Bones the Dog

Bones stayed in production for nearly four years, from June 1994 to May 1998, one of the longest runs of any early Beanie Baby. That length is likely why he turns up with more tush tag mix-ups than almost any other character: documented examples wear tags meant for Blackie, Chip, Daisy, Ears, Gracie, Hoppity, Peanut, Seaweed, Sparky and Spot.

His poem's closing line changed between printings. An early five-line version reads differently in its final line than the four-line version that replaced it, a small but documented variant worth checking on a swing tag before assuming a reprint is a fake. Bones was also a stadium giveaway regular, handed out 3,000 at a New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays baseball game in March 1998 and 5,000 at a Chicago Blackhawks vs. Nashville Predators hockey game that October.

Bones the Dog was bag number 9 in McDonald's 1998 Teenie Beanie set. The 1998 promotion was McDonald's second Teenie Beanie run, expanding the original ten-toy assortment from 1997 to 12 animals after the response to that first set. It ran for about four weeks, from May 22 through June 18, 1998, and McDonald's ordered 240 million toys total, 20 million of each character. That volume makes bag number 9 a common find today, and an unopened bag by itself does not make one valuable.