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My wife and daughter were into that at the time. The stores would ration them out as one person would come in and buy a dozen of the one everyone wanted. They had a great time together hunting them down with an entire network of like minded ladies, lots of good memories they still talk about. It was a great product. Cheap , appealed to kids and adults. There were beanie baby conventions of all sorts I took her to. My wife even met people in mall parking lots to swap beanies like they were drug dealers
I got dragged into it one fall when the halloween beanies came out. Seems there were three or four issued together but the local Hallmark was only allowing one to be purchased per shopper. I was required to go get in line before it opened. I even had to drive there in a separate car and I'm not kidding about this , I was not to acknowledge them! Some of the stores policies were crazy and customers would get irate. I went first, they followed. The line was already there, it was like queueing up for super bowl tickets. Chairs and hot chocolate. I get in line and as the only male I am a natural source of curiosity.
My wife and daughter pull in and are a couple of ladies back in the line. I'm getting all this attention as I said when asked, I'm here for my wife and she gave me this list of what to look for. Well the comments were very favorable. Lots of what a great husband you are , my husband would never do that for me, she should do something special for you etc etc. I really enjoyed the look on my wife and daughters face .
There were always the beanies everyone just had to have. My wife never was and still isn't a spender on herself, it was always everything for the kids and home. Beanies were a cheap hobby. So at least for holidays b-day I insisted she blow what ever she wanted on one of these things. I felt I spent money on equally useless items.
We were on a vacation in CA at Universal Studios and they had beanies. She saw a "rare" one she always wanted but it was $30 and she would not buy it no matter what I said. It was called sting, a manta ray. We tour the park and as we were preparing to leave she had to stop in the ladies room that had a big line. I ran into the shop as it was close by and bought it. As I wanted it to be a surprise I had to stuff him in my belt and wear my shirt tail out. You get the picture. She decided to go back into some of the other shops so I have to walk around with this thing in my pants for another hour.
I put it in her bag for the flight home. She thought it was funny that I had to walk around and drive the car back to the hotel.
She and my daughter got far more enjoyment out of it vs the cost of the beanies. Maybe with a few exceptions.
one of the best send-ups of the entire craze was the 3rd rock from the sun show. fuzzy buddies. Dick spends all the family food money on fuzzy buddies.
Made in China junk. I'm embarrassed that so many women fell for this manufactured craze.
Those vintage Hot Wheels I found a few weeks ago? Well they still make them, and nuts still run to stores to find some RARE collectible car. It's the same thing with pulling one rare card out of a pack of sports cards.
There is no limit to the resourcefulness of manufacturers making products to separate willing prospects from their money.
The internet has become the equalizer in all of this. It has made many things more desirable, or less desirable. Whether it makes sense or not.
But that's how you thought. Kentucky made clear in his post that was not going on.
Stuffed Animals made from the 90's on, everybody bought and saved them, and they will be worth bux in the future. And they are stuffed animals.
Sure, some still sell for crazy money.
Are they artistic, nope, iconic, nope, nostalgic, nope ( unless you are 20 maybe?) Unusual, nope, interesting, nope.....I mean WTF to put it mildly.
I saw this nonsense first hand with sports cards. I remember Jose Canseco's Donruss rated rookie selling like hot cakes for $90 in 1989. Anybody who was popping them off was smart. They aren't worth ten cents now. And that was going on with a lot of modern cards back then.
This modern run to the store in hopes of finding your rare Pop Figure is just bananas, and shows how little people know about collectibles.
At the opposite end of the spectrum I was at a coin show in 2001 and a dealer was trading this young kid $2 gold pieces for 1999 silver proof sets. I think the kid had over 20 sets. (Kid being early 20's)
I wonder how each made out over time? If the dealer managed to move them in less than 5 years, and the kid held onto the coins for about 10 they both made out. But in the long run the kid made out like a bandit!
Those sets were selling in the $250+ range just a couple years after they came out. Now they are worth a little more than the issue price.
Don't get me started on the scourge of grading companies for coins, comics, cards......
(My copy of Werewolf By Night 32 that I paid $1 in 1981 is worth in $500 range in average condition, it was an older book when I bought it, and still wasn't worth a damn thing in the mid 90's, key though, IT WAS OLDER!)
It's not always age that matters, but the kind of things that are collectible now are older, and were pitched, damaged, or destroyed. And things that younger people would find interesting, unusual.
One thing, people are shedding the collecting mindset. They want "Experiences", not stuff. And I tend to side with them mostly.
I am not trying to pick on anyone. But this is my observation.
I have been directed by my 33-year-old daughter....."don't buy us stuff." She and her husband don't want more misc. things cluttering up her home or having to be packed the next time they move. A lot of young people feel this way. She has a birthday coming up and she will be getting a t-shirt from a favorite place in Knoxville (she just moved to Seattle), 2 books (one signed by a local author) and some money. She is free to donate the books if she doesn't want to keep them after she has read them. Of course, she did keep that one small box of beanie babies........
I had a large tote of Beanie Babies sitting in the attic for years. I went through them and pulled out the ones that could sit out as part of the decorations for holidays.....bunnies for Easter, black cat at Halloween, etc. Then I had my 33 year-old-daughter sit with me and go through them. I was amazed that she remembered most of their names. We had a smaller plastic box and she chose her favorites that would fit in that box to keep. The rest I plan to donate. As much as people roll their eyes at the craze, they were good, inexpensive birthday gifts and fun to collect at the time, as Kentucky62 mentioned. The value was in the fun.....not in making any money on them.
The craze went from around 1993 to the early 2000's. It went world wide and it was a long time before it died out. McDonalds started putting them in happy meals toward the end of the 90's as I recall. Another smart move to keep the enthusiasm going with a new generation. My wife and daughter had so much fun with this, it was well worth the $5. Compared to my and most men's hobbies its was far cheaper. Resale was never an intent though some people were into it for that and did quite well at those beanie shows for a time.
The thread made me think of the two large totes of beanies in the attic. Had not thought of them in years. My wife always felt if we were lucky enough to have grandchildren we would just have them as little gifts or party favors. We had just about given up on the idea but we got a grand child this year, so I have to crawl up there and dig them out. Hope that racoon mother who had babies in our attic did not set up shop in one of the containers.
One last beanie caper to relate. It's known in the family as the black bag incident. My wife was at the grocery store. On coming out it was very windy, cold and spritzing rain. An older woman (now my wifes age) had parked next to her and upon opening the hatch of her van had all sorts of things fall out. My wife stopped to help her pick up the things that were blowing away. In the back was a black garbage bag, some small furniture items, clothes etc. The bag was partially open and she saw beanie babies. She said I see you collect beanie babies too. The lady said no my older daughter did but she is moving and I'm taking all the junk she does not want to goodwill later today. My wife saw one she wanted near the top and said some are worth some money, you should try to sell them at the local flea market. The lady said I don't want to be bothered but if you want them I'll sell them to you , would you give me $1 apiece ?
She said again some of these are worth more than that but the lady did not care. There were 23 in the bag. She came home all excited called my daughter and I down stairs and spilled them out on the kitchen table. My daughter actually squealed. I think there was a lady bug, platypus a bat and some others considered rare in there. Now at the time, at some of the shows, a few of these things were going for $75 to $80. Crazy but those were the times. She felt quite pleased with her catch as was my daughter.
I remember well a guy with a show table who had that same bat asking $100 and a guy offering him less. The guy said I would just tear his head off for that much. I had as much fun watching the buy sell interactions as my wife did seeing all the tables. That 3rd Rock From The Sun send up of fuzzy buddies is as amazingly accurate as it is funny.
As with all things it faded, we had a curio cabinet full for a long time. Our daughter got older and moved on to more teenaged interests and now in her mid 30's with her first child is asking about her Care Bears, My Little Ponies. etc. It all comes around so who knows maybe it will restart as the next generation settles into home and family life and wants to relive some of the old days.
I still smile when I see Rat Finks at flea markets. A white one was the most sought after
The craze went from around 1993 to the early 2000's. It went world wide and it was a long time before it died out. McDonalds started putting them in happy meals toward the end of the 90's as I recall. Another smart move to keep the enthusiasm going with a new generation. My wife and daughter had so much fun with this, it was well worth the $5. Compared to my and most men's hobbies its was far cheaper. Resale was never an intent though some people were into it for that and did quite well at those beanie shows for a time.
The thread made me think of the two large totes of beanies in the attic. Had not thought of them in years. My wife always felt if we were lucky enough to have grandchildren we would just have them as little gifts or party favors. We had just about given up on the idea but we got a grand child this year, so I have to crawl up there and dig them out. Hope that racoon mother who had babies in our attic did not set up shop in one of the containers.
One last beanie caper to relate. It's known in the family as the black bag incident. My wife was at the grocery store. On coming out it was very windy, cold and spritzing rain. An older woman (now my wifes age) had parked next to her and upon opening the hatch of her van had all sorts of things fall out. My wife stopped to help her pick up the things that were blowing away. In the back was a black garbage bag, some small furniture items, clothes etc. The bag was partially open and she saw beanie babies. She said I see you collect beanie babies too. The lady said no my older daughter did but she is moving and I'm taking all the junk she does not want to goodwill later today. My wife saw one she wanted near the top and said some are worth some money, you should try to sell them at the local flea market. The lady said I don't want to be bothered but if you want them I'll sell them to you , would you give me $1 apiece ?
She said again some of these are worth more than that but the lady did not care. There were 23 in the bag. She came home all excited called my daughter and I down stairs and spilled them out on the kitchen table. My daughter actually squealed. I think there was a lady bug, platypus a bat and some others considered rare in there. Now at the time, at some of the shows, a few of these things were going for $75 to $80. Crazy but those were the times. She felt quite pleased with her catch as was my daughter.
I remember well a guy with a show table who had that same bat asking $100 and a guy offering him less. The guy said I would just tear his head off for that much. I had as much fun watching the buy sell interactions as my wife did seeing all the tables. That 3rd Rock From The Sun send up of fuzzy buddies is as amazingly accurate as it is funny.
As with all things it faded, we had a curio cabinet full for a long time. Our daughter got older and moved on to more teenaged interests and now in her mid 30's with her first child is asking about her Care Bears, My Little Ponies. etc. It all comes around so who knows maybe it will restart as the next generation settles into home and family life and wants to relive some of the old days.
I still smile when I see Rat Finks at flea markets. A white one was the most sought after Attachment 213979
Now fellas , when you get engaged, married, tell your betrothed one giving diamond rings has faded. How bout a beanie.......See what happens MOST OF THE TIME....
(All kinds of things have never Faded!!! Beanie Babies falls in line with the other things mentioned, and much more not mentioned in this thread from the truly crazy collecting fads of the 90's))
Recently I was at a garage sale and the lady was selling Beanie Babies asking $1.00ea. for them. She had about 200 of them and I didn't see anyone interested in buying them.
I thought they were cute and they were cheap and easy to collect.
I never bought any because I never buy anything that has to be dusted. Nothing that is mass produced in staggering numbers is ever going to have any value as collectibles, so I couldn't see any point in buying for future appreciation.
But they are cute. It made more sense to me to collect cute little stuffed toys than to collect Avon bottles. Seriously, some people thought that mass produced cheap pressed glass bottles intended to be thrown away were going to be their retirement fortune. I knew several people who collected them.
Recently I was at a garage sale and the lady was selling Beanie Babies asking $1.00ea. for them. She had about 200 of them and I didn't see anyone interested in buying them.
If they were in a GW they would have sold them for $6 a piece and the whackies that inhabit thrift stores would have bough almost all of them.
I saw a couple a few weeks ago. One was the Princess Diana Purple one. Sure enough some crazy old fool bought it. It was made in China, not Indonesia, which would have been worth something.
Check out the scam auctions on that stuff on Ebay.
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, when you get engaged, married, tell your betrothed one giving diamond rings has faded. How bout a beanie.......See what happens MOST OF THE TIME....
@ those things... not to mention the idiotic Cabbage Patch dolls and Furrbies.
