The current Beanie Babies Collection consists of seventy eight brightly colored bean bag animals. Actually, this is an error for the only Beanie that is not either some sort of animal or insect is Spooky and Spook the Ghost and Snoball the Snowman

There is a great deal of speculation about when the first Beanies were introduced and what they were. This at best will be an educated guess as to this question as trying to get information out of the TY Company is harder than getting information out of the C.I.A.

The best information is that the first Beanies were designed in 1992 and released in late 1993. Following is a list of the first nine Beanie Babies: Legs the Frog, Squealer the Pig, Cubbie the Bear originally named Brownie and currently selling for $1,000.00 - $1,500.00, Flash the Dolphin, Splash the Whale, Patti the Platypus, Chocolate the Moose, Spot the Dog and Pinchers the Lobster. All of these remain current today outside of several interesting style changes in Spot the Dog and Patti! But before I explain the changes when these little critters were first introduced they all had a single double-sided TY tag with a smaller TY on the front and the animals name and style numbers on the rear.

Spot the Dog was first introduced without a spot on his back. It is debatable whether Spot or Quackers the Duck without wings is the rarest. Judging by the difficulty I had acquiring Spot without the black spot on his back, it is my opinion that this is the rarest of all the Beanies. Rumor has it that after its introduction when the TY Company was introducing Daisy the Black and White Cow with a white spot in its side that the decision was made to put the same spot, only in black, on Spot. This little guy with no spot will cost, in November, 1997 $1,500.00 - $2,000.00!!!! As I mentioned earlier, it is difficult to say whether Spot or Quackers without wings, or the original Dark Blue Elephant, Peanut, or Brownie the Bear, is the rarest. I have heard rumors about the numbers of the original rarity's but with mass production no one will ever know the count, not even TY Company itself!!!! The current Quackers has little wings. So the question of which is the rarest may never be answered, all I can tell you is you had better have DEEP POCKETS if you want any of the three!!!!

The only other of the original nine Beanies to be changed is Patti the Platypus. When it was first introduced, it was more of a red closer to the colors in Teddy Magenta and Teddy Cranberry. Now the current Patti has more purple in it. I caution all advanced collectors to be very careful in acquiring this Beanie. The only way I have found to tell them apart (outside of side by side) is to compare your Patti with the color of the fabric on the tail of Inch the Inchworm. If it matches, it is the newer style, not the original which is selling for $600.00 - $900.00!!!! The original can be found on the internet, and swap meets across the country.

I hope you enjoyed the article. Next time, I will write about my personal favorite Beanies, THE COLORED BEARS.

Good luck and Happy Beanie Hunting.

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