During the height of their popularity in the 1990s, Beanie Babies were an inescapable part of American life and appeared everywhere. The unassuming plush animals whipped people up into a frenzy and everyone was sure that they would someday become valuable collectors’ items. Unfortunately, Beanie Babies did not have longevity and even disappeared completely before returning in a modern format. However, there is still an active Beanie Baby collectors community and while Beanie Babies aren’t worth tens of thousands of dollars like people had hoped, some of the rare ones are still pretty valuable. Even today, the rarest Beanie Babies are worth a few hundred dollars and sometimes in the low thousands.
There is a lot of misinformation out there saying that errors make certain Beanie Babies worth tens of thousands of dollars. According to serious Beanie Baby collectors this is not true at all and generally, the rarest Beanies are 1st generation Beanies in mint condition. Very few Beanie errors are actually worth any money – these valuable errors are featured on this list.
Please note that since it is hard to determine Beanie Baby rarity because production numbers are not usually public information, this list was arranged in alphabetical order (with the exception of Humphrey at No. 10 since there were production numbers available).
Humphrey
Reason for Rarity: Only 25,000 ever produced
Year Released: June 25, 1994
Birthday: N/A
Current Value (based on eBay listings or highest price paid at auction): $719 (eBay listing)
Unlike most of the other Beanie Babies on this list, Humphrey the Camel was not released with any unique errors. Humphrey is rare because he was only available for about a year and was one of the first Beanie Babies to be retired. Only about 25,000 Humphrey Beanies were ever produced. Original Humphrey Beanies with intact hang and tush tags can sell for a lot of money. One current eBay listing has a good condition Humphrey priced at $719.
Quackers without Wings
Reason for Rarity: Retired quickly because of lack of wings
Year Released: June 25, 1994
Birthday: N/A
Current Value (based on eBay listings or highest price paid at auction): $450 – $500 (eBay listings)
For some bizarre reason, Quackers the Duck was originally released without any wings. Despite the error, wingless Quackers was available for over half a year and wasn’t retired until January 7, 1995. While no official production numbers have been released, it is estimated that about 780 or so wingless Quackers were sold before wings were added. On top of being wingless, some Quackers had a misspelled name tag featuring the name “Quacker.”
Spot the Dog without Spot
Reason for Rarity: Retired quickly because of lack of spot
Year Released: January 8, 1994
Birthday: January 3, 1993
Current Value (based on eBay listings or highest price paid at auction): $249.99 – $330 (eBay listings)
Spot the Dog was initially released without its signature spot on its back. This obvious error was quickly fixed and the spotless Spot Beanies were not available for very long. Spot Beanies without the spot are one of the few errors that are actually considered valuable by Beanie Baby collectors and are still worth a few hundred bucks when they go up for sale.
Royal Blue Peanut
Reason for Rarity: Only about 500 produced
Year Released: June 3, 1995
Birthday: N/A
Current Value (based on eBay listings or highest price paid at auction): $1,400 (eBay listing)
Peanut the Elephant was originally released in a vibrant royal blue color, but this was later deemed a mistake. Like the other error Beanie Babies on this list, the Royal Blue Peanut was quickly retired and re-released with the correct coloring, a light blue. It is estimated that about 500 or so Royal Blue Peanut Beanies were produced and sold. Royal Blue Peanut is one of the most popular error Beanies, making it highly counterfeited. The Beanie Baby collectors community recommends that interested buyers only purchase authenticated Royal Blue Peanut Beanies.
Punchers
Reason for Rarity: Few sold before quickly retired
Year Released: January 6, 1994
Birthday: N/A
Current Value (based on eBay listings or highest price paid at auction): N/A (none currently listed)
Punchers the Lobster was one of the first Beanie Babies ever released in early 1994, but was quickly retired because “Punchers” was actually a name error. No one knows how many Punchers Beanies were made before the corrected Pinchers were released. Since it is a very rare mistake, no Punchers are currently listed for sale, but Beanie Baby collectors say that the error makes the already valuable Pinchers worth even more.
Peking
Reason for Rarity: Unspecified, but considered highly sought after
Year Released: June 25, 1994
Birthday: N/A
Current Value (based on eBay listings or highest price paid at auction): $299.99 – $500 (eBay listings)
Although Peking was on the market for two years, it is considered one of the rarest and most sought after Beanie Babies by Beanie Baby collectors. However, our research did not turn up a solid reason for why Peking is so desirable. It might be because pandas are very popular animals, so Peking Beanies in good condition probably don’t come up for sale very often. Currently, there are a few Peking Beanies for sale on eBay, priced as high as $500.
Nana
Reason for Rarity: Few sold before quickly retired
Year Released: 1995
Birthday: N/A
Current Value (based on eBay listings or highest price paid at auction): $1,049.89 (eBay listing)
Like a few of the other rare Beanie Babies on this list, Nana was only available for a short time. Nana was initially released in early 1995 and was retired before the end of the year. This early monkey Beanie Baby was re-released as Bongo, which was retired a few years later.
Derby with No Star and Fine Mane
Reason for Rarity: Few were sold before mane was updated
Year Released: 1995
Birthday: September 16, 1995
Current Value (based on eBay listings or highest price paid at auction): N/A (none currently listed)
While there were four different versions of Derby the Horse released, the rarest one features no star/spot on its head and a fine mane. Derby Beanies with fine manes featured thinner and more strands of yarn on its mane and tail. This version of Derby wasn’t available for long and was replaced with a Derby with a coarse mane that used thicker strands of yarn, which most likely cut down on production costs as less yarn needed to be used. A white star was added to later versions of Derby and the coarse mane was eventually changed to a fluffy mane.
Chef Robuchon
Reason for Rarity: Only 200 produced
Year Released: August 9, 2006
Birthday: September 18, 2006
Current Value (based on eBay listings or highest price paid at auction): $6,499.99 (auction)
Chef Robuchon is one of the rarest modern Beanie Babies out there. Reportedly only 200 or so Chef Robuchon bears were made and they were never available to any retailer or store. The Chef Robuchon Beanie was created to promote the opening of the L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon at the Four Seasons Hotel, New York in 2006. The special edition bears were given away to the guests invited to a private function that took place right before the restaurant’s grand opening. Because the Chef Robuchon Beanies are so special, very few have ever gone up for sale. One was sold by BBToyStore.com for $6,499.99. d
Brownie
Reason for Rarity: Few were sold before being quickly retired
Year Released: June 16, 1993
Birthday: N/A
Current Value (based on eBay listings or highest price paid at auction): $819.19 (auction)
Brownie is most likely the rarest Beanie Baby Ever because it was retired very quickly. There is no publicly available data on how many Brownie Beanie Babies were produced or moved before it was retired forever a few months after it was released in 1993. The name Brownie was considered a mistake and the bear was later re-released under the name Cubbie. Although Beanie Babies are not really in demand much anymore, Brownie still fetches a fairly high price. One authenticated mint condition Brownie originally from Korea was sold for $819.19 in November of this year.
This article originally appeared on Rarest.org.
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