Remember this. This is *** beanie baby icon of the nineties. People stood in line for hours to add these stuffed toys to their collections. They could be sold for *** ridiculous amount of money in the after market for *** few short years. These stuffed animals were it then? It all came crashing down. Mm The beanie baby craze began with this man. Ty Warner. Warner was *** toy salesman who sought to make the perfect stuffed animal. His tireless efforts and countless projects led him to the beanie baby. The toys were soft and cute but they stood out from the rest of the market because they were under stuffed. This made the beanie babies easier to pose and display store owners could prop them up in all sorts of whimsical scenes. It also made the beanies extra cuddly. The first line of Beanie Babies was released in late 1993. Over the next few years, Warner released more and more Beanie babies. He constantly modified designs, colors and even changed names. Striving for the perfect plush simple four line poems were added to each iconic Tie Heart. These sometimes receive changes as well. Warner also regularly retired beanie babies resulting in *** limited supply. It gave *** sense of scarcity and rareness. Prime motivation for collectors. How many do you have? 83? 142? We probably have 100 and 40 150. The low price tag at just $5 allowed everyone to join in on the fun. By 1996 the nation was swept with beanie mania. People would wait in line for hours to scoop up the newest plus the aftermarket in Beanie Babies was huge. Whenever they introduce *** new beanie baby, they retire an old one. Increasing its value. Toys designed for kids were bought up by adults as investments collectors drove for miles to track down the toys. People created small businesses that specialized in trading and selling beanies. Ebay was one of the best places to buy and sell them. The rarest toys could sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. This one is valued as much as $600. Sensing *** good thing mcdonald's got in on the beanie action as well. In 1997 *** special line of teeny beanies was released in Happy Meals. More than 80 million miniature toys were scheduled to be released over five weeks. They were expected to be popular but people went nuts. One woman who drove through 15 times just to get the beanie babies and they were the same ones, but she continued to drive through because there's *** parents visited multiple locations and bought countless happy meals in an effort to collect them all, all day, four different mcdonald's, this is ridiculous. Restaurants received dozens of phone calls asking if they were carrying this plush or that one, all 80 million toys were gone in one week. It was estimated that one in every three Americans had *** teeny beanie. 1998 was *** good year for Thai. The peak of the craze beanie babies were flying off the shelves faster than they could be stopped. They made up 10% of ebay sales. That year. The Thai company made an estimated $1.4 billion. Tai Warner gave each employee an annual bonus equal to their salary. Beanie babies were living large but not for much longer near the end of 1999. Perhaps in an effort to drum up sales around Y2K. The Thai website claimed that all Beanie baby production would end with the closing of the millennium. They are the last beanie baby was supposed to be *** bear. Simply named the end. People were confused and many just didn't believe it. We really don't know what's going to happen. 2000 came and more under stuffed toys continued filling up store shelves, but they didn't fly off as quickly as before people's interests had begun to wane after *** while it becomes overwhelming. There's too many of them. All of *** sudden the beanie baby bubble burst nearly right alongside the dot com bubble. People who had invested thousands in collecting the toys. Sometimes their life savings saw the aftermarket value plummet stuffed animals that had once fetched, hundreds of dollars could not be given away. People filled plastic totes with their now worthless beanie babies and hid them away in attics and basements. Attention turned to the new fads of Furbies and Pokemon. After only *** few short years on top, the beanie babies had fallen. Some of the beanies can still net you *** bit of money, but most likely you won't be able to get more than *** few dozen dollars for your collection. But hey, who can tell what the future will bring? THS are cyclical and maybe one day that beanie baby you have safely hidden, kept in pristine condition, all these decades will be worth something again. Who knows?