There was a time (late '80s, early '90s?) when collecting tiny stuffed animals called Beanie Babies was all the rage. Nothing seemed strange about little girls collecting them, but grown women and men (!), particularly men wearing Hawaiian shirts and bragging about how many Beanies they had . . . that's a little weird.
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I still have a couple of beanie babies. I was never a serious collector... where's the fun in forking over $75 for something you can't even play with and will have no value in 10 years anyway?
1i had a couple but not the super expensive ones
2just the ones i thought were super cute
mostly i just bought them for other people
actually i bought 2 as gifts for my brother and sister while on vacation in 1993 right before the craze broke out and if we had known they were going to become collectors items, i could have made tons of cash! but we pulled off the tags and loved them until they weren't fuzzy anymore!
I want to know what the weird Beanie collector guy in the video is collecting now... My Little Ponies?
3I run an eBay consignement shop (just like "40 year-old Virgin") and I've had a few people that brought me a big bag of Beanie Babies... Very few are worth more than $3.
Here's the key... When something comes out and it's being advertised that they're going to be worth much more later, everyone buys them and keeps them in good condition. That makes the product worth much less, because there's plenty of it. This is the same thing with those stupid Franklin Mint Plates that were "guaranteed to increase in value".
What makes an item increase in value is when no one or very few people realize that it will be worth more later. Like vintage G.I. Joe toys, most of the original items were lost, thrown away or destroyed. So, there are very few left that are in good condition, less with all the original pieces and even less that are still sealed in their original package. That makes them worth much more.
4I happily never owned one of the little b*stards. But I worked in the mall at the time, right across from a hallmark store which carried them, and people would LINE UP outside before it opened to get the latest ones, and 99% of the people out there were not children, and it got ugly, but not too ugly that I could point and laugh.
5I still have my Beanies ... but I bought them because they symbolized something [my birthday or my sister's birthday] or a continuity thing [I have a beanie dog collection]
It was still going on later 90's ... cuz I didn't start buying them until 2000.
Oh, and I have an awesome Beanie doll I bought off ebay ... just because it was a tiger named Bengal ... hehehehe
6I loved those when I was younger.. I still have a huge plastic crate full of them somewhere in my closet. I think I was convinced that they would make me rich one day. haha
7OMG! It's Neal from Freaks and Geeks!! That's so funny!
8Ha, I love the part where they say the fad will never die. You LIE, child.
9Never liked them when they 1st came out - don't like them now. I don't know why. As far as I'm concerned, the ONLY brand of stuffed animals to get or receive are "Gund" animals. Teddy bears, farm animals, wild animals, etc. They are the best! Plush, well-crafted & durable- I still have some that are at least 10 years old - They are still in excellent condition considering that at 1st I over-washed them in the belief that I was maintaining their appearance.
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Thank God, I didn't ruin them. They go for around $60.00 each now for new ones sold in stores!
oh boy, I remember this craze! I think I might still have a couple at home...my best friend at the time had so many, I used to get really jealous =P
11haha oh god! My dad used to be the president of Learning Express (a specialty toy store across the country) i had SO many beanie babies. Fun at the time but eventually you wonder what to do with them all!
12I only had a few (which I still have in a box, I don't want to give away my stuffed animals!) and they were just the ones I thought were cute. I also had a lot of generic brand ones.
13had a few. lol the guy from freaks & geeks! love it
14I bought ALL of mine in 1996. Brought them to school everyday... it was awesome!
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