Bursting the Beanie Baby bubble
If you were a child – or even an adult — in the nineties, it’s probable you had a collection of Beanie Babies. In fact, it’s possible you still do. Perhaps you’re hoping (like me) one of them will turn out to be worth a fortune one day.
Invented by toy impresario (and subsequent convicted tax evader) Ty Warner, an initial nine bean-filled plushies — including the first-ever Beanie Baby, Legs the Frog, as well as Chocolate the Moose and Brownie the Bear — were released at a New York toy fair in 1993, to limited success.
Warner was undeterred. His eponymous toy company released more than 20 new designs in 1994, and the poseable toys, which were sold through local gift shops rather than big chain stores, quickly became an unbridled phenomenon. A poll conducted by USA Weekend magazine in 1998 found that, at that time, 64% of Americans owned at least one Beanie Baby.
The tale of the so-called Beanie boom and the man who created it all has made it to the small screen in the form of “The Beanie Bubble” movie. Starring Zach Galifianakis, Sarah Snook and Elizabeth Banks, the film debuted on streaming service Apple TV+ last week.
Selling for around $5 each in the 1990s, the limited-edition collectible plush toys — each ticketed with a heart-shaped swing tag bearing its name, date of birth and a short personal poem — became highly sought after due to the company’s policy of discontinuing or “retiring” characters at random.
This strategy fueled a demand for rare or scarce Beanie Babies as people clamored to buy soon-to-be extinct toys, causing them to become instantly highly valuable. An underground black market began, with adults trading and bidding for the toys. Shoppers would queue overnight for rare editions or characters about to be discontinued, some even traveling internationally to get their hands on a specific Beanie. People stole them from stores. “Dealers” were enlisted to track pieces down and Beanie experts sprung up, specializing in storage and display solutions, authenticating purchases, or predicting and valuing the next big thing.
If you were a child – or even an adult — in the nineties, it’s probable you had a collection of Beanie Babies. In fact, it’s possible you still do. Perhaps you’re hoping (like me) one of them will turn out to be worth a fortune one day. Invented by toy impresario (and subsequent convicted…