The Great Beanie Baby Bubble by Zac Bissonnette

So, Warner decided to launch his own toy company in a suburb outside of Chicago. He began to work on his idea on the side - but when Dankin found out, he was promptly fired. Warner decided that plastic pellets (or, as he later called them, “beans”) would allow for more flexible, “realistic” toys. In 1986, Warner had a crazy idea that changed the course of his life.Īt the time, most plush toys were filled with stiff, rigid cotton.

He quickly became the Dakin’s top salesman, aided in part by his marketing antics: When meeting with clients, he’d build intrigue by emerging from a white Rolls-Royce, festooned with a full-length fur coat and a cane. Ty Warner got his start as a sales rep at Dakin Toy Company, then the world’s largest manufacturer of plush toys, in the early 1970s. How did one man convince the world that these glorified stuffed animals were worth their weight in gold? The answer is tied to our very human nature - and it helps explain why we continually fall victim to speculative bubbles. Unbeknownst to the hapless rubes above, it was all about to come crashing down. Frances and Harold Mountain, recently divorced, duke it out over their Beanie Baby collection in court (Associated Press 1999) Certain “retired” characters were going for as much as $13k on the resale market - 3,000x their original price. Fueled by a rabid collectors’ market, Ty Inc. “Spread them out on the floor,” ordered the judge, “and I’ll have pick one each until they’re all gone.” Frances made a beeline for Maple the Bear.Īt the time, the little bean-filled sacks were more than a toy: they were an investment vehicle. The hotly contested asset at hand was their Beanie Baby collection. It wasn’t the computer, the appliances, the jewelry, the books, or the CDs. On November 5, 1999, Frances and Harold Mountain sat crouched on the floor of a Las Vegas divorce courtroom, divvying up their most valued asset.

The Great Beanie Baby Bubble by Zac Bissonnette