Everything you need to know
about ...
Beanie Baby Tags
Beanie Baby tags may seem
complicated, so let's simplify it and I had so many questions about it. The most important
tag on a Beanie is the cardboard heart-shaped "Ty" tag. Known has a hang tag.
Btw am sorry if the pictures
are not that great but all the pictures I could find were all kinda small for you to see
small details on them I dont have pictures big enough either for the inside of the tag so
that will also come soon, anyway This should give you all a ruff guess about the
tags.
First Generation Tag From
About 1994
The first generation
hang tag is very simple. Introduced in early 1994, it is a single heart tag (it does
not open) with a small "Ty" on the front. The type on the reverse side
includes "The Beanie Babies Collection," the name of the beanie baby and its
style number. Also note that some were produced in China others in Korea. For
those distributed in Europe, "CE" was added to the bottom of the tag.
First generation swing tags came on only those Beanies with a first generation tush tag
dated 1993. This tag appeared on the original 9 (Chocolate, Spot, Splash, Squealer,
Cubbie, Flash, Legs, Pinchers, Patti) and other early Beanie Babies. Most were
detached and discarded, so these tags are collector's items.
Second Generation Tag From
About 1994 - 1995
the second generation
hang tag (introduced in spring 1994) has the same small "Ty" on the front of the
heart, but instead of being a single two-sided heart, it opens like a locket and has four
sides. Three different tags are available in this generation. The inside left
of the tag designates where it was meant to be distributed (North America, United Kingdow,
or Germany). The inside right of the tag gives the Beanie's name followed by the
"TM" symbol and its style number. The back of the heart has a large bar
code and the sentence "Retain This tag for reference." Second generation
hang tags came on Beanies with a first generation tush tag dated 1993 or 1995
Third Generation Tag From
About 1995 - 1996
The third generation
hang tag (introduced in spring 1995) has the "Ty" on the front printed in a
balloon-style font enlarged to almost the full size of the heart. On the inside
left, the type reads:" The Beanie Babies"TM" Collection" followed by a
list containing "Ty Inc Oakland IL, U.S.A." "Ty UK Ltd. Waterlooville,
Hants," "Ty Deutschland 90008 Nurnberg," and the phrase "Handmade in
Korea" Or "Handmade in China." On the inside right of the tag, you
have the Beanie's name followed by a "TM" and its style number. Below that
is, "To _______ from ______ with Love." On the back side of the heart is a
bar code with a CE printed on the left of the bar. Above the bar is a warning to
remove the tag before a child plays with the toy, and below the bar is a line suggesting
you keep the tag for reference, followed by "Surface Wash." Third
generation hang tag came on Beanies with first generation tush tags dated 1995 and second
generation tush tags dated 1993 and 1995
Fourth Generation Tag From
About 1996 - 1997
The fourth generation
hang tag (introduced in Spring 1996) features many important changes. The
"Ty" on the front of the heart is moved so the "y" is a bit lower than
the "t", and a yellow star is added to the front, upper right, with the words
"Original Beanie Baby." The inside right of the tag has the Beanie's name
and style number with a birthdate underneath it, followed by a poem. It also
includes an invitation to visit Ty Inc's Web page at http://www.ty.com . The heart's back side has a new type
that says, "For ages 3 and up," followed by "surface Wash."
Fourth generation hang tags came on Beanies with a third generation tush tag in red and
white with the star added to the upper left of the Ty heart.
Fifth Generation Tag From
About 1997 - current
The fifth generation
hang tag (introduced in early 1998) sports a new typeface. The yellow heart on the
front features a different font, as does the type on the inside of the heart. On the
inside left of the tag, "The Beanie Babies Collection" was simply marked as â. The "TM" was deleted. Anotehr change involves the Ty
locations. Instead of it mentioning Ty Inc. Oakland, UK and Deutschland, the type
refers to Ty Inc. Oakland, Ty Europe LTD. and Ty Canada. On the inside right of the
tag, the name of the Beanie Baby is listed with a "TM" but no style number.
"Date of birth" is now spelled out instead of cited numerically, and
"Visit our Web page" is delete, with only www.ty.com shown. The back of the tag is unchanged
except for the font change. Fifth generation hang tags come on Beanies with fifth
and sixth generation tush tags.
In general, Beanie Babies without hang
tags are worth only 50% to 75%, of their value. Creased tags also depreciate the
value of a toy. In the case of important rarities demand for mint condition
examples sometimes minimizes the discount. Plastic tag protectors are the best way
to prevent tag damage.
In response to the hundreds of
questions people ask about tag errors, here's a good general answer. Only a tiny
percentage of all Beanie Baby collectors care about tag errors. Mistagged Beanies
are not especially valuable. A tush mis-tag is better than a hang mis-tag, but has a
rule tag errors add only $10 to $25 to the value of a toy. On the other hand, rare
and highly collectible tags (Like Brownie) are extremely valuable.
Important:
Beanies with "early" tags are worth $25 to $100 more.
Tush Tags
Tush tag is the term we use
to describe the sewn-in cloth tags on the bottom of TY's Beanie Babies. Much like
the hang tag, the tush tag is an indicator of when a Beanie Baby was produced.
Tush tag pictures are not
posted here, it would take to long for them to load, just click on the tag generation you
want and it will show you a picture!
The original TY
Beanies came with a black & white tush tag. Some of these black & white tush
tags will have the copyright date of 1993, while others will show 1995. All Beanies
with a first or second generation hang tag will have a black & white tush tag.
NO EXCEPTIONS!!! some tush tags may have a CE on hem, and some will have "for
ages 3 and up" on them, while others did not.
This tush tag has a
larger heart with TY inside and a little â
mark to the lower right of
it. There are no Beanie names on the first & second generation tush tags.
A copyright date of 1993, 1995 or 1996 can be found on the second generation tush tags.
The third generation
tush tag is so different to the first and second generation. "The Beanie Babies
Collection" is added at the top of the tag with a "TM" at the end of that.
The TY heart is much smaller also. The name of the Beanie will also appear.
Copyright dates are from 1993 to 1996.
When TY decided to
change the tush tags again they have a lot of third generation tags left over so the
fourth generation tag has a transparent sticker over the "TY" heart, which has a
small star to the upper left. Once they finished covering the tush tags with the
stickers the only change was the little star.
The fifth generation
has many new changes to it. "The Beanie Babies Collection" at the top of
the tag has an "r" after Beanie Babies and "TM" after
Collection. The star to the upper left of TY heart and the â to the lower right remain, but an additional "TM"
after the name of the Beanie. These tags have a copyright from 1993 to 1997.
This tush tag has the
words "The Beanie Babies Collection" with â after
the word Collection as opposed to the "r" after Beanie Babies and "TM"
after Collection. Everything else remains the same.
Beanie Babies in
Canada have two tush tags. The first tag is the generation tag, the second tag is to
conform to the Canadian toy import regulations. All information on this tag is in
English & French.
These tush tags are VERY rare on the market. It is found
on very few beanies of a limited styles. All Beanies with this tag have a second
generation hang tag and the standard Canadian tush tag. This tag also has the
copyright of 1994 on it. These embroidered tags are thought to have been attached in
error has they are used for larger Plush animals. So far these tags have been found
on: Chocolate, Quacker (No "s"), Spot, Goldie, Cubbie & Pinchers.
Some tush tags have
minor changes that some people try to charge more for but THEY ARE WORTHLESS
CHANGES. Like the placement & fonts of the CE. Some Beanies have PVC
pellets, others have PE pellets. And the newer Beanie Babies have a Chinese stamp on
the inside of the tush tag.
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