It actually isn't that rare.
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It's time to dust off your crate of collectible stuffed animals. The new AppleTV movie, The Beanie Bubble, adapted from The Great Beanie Baby Bubble by Zac Bissonnette, hits the streaming platform tomorrow. The film details the story of Beanie Baby creator Ty Warner, who became a billionaire from selling his toys. Zach Galifianakis stars as Ty, and Elizabeth Banks and Sarah Snook play slightly fictionalized versions of the women who aided Ty's financial success.
In 1995, Beanie Babies exploded in popularity through the company's creation of artificial shortages, per The Chicago Sun Times. Warner discovered eBay, the then-brand new e-commerce platform, and used it to his company's advantage. Ty Inc. was one of the first companies to use the website to promote their products, which led to some big price increases for some of the company's most collectible pieces. Beanie Babies quickly became hot ticket collectible items.
Among those highly sought after pieces were Patti the Platypus Beanie Baby, which once sold for $6,000, the Brownie the Bear, which once sold for $20,000, and the infamous limited edition Princess Diana Beanie Baby, that went for as much as $500,000 (Yup, you read that right), per the Chicago Sun Times.
The story behind the bear is pretty simple: In 1997, the whole world went into mourning after Princess Diana died. People showed up at Buckingham Palace, leaving flowers, notes, and little gifts behind to show love for the late Princess. Ty Inc. followed suit, and announced the toy to commemorate the late princess's death.
Going to need some more details? Here’s the deal on the collectible toy, and how much it's really worth today:
Great question! Ty Inc. announced in 1997 that it would be making a toy to commemorate the late princess after her death. Beanie Babies were at the height of their craze at the time, Vanity Fair explains, so it kind of made sense.
Proceeds from the sales of this special Beanie Baby, which was dubbed "Princess the Bear" and was sold for about $5 to $7, went toward the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. The fund helped with humanitarian efforts in the UK and abroad, but was eventually shut down in 2012.
Vanity Fair reported that by the time Ty stopped the bear's production in April 1999, the company said it had donated roughly $21.9 million to the fund.
The bear was designed to memorialize Diana's life, so it had some key details that honored her. The bear has dark purple fur—the hue is considered a color of royalty. It also has a white rose on its chest. (Diana was dubbed “England’s Rose” in Elton John’s remake of his hit song, "Candle in the Wind," which was rewritten to honor Diana).
The bear also had a poem on the tag that reads, “Like an angel she came from heaven above; she shared her compassion, her pain, her love; she only stayed with us long enough to teach the world to share, to give, to reach," per Vanity Fair.
To be clear, these bears actually aren’t rare, according to Today. Remember, Ty sold these bears from 1997 to 1999.
“There were so many made that they are never going to be rare,” Leon Schlossberg, who runs TyCollector.com, told Today. There was, however, an original rush on the bear, which was sold close to Christmas and the company reportedly told stores they could only order 12 at a time.
“The retailers, in conjunction with the media misunderstanding the limit on the initial order, convinced the public that it was going to be a limited edition item,” Schlossberg also told Today, noting that millions were created the next year. So, people starting selling the bears at auctions and prices were listed as high as $400, per The Washington Post. They still try to sell these bears at super high prices today.
You can actually buy your very own "Princess the Bear" Beanie Baby on eBay, and prices vary widely. Some are as low as 99 cents (plus shipping), while others run up to $702,000 for a “ghost” version (which seems to indicate that it's a first edition). There are also a few for sale on Amazon, coming in at about $23.
Just keep in mind that these are *not* technically a rare Beanie Baby, so don't go spending big bucks on them. In fact, the Beanie Baby craze has largely died down altogether, so it's very rare you'd be able to sell any of them for an outrageous price (but obviously people will try!), according to Reader's Digest.“I see piles of [Beanie Babies] at flea markets, and they go for two, three dollars a piece,” Judith Katz-Schwartz, Appraisal Expert on JustAnswer.com, told the publication.
You can learn more (mostly real) Beanie Baby lore in The Beanie Bubble, streaming on AppleTV on July 28, 2023.
Olivia Evans (she/her) is an editorial assistant at Women’s Health. Her work has previously appeared in The Cut and Teen Vogue. She loves covering topics where culture and wellness intersect. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, running, and watching rom-coms.
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