Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Razan Halouni sells the popular Beanie Baby 'Erin' to Mike Wasserman at Collectors Corner for about $200.

Beanie Babies take Los Gatos by storm

By Jeff Kearns

Everyone wanted the Princess. She was the most desired in the land, so much so that her street value shot up to $500. But her glory may be short-lived. Erin, it seems, may be pushing Princess out of the spotlight.

It's not easy being a Beanie Baby--a line of little stuffed animals that has spawned a cult following among both kids and adults.

The Princess bear, which stands about 6 inches tall, has a white rose embroidered on its chest in honor of Princess Di and was released shortly after the death of its namesake. Erin, a green bear with a shamrock on its chest, came out on St. Patrick's Day.

And a new Beanie that's currently only available in England might be crowding on the scene: Britannia the British Bear, which wears a Union Jack.

Collectors keep up on the craze with several magazines about the collector's market, with cover beanies featured like celebrities, and also on the Internet, where the discussion crosses into a decidedly obscurist realm.

Why is everybody so infatuated with these little animals? "We have no idea," says Karen Scarvie, owner of the Wooden Horse Toy Store. "I don't understand it at all."

Scarvie says that the fans know when her store is getting a shipment of the Beanies before she does, and they start lining up at the door before 7 a.m. on days when new animals are expected.

Scarvie still sells the Beanies at their suggested price, $4.99. Most of the 80 or so active dolls, such as lowly Rover the dog, aren't part of the craze, but the Princess isn't easy to score, and some of the animals no longer made by Chicago-based Ty Inc. can fetch thousands.

But instead of cashing in on the Princess and Erin, Scarvie is raffling them off May 16 and giving the proceeds to Eastfield Ming Quong. Thousands of tickets have been snapped up for a dollar each.

Until the raffle, the bears are being kept in an undisclosed location for security reasons.

Elaine Chiccino at Kids' Trading Co. is planning a scavenger hunt or a clothing raffle for people who bring in clothes for a Princess to raise money for the Family Living Center at Agnews.

At the Collectors Corner, which carries mostly sports-related memorabilia, the full line of beanies sits in a locked glass case. Collectors Corner is what's called a secondary reseller, because it doesn't get any shipments from Ty, but rather buys what people are willing to sell--which defines the going rate.

Quackers the Duck, the old wingless version, is on sale for $2,500, and that's without a tag. If Quackers had a tag, it would fetch about $4,000, store owner Mike Wasserman says.

A winged Quackers, which is commonplace by comparison, doesn't go for nearly as much.

"It's a lot for a little beanbag made in China that's filled with plastic pellets," he says. Compare that to a 1939 Joe DiMaggio baseball card, which is a steal at only $800.

Wasserman says he recently paid $17,000 for a collection of Beanies.

Collectors take their tags seriously. Each animal comes with a little heart-shaped tag with a cute four-line poem on the inside, along with the animal's birthdate. But the resale of the Beanie can be dramatically reduced if the tag is even slightly bent or maligned in any way. If it's missing? Forget it.

But for anyone stalking the Princess, caveat emptor: There are two different kinds. The first is filled with polyvinylchoride pellets, the other with polyethelyne. Because the first isn't made anymore, it's harder to find and fetches more on the open market, sometimes more than $100.

As the market for the furry little animals accelerates, the dark side of collectible capitalism is starting to show.

A dispute recently arose between two stores in downtown Los Gatos, after UPS accidentally delivered a shipment of Beanies--including the coveted Princess-- to the wrong store, where they were promptly sold.

Wasserman warns there's more to watch out for, as the Beanie market heats up. "There's counterfeits galore now," he says.

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