Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Secret 8: The beanie baby



I owned one of the original 9 beanie babies and I didn't know it. In 1993 I was on a trip with my mother and little sister. We went into a store where everything was way to expensive for my high school budget. But as we were checking out there was a basket near the register of little beanie animals. They were kind of cute and pretty cheap too so I picked one out, a black whale, and brought it home. Of course, tags were an annoyance to look at so I removed them, both of them. It was cute but like all toys I eventually forgot that I had it.

The beanie baby craze started and I ignored it much like I had the cabbage patch dolls and watching Friends and other fads. (I did eventually watch Friends, and love it, but not until it was in the 7th season) Then I started working in a gift store. Beanie babies were pretty cute and they did grow on me. Eventually I had WAY to many. Embarrasing, but true. I was sucked in, especially by the bunnies.

While I was over at a brother in-law's house who collected them (he did, not his wife) I started flipping through the beanie baby value book that he had on the table. And there it was! A black whale named Splash. I had unknowingly purchased one of the first beanie babies. And I removed the tags... So much for value. I did still sell it for $50 dollars which was certainly more than I paid for it anyway. I sold all of my beanies eventually (except the bunnies because they were too soft and cute, which my daughter now has) and made a tidy profit, all of which went to pay the tax bill that year.

2 comments:

  1. I was the same way with things - I played with the collectibles....much to the chagrin of many of my friends

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  2. I have a huge tub of beanie babies....probably more than 100 and many are the first edition ones that collectors are after....
    with the kids being 21 and 17 that gives you some idea of how old they are....
    and they are just sitting in the basement with all of my other kids things...until they day comes that they have kids....
    is it bad that I'm not going to see them ?

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