Curly the Bear

Curly is the bear with the brown nose, and every Curly has one. Some sellers, particularly on eBay, list a brown-nosed Curly as extremely rare. That is wrong. All Curly Beanie Babies were produced with brown noses, and the nose adds nothing.

He was introduced on 15 June 1996 and retired on 31 December 1998. He is style number 4052, 9 inches tall, with a birthday of 12 April 1996. He is found with fourth and fifth generation swing tags and third through sixth generation tush tags.

Curly was handed out at more games than most. The San Antonio Spurs gave away 2,500 against the Phoenix Suns on 27 April 1998, the Charlotte Sting 5,000 against the Houston Comets on 15 June 1998, and the Cleveland Rockers 3,200 against the Washington Mystics on 15 August 1998. The New York Mets gave away 30,000 against the Arizona Diamondbacks on 22 August 1998, and the Chicago Bears 10,000 against the Baltimore Ravens on 20 December 1998. He was also part of the Marine Corps Reserves Toys for Tots drive in 1998.

The documented oddities start with a Curly made with smooth material on the front of his chest and legs, where the rest of him is curly. He has also been found wearing Maple, Peace, Teddy and Valentino tush tags. And there is a fifth generation swing tag with two misprints, ORIGIINAL and Suface, a known Ty tag error that turns up on Floppity as well.