article

A Beanie Baby is a stuffed animal filled with plastic pellets, or "beans," rather than stuffing (see PVC). A Beanie Baby is thus a form of bean bag.

The original Beanie Babies were made by Ty Warner through his company Ty Inc.. Ty claimed rightful ownership of the name and of all of the designs of their various "beanies." Other companies marketed imitation beanbag-stuffed animals, as well as parodies such as the "Meanie Babies".

The official Beanie Babies were mostly in the shape of animals and were usually brightly colored. Each Baby came with his or her own name, a birthdate, and a bit of humorous poetry. For example, the poem of Bongo the monkey went:

Bongo the monkey lives in a tree
He's the happiest monkey you'll ever see
In his spare time he plays the guitar
One of these days he will be a big star!

This information was all contained on a red, heart-shaped hang tag usually affixed to the animal's ear. The condition of the hang tag is one of the main factors in determining a Beanie Baby's value, and hard plastic covers molded in a heart shape are available for its protection. In some tags, the letters "ty" actually are in a 3D form, slightly lifted as to create a more futuristic effect.

Intended as children's toys, they became a popular adult gift item. Beanie Babies are a kitsch cubicle decoration. Hundreds of different Beanie Babies were created, often resorting to more obscure animals such as aardvarks, nutria, or chameleons in the process. One popular "series" within the Beanie Baby menagerie was the use of teddy bear-shaped Beanies, the basic pattern of which was repeatedly re-used, but with different colors and names. The bear model was frequently used for commemorative purposes, and special bears such as a Fourth of July model and even a Diana, Princess of Wales commemorative were created.

Starting in late 1996, a faddish craze of collecting Beanie Babies began. In a buying frenzy reminiscent of the Cabbage Patch Kid mania of the early 1980s, several speculators purchased these collectibles en masse in hopes of making a fortune years later from being able to sell rare specimens. Ty fed the frenzy by systematically retiring various designs. However, much like the Cabbage Patch Kid fad, so many people had delusions that purchasing large numbers of these collectibles was a good investment, that very few people profited from the craze. Like tulip mania, this was a toy-sized example of an economic bubble.

Tags

The tags on your Beanie Babies are a very important part of a Beanies' value. Without a tag, the average Beanie drops in value more than fifty percent. Beanie Babies have two types of tags: swing tags, which are also called "heart tags", and tush tags, those attached to the Beanie's rear end. Each tag over time has gone through many changes, these changes have become known as "generations", there are currently 14 generations of swing tags, and 13 generations of tush tags, a special Canadian tush tag, and the rare few Beanie Babies embroidered tush tags.

Swing Tag Generations

1st Generation Heart Tags: These tags first appeared on Beanies in early 1994. This first generation heart tag is a single tag with what is called the "Skinny Ty" printed on it. This tag is the only generation to not open like a book. The style number, name and other Ty information is printed on the back. 1st generation Beanies were either made in Korea or China. These tags also only appear on Beanies with a 1st generation tush tag from 1993. Beanie Babies with 1st generation hang tags that appeared in the U.K. had a special sticker stuck onto the back side of the tag.

2nd Generation Heart Tags: The 2nd generation heart tag was introduced during the Spring of 1994. 2nd generation tags have the same "Skinny Ty" printed on them as the 1st generation, however now the tag opens like a book. These are often referred to as the "Double Tag." The inside left of the tag tells where the Beanie was originally distributed from, which was either: North America, the UK or in Germany. The inside right contains the Beanies name with the style number and TO/FROM following. However, not all 2nd generation tags have the TO/FROM section. Some have the copyright and care data on the right instead of the TO/FROM. The back of these 2nd generation tags contain a bar code and the words "Retain Tag For Reference."

Some 2nd generation tags have the word "Handmade in China" covered up with a sticker that reads, "Handmade in Korea."

These tags only came on Beanies with 1st generation tush tags from 1993. There are three different 2nd generation tags.

3rd Generation Heart Tags: The 3rd generation heart tag was introduced in Spring of 1995 and follows the 2nd generation tag in that it also opens like a book. These tags were the first to have the fatter "bubble font Ty logo," and also have a slightly rounder heart tag. The inside of the tags looked much like the 2nd generation. A trademark symbol was added, and three of Ty's corporate addresses were added to the inside left. "Hand made in China" or "Hand made in Korea" were also places at the bottom.

Back Side Changes: At the top it now has a warning to remove the tag before giving to a child to play with. Below this it has a bar code along with the "CE" mark, the CE means that the Beanie complies with European safety standards, printed to the left of the bar code.

Under the bar code is a line stating you should keep your tag for reference and that it should be "Surface Wash". Notice version 2's tag has no "Surface Wash" and the "Retain Tag for Reference" is in the shape of a V.

These tags appear on Beanies with 1st generation tush tags from 1993 and 1995, and on 2nd generation tush tags dated 1993 and 1995.

There are four different versions of the 3rd generation tags.

Version 1 has only been seen on the following Beanies, Peking, Chilly, Trap and Web. The front of each version all appear the same. The key feature to a version 1 3rd generation tag is that the "to" & "from" are written in italics.

Version 2 has the copyright date and care information written on the left inside of the hang tag. And the back now Retain Tag For Reference written in the shape of a "V".

Version 3 has "Please remove all swing tags before giving this item to a child under 36 month" written on the back. And only the first address written on the inside left of the tag has the ©.

Version 4 now has the following written on the back, "Please remove all swing tags before giving this item to a child", also copyright symbols © were added to each address listed.

4th Generation Heart Tags: These 4th generation heart tags were introduced during the Spring of 1996. These tags are the same size and shape as the third version heart tag, but a yellow star that says "BEANIE ORIGINAL BABY" was added. The "Ty" was shrunk a little and the gold trim was removed from the "Ty" lettering. The inside right of the tag changed some. The Beanies name is now followed by "TM" and the Style number, and Ty added the Beanies birthday and a poem. Ty also added their website address.

The back of the tag now says "For ages 3 and up", followed by "Surface Wash."

There are 6 different variations of the 4th generation tag!

Version 1 shows the collection's name and the Ty© headquarters in the USA, UK and Germany, as well as where the Beanie Baby® was handmade. This version should have a round "CE" sticker on the back of the tag. Most of these have "Made in Korea" on them.

Version 2 looks just like the first however the "Visit our website" part is covered up with a white sticker. Ty had thought he would have no problem getting the domain www.ty.com, however for legal reason (someone else owned it) he was not able to get the domain by the time the Beanies came out with the website printed on it.

Version 3 looks just like the first version except instead of placing a sticker over the website address the bottom part of the tag was simply cut off.

Version 4 is probably the most popular, these are made in China and have the Ty Deutschland address on them.

Version 5 looks just like the 4th except now a 'TM' was added after 'Collection' in "The Beanie Babies® Collection.". Also, the Ty© Deutsch land headquarters address was removed and replaced with Ty Canada's headquarters in Aurora, Ontario being added.

Version 6 is vary rare and only found on the Mother's Day 1997 releases ( Baldy, Blizzard, Chip, Claude, Doodle, Dotty, Echo, Jolly, Nanook, Pugsly, Roary, Tuffy, and Waves.) Peace however did not get made with this version. These look like the 4th version however the Beanie's name is now written in all CAPS.

These tags are found on Beanies with 3rd generation tush tags from 1993, 1995 and 1996, and on 4th generation tush tags dated 1993, 1995 and 1996, and 5th generation tush tags from 1993, 1995 and 1996.

5th Generation Heart Tags: These 5th generation heart tags were introduced in the beginning of 1998 and are much like the 4th generation tags however they now use the comic sans font on the inside and outside of the hang tag. The inside left on the first line "The Beanie Babies Collection®" is now a registered (®). Also the address lines changed. It no longer mentions 'Ty Inc. USA', 'UK' and 'Deutschland', it now refers to 'Ty Inc. USA', 'Ty Europe' and 'Ty Canada'. The Ty Europe address's first line can say just "Ty Europe" followed by a Gosport/Gasport address, or it can say "Ty Europe Ltd." followed by the Fareham Hants address.

The inside right now has the Beanies birthday spelled out and the style number has been deleted and the "Visit our Web page" is replaced with only "www.ty.com".

Tag Errors: Some of the original 5th generation tags had the following spelling error on the back of the hang tag, instead of reading "Surface Wash", "Surface" was misspelled as "Suface". Later 5th generation tags had a small sticker covering up the error with the correct spelling, finally in the end the tags themselves were corrected.

Those tags with the "Surface" spelling error almost all have the "ORIGINAL" spelling error. On the front of the hang tag inside of the yellow star "ORIGINAL" was spelled "ORIGIINAL" during the early releases.

These 5th generation hang tags come on Beanies with 6th, 7th and 8th generation tush tags.

6th Generation Heart Tags: These 6th generation heart tags were introduced during March of 2000. The biggest change on this tag is that the previously existing yellow star on the front has been replaced with a holographic star with "2000" written across it in a yellow font. The inside left lists the four Ty distribution areas: Ty Inc., Ty Canada, Ty Europe and Ty Japan. On the European versions of the "2000" hang tag it says "Ty Europe Gosport, PO13 OFW" instead of just "Ty Europe."

The Beanies name, birthday and poem are now in a smaller font, the back of the tag has a new safety warning, a smaller bar code and a smaller font.

These 6th generation heart tags are found on Beanies with ONLY 9th generation tush tags.

The Zodiac Series Tags are also considered 6th Generation. The 2000 Holiday Teddy Tag is also considered 6th Generation. Also Periwinkle and Sunny's special e-Beanie tags are 6th Generation. Another Special 6th Generation tag is on Ariel.

Only the Issy from the New York Four Seasons Hotel has a 6th generation hang tag, all others have 8th or 9th generation tags.

7th Generation Heart Tags: These 7th generation heart tags were only released in the UK (European), the tags are just like the 6th generation tags however, the hang tag says 'Ty Europe Gosport, PO13 OFW' instead of just 'Ty Europe'. The only other difference is that "BEANIES" is written across the yellow star.

8th Generation Heart Tags: These 8th generation heart tags were introduced in the beginning of 2001. The front of the hang tag has a new look. In the top right hand corner it now has "BEANIE BABY" printed in a circular position, around a small holographic star. The rest of the tag appears much like the 6th generation tags.

9th Generation Heart Tags: In July 2001 these new tags started to appear on Tradee and then later the rest of the new releases! These tags look exactly like the 8th generation tags with one exception, around the star it now says "BEANIE BABIES" not just "BEANIE BABY". Included in the 9th generation hang tags are Rescue & Courage, two Beanie Babies sold in the TyStore online to raise funds for the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on the World Trade Center, and also America the Beanie Baby.

These tags are seen on Beanies with 10th generation tush tags.

10th Generation Heart Tags: The 10th Generation Hang tag was introduced December 27, 2001 with the announcement of the new 2002 January Beanies. Around August 2002 a second version of the 10th generation hang tag started to appear, the difference is now seen on the inside left, where Ty Australia and Ty Asia are now included:

These tags are seen on Beanies with 11th generation tush tags. 11th Generation tush tag can have the date 2001 or 2002 on them.

11th Generation Heart Tags: Beginning with the special Ty MasterCard Anniversary edition Beanie Baby bear the new 2003 tags began to appear on the market. They weren't hard to spot as they sported a nice '10 years' slogan on the front of them. This is to mark the 10th Anniversary of Beanie Babies. Ty began selling Beanies back in 1993. In addition to the front style change the insides changed a little as well, the font that reads www.ty.com on the right inside portion of the tag is now a more bold font, the "Handmade in China" writing is now gone from the inside left.

After Ty Canada went under, for a short period of time Beanies arriving in Canada from the USA had a special Hang Tag attached to their normal heart tag, this was because Canadian law requires certain information printed on tags of plush toys, normally this is done through an extra tush tag from Ty.

12th Generation Heart Tags: 2004 started off with a new hang tag design. Since this year is no longer the 10th Anniversary of Beanie Babies, this tag change was expected. Along with a new tag for US and Canadian Beanie, the U.K. also received new tags, a first in many years. The new U.K. tags are called 13th generation tags. In early 2004 the new Beanies arriving in the U.K. started sporting new hang tags. The last U.K. hang tag was 7th generation.

13th Generation Heart Tags: The first Beanie Babies of 2005 have new tags. There are already two versions, the U.K. tags only say Beanies on the front of the tag, instead of Beanie Babies like all the other tags.

14th Generation Heart Tags: This tag has a a small yellow star and the worf original in hologramed letters over it. Below are the words Beanie Babies written in the same yellow as the star.

Tush Tag Generations

1st Generation Tush Tags: This is the original black and white beanie tush tag. They either have copyright dates of 1993 or 1995. Beanies with this tush tag should have a 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation heart tag. Some of these tags say "For Ages 3 And Up" on them, and some also have CE on them. Also the beanies name is not yet on these tags. These tags can say "HAND MADE IN KOREA" or "HAND MADE IN CHINA."

One version of this tag says "HAND MADE IN KOREA" but does not have the "SURFACE WASHABLE" or the "FOR AGES 3 AND UP" printed on them. This tag has the 1993 date printed on it.

2nd Generation Tush Tags: All second generation tush tags have a large red heart with ty written on the inside, there is also a ® symbol to the lower right of the heart. These tags don't have the beanies name on them. These tags can have 1993 or 1995 copyright dates on them. They have either "Made in China" or "Made in Korea" on them. Also the first of these tags say "For Ages 3 and Up" the later ones do not.

3rd Generation Tush Tags: These third generation tags now have "The Beanie Babies Collection" added to the top of the tush tag with a ™ at the end of "Collection". The heart on these tags is a lot smaller now and still has the ® symbol under it.

Also the beanies name has been added to them. These tags can have the following copyright dates: 1993, 1995 and 1996. They can also be made in China or Korea.

This tag has a few mistakes: The first Libearty's had the word Beanie misspelled "Beanine", and there was also a TM trademark printed above the word "Babies." Sly's tag had "Surface" misspelled as "Sufrace."

4th Generation Tush Tags: The first of these generation tags were in the process of changing, they were third generation tags with a new star added to the top left corner of the heart, the star was actually at first a clear sticker added to the tag with a star. When the tags were finally printed no other changes were made. These tags have the dates: 1993, 1995 & 1996 and can have "HANDMADE IN CHINA" or "HANDMADE IN KOREA" on them.

5th Generation Tush Tags: 5th generation tags were introduced in October of 1997 with many new changes from the previous tag. "The Beanie Babies Collection" at the top of the tag now has a ® symbol added after the word Babies. And there is an additional ™ at the end of the beanies name. These tags can have the following dates: 1993, 1995 or 1996 and can have "HANDMADE IN CHINA" or "HANDMADE IN KOREA" on them.

6th Generation Tush Tags: These tags were introduced during January of 1998. Once again the trademark symbols changed, there is now no ® after "Babies", but instead its after "Collection". These tags can either say they have PE or PVC pellets in them. In June of 1998 some of these tags started to have the red Chinese stamp inside of them. This stamp indicates which factory the Beanie was produced in. The following dates can be on these tags: 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997 & 1998. They can also have "HANDMADE IN:" CHINA, KOREA or INDONESIA printed on them.

7th Generation Tush Tags: This tag is seen on beanie released after Jan, 1999. These are the first tags to sport the new morphing hologram above the beanies name. There is also a "Ty" light red heart in the middle of the tag, looks like a watermark, it is actually a heat activated disappearing ink symbol. Under heat it will disappear, this is to help stop the making of fake beanies. These tags have no chinese stamp on them.

8th Generation Tush Tags: This tag looks exactly like the 7th generation tags however they are now a not a loop tag.

9th Generation Tush Tags: These tags were introduced in March of 2000. These tags returned back to the traditional loop format, these tags also have a 8 digit alpha numeric code stamped to the inside of them. The front now has a new hologram with "ty" and a star alternately reflecting inside of the heart. "Beanie" appears above the heart, and "Babies" can be seen underneath. There are also tiny hearts and stars printed in the holograms background.

These tags still have the disappearing heart on them.

10th Generation Tush Tags: Again a new hologram was created and added to these tags. These tags were released in January of 2001. The hologram now seems more complex, the surrounding background has changed from tiny hearts and stars to diagonal line patterns of the words "Beanie Babies". There are also multiple thin lined designs of various sized hearts and stars that alternate around the perimeter of the center "Ty".

11th Generation Tush Tags: The 11th Generation tush tag was introduced on December 27, 2001 with the announcement of the new 2002 January releases! These tush tags can have 2001 or 2002 dates! The hologram has an image of a Bear with its arms wrapped around a heart.

12th Generation Tush Tags: The 12th generation tush tags started to appear in 2002 with the introduction of the special edition Mastercard Anniversary Beanie along with the new 11th generation hang tags. Only a few minor changes to the tags, the hologram now has the Ty Heart logo in the middle and the hearts and stars in the background are smaller then in the 11th generation tush tags. These can have 2002 or 2003 dates on them. 12th generation version two tush tags started to appear on HERO and Peace 2 during April 2003. Only a few changes were made to the tag, the CE has been moved to its own line and is now much larger.

13th Generation Tush Tags: Beanie Babies in July of 2003 started to appear with these newly designed tush tags. They have a simple yet elegant look to them with that red foil design. These tush tags can have a 2003 or a 2004 copyright date on them.

Version #2: These new tags started showing up in July of 2004. The main Ty Heart is now just red instead of metallic red, and also now the "Ty" inside of the heart is gold not white. These tags should have a 2004 copyright date on them. So far only a handful of Beanies have these tags.

Canadian Tush Tags: All beanies distributed in Canada have this additional tush tag on them. This is required in order to meet Canadian toy import regulations.

Embroidered Tush Tags: There are a few rare embroidered tush tags on the market for beanie babies. All beanies seen with this tag have a second generation hang tag and the standard Canadian tush tag. This tag also has the date of 1994, no other tag has a 1994 date on it. It is rumored that these tags were all a mistake, normally they are seen on Ty Classic Animals.

Other Ty Products

Ty Inc. has produced many other stuffed animals, some of which are variations of Beanie Babies:
  • Baby Ty: various baby animals and humans in baby clothes
  • Beanie Buddies: larger versions of Beanie Babies, filled with stuffing and pellets
  • Classic: stuffing-filled animals. (These are not a type of Beanie Baby, although due to the word "Classic," some people may incorrectly believe that the name refers to the "original 9" Beanie Babies)
  • Pinkys: pink albino stuffed animals
  • Pluffies: stuffing-filled animals, with a terrycloth-like fur
  • Punkies: extremely fuzzy animals
  • Teenie Beanies: smaller versions of Beanie Babies that were included in McDonald's Happy Meals during three different promotions
  • Jingle Beanies / Basket Beanies / Halloweenie Beanies: smaller versions of holiday-themed Beanie Babies
  • Valenteenies: Valentine's Day Beanies on a key chain
  • Bow Wow Beanies: Beanies & bones with a squeker inside
  • Alphabet Beanies: Beanies with a hanging loop holding a letter in it's hands
  • Angeline: A doll created with varios seasonal outfits
  • Beanie Kids: Dolls made by Ty stuffed with beans
  • Beanie Boppers: Bigger dolls with clothes that do not come off
  • teenie Beanie Boppers: Smaller versions of the Beanie Boppers
  • Attic Treasures: Animals about the same size as Beanies stuffed with fluff
  • Ty Gear: Clothes for Beanies Kids, also totes for kids are considered Ty Gear

Beanie Buddies

On September 30, 1998, Ty Inc. Introduced the first nine members of its new line of toys - Beanie Buddies.

Most collectors cannot afford rare Beanie Babies such as Peanut the royal blue elephant and Humphrey the camel. So, Ty Warner created Beanie Buddies, which are based on some of the most popular members of the Beanie Babies line. The Beanie Buddies are about 40 percent bigger than the Beanie Babies and they feature a unique, super-soft fabric designed by Ty.

The first nine Beanie Buddies are Beak the kiwi bird, Humphrey the camel, Jake the mallard duck, Peanut the royal blue elephant, Quackers the duck, Rover the dog, Stretch the ostrich, Teddy the cranberry bear and Twigs the giraffe.

The Beanie Buddies are larger plush toys closer in size to members of the Ty Pillow Pals collection. There is a mixture of polyester filling and , of course, beans (PE pellets). Unlike with Beanie Babies, there is no birthdate listed inside the Buddies' fifth generation red Ty heart tag. On the left side of the tag are the words "The Beanie Buddies Collection" and a list of the Ty, Inc., locations in the United States and Canada. On the right side of the tag is a trivia statement about the Beanie Baby that the new Beanie Buddy is modeled after and the Ty, Inc., World Wide Web address.

All of the words on the inside of the hang tag are printed in black ink except for the words "BEANIE BABY," which are in red ink. The front of the tag has the yellow star with type that reads "BEANIE ORIGINAL BUDDY." The tush (or sewn-in) tags are of the same type (white with red heart and black letters) used on the Pillow Pals and the Ty Plush collectibles. The copyright year is 1998.

The style or item numbers (the last four numbers of the toy's "barcode") are in the 9300 range for Beanie Buddies, while Beanie Babies' style numbers are in the 4000 range.

The second group of Buddies were released on January 1st, 1999. The third group of Buddies were announced in April of 1999.

There are two variations of swing tags. The first generation was found of the first group released in September of 1998. The 2nd generation swing tag appeared on the second group of Buddies released on January 1st, 1999. On January 4th 2000, There were a large number of Buddies released. There was also a swing tag change. A multicolored star was added.

Trivia

External links

Dolls | 1990s fads

Beanie | 豆豆娃

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Beanie Baby".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world