The sad Beanie Baby collectors of the world

Andrew's grandmother loved her beanie babies. She really did, but mostly they were an investment for her. Back in the mid to late 90s everyone was talking about how these beanies were going to be so very valuable one day. She only had about 25 or so that she would display on these cute little rocking chairs and beanie shelves in her living room. The other few hundred were carefully packaged in plastic bags to keep them "mint" and especially to preserve that red and yellow heart shape paper tag that if ever bent or was removed would cut their value by 50%.

For years, she would buy happy meals at McDonalds, just for the little mini beanie baby.

Next to her bedside was The Beanie Baby Handbook, 1998 edition, which promised her that her investment in beanies would be well rewarded in years to come. She's carefully checked each one "got it" or "need it".

The handbook lists all the beanies that had come out to this point and were listed as "recommended" and "highly recommended". Even the easiest beanies to come by would be worth $60 in 2008, so why not go ahead and get it and make your collection all the more valuable? The ones that said "highly recommended" would be worth anywhere from $3,000 - $7,000 in just 10 years...imagine their worth in 20 years or more!!

As the inheritor of hundreds of beanies, who knows how much time, energy and love, my dear sweet Grandma Virginia (she couldn't be more dear to me if she was my own grandma) put into her collection, I can only imagine the disappointment that so many sweet Grandmas must feel, as here we are 10 years after the handbook came out, and their beanies are worth less than their original retail value, if you can even find an interested buyer.

I guess you never really know, maybe in another 10 years? I think part of the problem is that the handbook assumes that only 10% of the beanies produced would make it to 2008. But because of their potential value in years to come and all the hype that it caused, they just aren't rare at all and therefore not worth anything.

Now, there are some exceptions to this. If you collected the beanies that came out before the "craze" then you might have something of value. But, few people did. Or if you have the highly valued "Garcia" bear before they got sued by the rock star's family and the name was changed to "Peace", then you have something to be excited about.

I let Jackson and Katie go through all their great Grandma's beanies and pick out a few for them to keep, and I even removed the tags, though I did cringe while doing it.

I'm still not sure what to do with some of the others. I was thinking of donating them to the Fauquier Hospital or some other charity. Or maybe I'll just hold onto them as a reminder of Grandma Virginia.

I realize, now that I've reread my post, that I've made her sound dead. She's still very much alive and doing well at the nursing home.