Erin the Bear

Erin was the first bear to represent a country without wearing its flag. She stands for Ireland with an embroidered shamrock on her chest instead. Ty introduced her on 31 January 1998 and retired her on 21 May 1999. She is style number 4186, 9 inches tall, with a birthday of 17 March 1997. She carries a fifth generation swing tag and a sixth generation tush tag.

The Chicago Cubs gave away 12,000 Erins at their game against the Montreal Expos on 5 August 1999, a little over two months after her retirement.

Two oddities are documented: an Erin with no shamrock embroidered on her chest, and one wearing a Princess tush tag.

Erin has been counterfeited, and size is the first check. The fake stands an inch and a half shorter than a real one, with a smaller head. Its fabric is a lighter shade than the real thing, and the shamrock is poorly embroidered. A crisp, even shamrock on a bear of full height is what you want to see.

Erin the Bear was one of the four International Bears in McDonald's 1999 Teenie Beanie promotion, offered with a food purchase from June 3 to June 17, 1999, in cardboard presentation packaging rather than a numbered bag. That second phase followed an earlier run of twelve numbered animals distributed from May 21 to June 3. Millions of the International Bears were made, so the packaging alone does not make one valuable.