Two weeks out from Halloween, the bat has already had its moment. Collectors who wanted a Batty for the season seem to have bought one, and the busiest Beanie of the week was a familiar one instead: Princess, the purple bear that never stays quiet for long.
Princess sold 45 times, up from 31, while Batty slipped from 30 sales to 20. Bongo the monkey more than doubled, and the top price of the week went to one of the signed Billionaire bears Ty gave its own staff, at $699.99.
This report covers October 12 to 18 and compares it with October 5 to 11. A character’s count can include more than one version.
Sales activity: the week’s biggest changes
| Beanie | October 5–11 | October 12–18 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Princess | 31 | 45 | +14 |
| Bongo | 8 | 18 | +10 |
| Batty | 30 | 20 | −10 |
| Happy | 1 | 9 | +8 |
| Chocolate | 11 | 3 | −8 |
| Pinchers | 10 | 2 | −8 |
| Scorch | 7 | 13 | +6 |
| Gobbles | 8 | 12 | +4 |
| Garcia | 5 | 9 | +4 |
| White | 18 | 15 | −3 |
Across the whole market, 1,043 Beanie Babies sold this week, close to last week’s 1,022, and the typical sale was $6.99.
Princess is busy again
Last week Princess took a breather. This week she was back on top with 45 sales, the most of any Beanie, and the price did not budge: the median was $10 for the second week in a row, and the most anyone paid for a single Princess was $59. Busy weeks for Princess rarely move her price, because there are so many of her to go around.
The Halloween rush eases early
Batty sold 20 times, down from 30, though the bats that did sell went for a little more, with a median of $8 against $6.75 last week. The rest of the Halloween shelf followed it down. Spooky the ghost went from eight sales to four and Frankenteddy from eight to six.
The next holiday is already stirring. Gobbles the turkey went from eight sales to 12 with a steady median of about $8 as Thanksgiving gets closer.
Bongo and a few quiet climbers
Bongo the monkey was the surprise of the week, jumping from eight sales to 18. None of them was expensive: the median was $5.99 and the top sale was $20. Bongo began life as Nana, and only the earliest tags carry that name, which is where the real value sits.
A few others climbed too. Scorch the dragon nearly doubled to 13 sales, Happy the hippo went from a single sale to nine, and Garcia, the tie-dyed bear collectors connect with Jerry Garcia, rose from five sales to nine with a median of about $17.
The Original Nine go quiet
Last week’s burst of early Beanies did not last. Pinchers the lobster fell from ten sales to two and Chocolate the moose from 11 to three. Both still sell for a few dollars with later tags, so a slow week for them says more about who happened to be selling than about value.
Top sales of the week
The top of the week belonged to Ty’s employee bears and a handful of early characters with their older tags.
| Beanie and listing details | Sale price | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Billionaire #1, signed by Ty Warner | $699.99 | October 18 |
| Humphrey, authenticated, 3rd-generation hang tag, 1st-generation tush tag, at auction | $525.00 | October 12 |
| Patti, magenta, German tags, 3rd-generation hang tag, 1st-generation tush tag | $499.99 | October 15 |
| Digger, orange, 3rd-generation hang tag, 1st-generation tush tag | $319.01 | October 15 |
| Jade Teddy, listed as old face, at auction | $295.00 | October 12 |
| Billionaire 21, numbered 60 of 300 | $225.00 | October 12 |
| Inky | $199.00 | October 13 |
| New-face brown Teddy, 3rd-generation hang tag | $100.00 | October 12 |
| Ariel, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation bear | $100.00 | October 18 |
Prices are in US dollars before shipping and tax. We checked each sale in eBay’s sales research tool; where it had no record of a sale yet, the price is the one on the sold listing. Tag and authentication details are as the sellers described them.
Humphrey the camel, the first Beanie Baby Ty ever officially retired, keeps turning up near the top. This one has a third-generation hang tag, and $525 is in line with what Humphrey has brought all year with early tags.
The two Billionaires show how wide that family runs. Ty gave its staff a new signed, numbered Billionaire for years, and the early ones sell for far more than the later runs: the original brought $699.99, while Billionaire 21, one of 300, sold for $225.
Keep an eye on your own Beanies
Every character in this report has a page in the Beanie Baby Market Tracker, with the recent sales behind these figures. If you are working out what one of your own might fetch, our guide to valuing Beanie Babies from sold listings explains how to read those sales, and our guide to the most valuable Beanie Babies shows which versions are worth looking for.