This is an opinion about TY ?Beanie Buddies? Bears and no other make of Teddy Bears.


I fell into collecting TY ?Beanie Buddies? Bears quiet by chance. I had never really intended to do so but it just sort of happened. I always thought they were over priced! But somehow it happened. I became hooked! I went in to my local specialist store in St. Neots to buy some beanie babies and instead came out with a buddie. In fact my first buddie was actually Jumbo Peace Bear Buddie for £69.00, now worth around £100.00. Now have the full range of Peace bears and I also have Jumbo Sweetheart Monkey Buddie which I managed to buy for £55.00 (A bargain price). I now have around fifty ?buddies? in my collection or which forty are bears, however I have never spent over £15.00 on any single regular sized buddie.

I have fallen in love with these cute soft cuddly toys. They are great for young children as well as for bigger kids. Be warned though, if you wish to collect them, do not let your children touch them at all!


**How to Store ?Beanie Buddies? Bears and Preserve their Value**

1) Do not remove the tags. Use tag protectors where possible. Specialist collector shops have the regular tag protectors. You will need to shop around for the larger tag protectors. They cost around 25p each.

2) Store out of the light in a smoke free environment. I use plastic storage boxes with lids as they stack easily.


Compared to ?Beanie Babies? bears, ?Beanie Buddies? bears are really large-sized ?Beanie Babies? as the ?babies? were first introduced. ?Buddies? were first available to the buying public in September 1998. There are currently over one hundred different ?Buddies? available. New ?Beanie Buddies? are introduced monthly so you never get tired of collecting, however it does prove to be an expensive hobby if you have to have them all!

Ty Warner the owner of TY developed a new, fantastic material exclusively for Ty a
nd called it Tylon. With this new material Ty introduced the first nine ?Beanie Buddies? to the World. This soft, smooth silky fabric was to be the most exclusive fabric for ?Beanie Buddies?. They were originally designed to take the place of ?Beanie Babies?!

The bears are the most popular and generally the most sought after, but other ?Beanie Buddies? include bats (My favourite one being ?Black Batty? at around £100.00), birds, butterflies, cats, crabs, dogs, dinosaurs, donkeys, elephants, fish?need I go on! My favoirate ?Beanie Buddie? bears are Sakura and Buckingham. They are country exclusives and have triple in value since I brought them about a year ago. They may be worth more but I have not checked lately.


** Sizes of Buddies Bears**

Some of the Buddies such as Peace Bear come in various sizes.

Regular size about 16 inches in height. It is t he most common ?Beanie Buddies?.

Large size is about 22 inches in height

Extra Large is about 27 inches in height. The number of pellets needed to feel this sized buddie will fill seventy-five ?Beanie Babies?.

Jumbo is about 48 inches in height. There is enough material here to make twenty-five regular buddies.


**Cost**

Most ?Beanie Buddies? Bears cost £9.99, but look out for special offers. Regular bears cost about £14.99 in some shops. (Avoid paying over the odds as you can be ripped off!)

Large ?Beanie Buddies? Bears cost around £25.00 when current.

Extra-large ?Beanie Buddies? Bears cost around £49.00 when current.

Jumbo ?Beanie Buddies? Bears cost around £75.00 when current, at an average of £9.99 a standard ?Buddie? £75 is quiet cheap pro-rata! £9.99 x 25 = £247.50!

Retired regular ?Beanie Buddies? Bears depending on desirability and rarity will cost up to £200.00 but will often increase when retired, as will all ?Beanie Buddies?.


**Collector?s Official Website**

>The official TY website which enables you to keep track of all new releases of ?Beanie Buddies?. Have a personal collection list and also a website plus much more can be found at www.ty.com

I visit they frequently to keep track of my large collection!


?Beanie Buddies? have not been around too long and seem quite plentiful. I feel ?Beanie Buddies? Bears are slightly easier to obtain and less designs are produced and the tend to be round a lot longer than the ?Beanie Babies? Bears so they may be an idea bet for making money in the future.


**Where to find ?Beanie Buddies? Bears**

*High Street*
In many John Lewis Shops
Westgate and many other Co-op Department Shops
Toymaster Shops
Many card and soft toyshops


*Online shops*
www.ryebypost.com
www.thesofttouch.co.uk

These are the two, which I use and trust most. There are many others, check with your regular search engine for other sites.