Hello everyone!
I hope you’re all having a lovely Valentine’s Day! Or if not, then I hope you’re enjoying the fact that it’s Friday! Yay!
Today, I thought I’d write about two of the 90’s Valentine’s Day Beanie Babies as I have put a lot of focus into the later Beanie Babies and Beanie Boos recently.
These two are often thought of as a pair, although they were released four years apart. I’m talking about Valentino and Valentina.
I’ll start with Valentino.
Valentino was first released back in 1995. There have been so many false rumours about this Beanie Baby, it’s crazy.
Valentino is only really considered “rare” with a 2nd generation swing tag, and most desirably, with a 1st generation tush tag. With a 3rd generation swing tag he is rare-ish, but won’t fetch a high price like the 2nd generation. A Valentino with a 4th generation swing tag was mass produced, so is unlikely to fetch any more than about $5.
When Valentino was released with a 4th generation swing tag, he was given a poem and a birth date (14th February 1994). His poem reads:
His heart is red and full of love
He cares for you so give him a hug
Keep him close when feeling blue
Feel the love he has for you
There have been many listings for Valentino on eBay for ridiculous prices, claiming they have a “rare” Valentino with a “rare brown nose instead of black” and “all the tag errors”. Sound familiar? It doesn’t help when unscrupulous eBay sellers make up shill bids to drive the prices up.
The truth is that ALL Valentinos had a brown nose and tag errors were very common in the vast majority of Beanie Babies.
Valentina (pictured above) is often seen alongside Valentino, even though they were released years apart. She is almost the opposite colouring to Valentino, with fuchsia colouring and a white heart embroidered on her chest.
She was only ever released with a 5th generation swing tag and a 7th generation tush tag, making her quite a common (but cute) Beanie Baby.
Her Birthday is on 14th February 1998 and the poem in her swing tag reads as follows:
Flowers, candy and hearts galore
Sweet words of love for those you adore
With this bear comes love that’s true
On Valentine’s Day and all year through!
I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and that I have cleared up a few of the false rumours surrounding Valentino.
Do you have either Valentino or Valentina?
Enjoy the rest of your Valentine’s Day!
