with white paws. The very first Zip had a white face and magenta whiskers. This was followed by another white face version with pink whiskers. Later, she was changed to an all black cat, then Ty finally settled on the version pictured above with the white paws. The earliest magenta version is the one most sought after by collectors.

Pictured below is a small selection from my Beanie cats collection (from the right, Jaden, Kiki, Peachy, Zip, Kiki (Mini Boo), Nip and Mambo). I have more cats in my collection, but sadly due to lockdown and them being in a different location at the moment, I’m going to have to wait a little while longer to reunite them all!

Does anyone else have a specific type of Beanie they prefer to collect? It could be a kind of animal, or maybe Beanie bears, or even a specific tag generation you have a preference for? Leave a comment below!

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I got a special delivery!… – Tremor Flippables Review

Saturday, June 13th, 2020

Eeek! I’ve been really excited all week for this delivery to turn up!

Because of the current situation, Royal Mail in the UK have been understandably a bit delayed, so it was a few days later than it would normally have been, but he’s finally here!

Meet Tremor!

Tremor (not this one pictured) recently took a trip into Space aboard the SpaceX ship Crew Dragon with astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley.

This little apatosaurus has taken a trip to my door and I couldn’t be happier!

Tremor was one of the original three Flippables released, the other two being Crunch and Stompy. He was released in both small and medium sizes.

This is a review of the the small version of Tremor.

Tremor is covered in reversible sequins everywhere except for his pink belly, which features a shiny scale pattern. His sequins alternate between blue and pink when you run your hands over them.

Although this is a really cool idea, it doesn’t work quite as smoothly as you’d like it to. However, I do love how sparkly he is.

His swing tag features the Flippables logo on the front and is attached to his left side.

Inside the tag is his birth date, which is on 5th September and his poem which reads:

I only want
Big leaves to eat
They’re always sweet
Such a tasty treat!

Now Tremor can join Crunch in my collection. Now I just need Stompy to complete the original three Flippables!

I hope you enjoyed this review of Tremor!

Enjoy your weekend!

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New Ty range for 2020 – Squish a Boos!

Wednesday, June 10th, 2020

If you haven’t already, check out the new Ty Squish a Boos!

Ty announced these earlier in the year, but they are now apparently available in store. The trouble is, they’re really hard to find! I’m not sure if it’s just a UK thing, but they seem to be unavailable everywhere I’ve looked!

At the moment, I’ve heard about nine different Squish a Boos. They are all basically Squish a Boo versions of previous Beanie Boos that have been released over the years.

So far, I know about Kiki, Giselle, Dotty, Paris, Owen, Slush, Zoey, Heather and Fantasia.

Squish a Boos are a kind of squishy cushion-like toy, a bit like the non-Ty range, Squishmallows. In fact, they are very similar.

Have you seen Squish a Boos on the shelves yet?

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Beanie Baby Review – Mystery the Loch Ness Monster

Tuesday, June 9th, 2020

I’ve lost count how many weeks we’ve been in lockdown now. The only problem with being at home is that I keep coming across new additions to my collection!

One of my latest additions that has just arrived is a UK exclusive Beanie Baby called Mystery.

Mystery Beanie Baby

Mystery is a turquoise Loch Ness Monster that was exclusive to the UK. She has little black button eyes and a white belly. On her side is the Scottish flag, embroidered in blue with a white cross.

Mystery Beanie Baby tush tag

Mystery was only ever available with a UK 13th generation hang tag. These were slightly different than a 13th generation USA tag in that they only say “ORIGINAL BEANIES” instead of “ORIGINAL BEANIE BABIES”. However, both tags featured the holographic star to the left of the lettering.

Mystery Beanie Baby Swing Hang Tag

Inside Mystery’s hang tag, her Birthday is on 22nd June 2004 and her poem reads as follows:

My size and shape a secret so old
Generations of tales greatly told
Any ripples or shadows you see
Just think aloud that it could be me!

Mystery Beanie Baby Swing Hang Tag

I’ve been wanting this Beanie Baby for a little while now, so I’m glad to finally have her in my collection!

Here’s she is pictured from another angle. Isn’t she adorable?!

Mystery Beanie Baby

There are two other Loch Ness Monster Beanie Babies similar in appearance to Mystery. There are two versions of NESS-e (pictured below right), a retail version and an Inverness Centre exclusive version (there were also key clips of both versions of NESS-e) and Enigma (below left), another Inverness Centre exclusive.

Enigma and NESS-e Beanie BabyHave you spotted any of these cute little Loch Ness Monsters before? Do you have them in your collection?

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The list of Teeny Tys is now complete!

Friday, June 5th, 2020

Yay! It’s finally Friday!

Just to let you all know, I’ve now finished putting up all the Teeny Tys on the website!

Now they are available to add to your collection and browse at your leisure. You can also filter them by animal type, year of release and colour, as well as sort them alphabetically.

I am currently missing a picture for the Hungarian Chaser (Chaser XXI). If anyone has a picture they would be willing to give me permission to upload to the database, or any other information on him, I would be really, really grateful!

If you find I’m missing any out from the list, please let me know and I’ll add it in for you.

Enjoy your weekend!

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What are my Beanie Babies worth?

Monday, June 1st, 2020

Updated for Winter 2020

I get a lot of questions asking what Beanie Babies are worth. The answer to this is…it depends.

As a general rule, Beanie Babies with 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation hang tags (the heart shaped tag) have the most value (for more information on hang tags, see my tag generation guide). If the tag has anything other than the word “Ty” (a yellow star, Beanie Babies, Beanies, etc), then it is probably worth around $1-5, but there are exceptions to that rule.

For example, there are some Beanie Babies that are worth a lot (e.g. Chef Robuchon), who were released in limited quantities, thus making them rare and valuable.

However, there are some very misleading articles out there on the internet (most notably the article in the Cosmopolitan) that claim Rainbow is worth about $50,000 and a Valentino with a tag error is worth $100,000! That simply isn’t true. These articles are pure click-bait and completely misleading (and downright frustrating for collectors).

Just to clarify, Rainbow is one of the most common Beanie Babies available, and Valentino, even with a tag error, was so mass-produced that he is worth no more than a Valentino Beanie Baby with the tag spelled correctly. The only Valentino bears worth more than a few dollars are those with a 2nd or 3rd generation swing tag, and even these aren’t worth anywhere near $100,000!

There are no Beanie Babies worth these silly prices being quoted. Ever.

So what are Beanie Babies really worth?

As with anything, Beanie Babies are only worth what someone is willing to pay, but there are ways of finding out what a Beanie Baby is currently selling for.

The links below are affiliate links. If you purchase something by clicking through one of the links below, we may receive a small commission. This doesn’t cost you anything additional and helps to fund this site.

One of the simplest ways to find this out is to go to eBay, type in the name of the Beanie you’re looking for followed by “beanie baby“. For example, we’ll search for how much Rainbow is actually worth.

First, we’ll type “rainbow beanie baby” into the search box, which I’ve highlighted in red.

How to find out the value of Beanie Babies

You’ll see below that there are Rainbow Beanie Babies that are on sale for extortionate amounts, claiming they have “errors” and they are “rare”. Ignore these listings. This is what people are trying to sell them for, not what they actually sold for.

On the left, scroll down the filters until you come to “Sold items“. Click on it and it will highlight this and “Completed items“.

What is the value of my Beanie Babies?

This will bring up a new list of results. What things actually sold for.

I usually look at the lowest amount that a Beanie Baby has sold for as there are fake bidders who will bid their own item up in value to gain interest and these can sometimes show up in the sold listings, creating a false impression of what a Beanie Baby is worth.

Next, click on the box on the right that says “Ended recently” and change this to “Lowest price + P&P“.

How much are my Beanie Babies worth?

As you can see in the picture below, this changes things completely. The Rainbow Beanie Babies that were going for $1000 or more change to around $1-5. This is Rainbow’s true value.

How much is my Rainbow Beanie Baby?

Here are a few more listings to give you an idea…

How much is Rainbow Beanie Baby worth?

This method can be used for any Ty product. Just replace the word “beanie baby” for “beanie boo“, “attic treasure“, “ty classic” or whatever product line you’re searching for.

Click here to go to eBay US to find out how much your Beanie Baby is worth

You can also use the same method for eBay in the UK. Just follow the same instructions on eBay UK to get the value of your Beanie Baby in GBP(£).

Click here to go to eBay UK to find out how much your Beanie Baby is worth

I hope you find this article useful. Happy searching!