What Is the Most Expensive Beanie Baby?

Features

• The most expensive Beanie Baby ever was the elephant Beanie Baby named Peanut. Peanut was released in 1995 in a royal-blue color instead of the required light-blue shade. This automatically made the elephant rare among collectors and Peanut stayed that way throughout the Beanie Baby craze. Beanie Baby toys did not gain a huge popularity until around 1997.

Identification

• The royal-blue Peanut Beanie Baby features a full-blue body, and the inside of the ears are white. The "TY" tag is on the right ear, and another tag is attached to the backside of the Beanie Baby. These tags should be on the Beanie Baby for full value, because this is what collectors look for when buying these toys. The tag featured on this Beanie Baby is "First Generation Tag," meaning that out of the 11 generations of Ty Beanie Baby tags, this was the first one created.

History

• Typical Beanie Babies retailed for around $10, but the royal-blue Peanut sold for more than $3000 at an auction in 2000. You can find original royal-blue Peanuts from sellers on eBay for $2,000, the highest price for a single Beanie Baby listed on eBay.

Significance

• The royal-blue Peanut is not the only rare or expensive Beanie Baby. Flaws in Beanie Baby toys and limited productions have made many of them rare and popular among collectors. Some of the other rare and expensive Beanie Baby toys include Spot the dog, Quack the duck and Chilly the polar bear. Spot is a dog without spots, and Quack is a duck without wings, making them both oddities and under high demand for Beanie Baby collectors.

Considerations

• If you want to get your hands on a Peanut but do not have the money for an original, there was a re-release in 1998 and as a toy in the Beanie Baby Happy Meal toy line. Checking yard sales or flea markets might help you come across Peanut as well, from people who simply bought the toy and didn't know the value.