Glory the Bear

Glory was made for the United States only, a bear with the American flag on his chest and a birthday of 4 July. He was on sale for seven months of 1998 and carries only a fifth generation swing tag and a sixth generation tush tag, so anything else is worth a second look. Some Glorys did reach Canada, and those carry the extra Canadian customs tush tag.

His one promotion was a big one. 51,000 were given out at the baseball All- Star game on 7 July 1998.

Glory is counterfeited, and the tells are on the nose and the flag. An authentic Glory has a black nose where the counterfeit's is brown. The genuine flag is sewn on with clear thread, and the fake with white. The counterfeit flag is also too large, and runs into the arm seam where the authentic one stops short of it.

The one recorded oddity is a Glory with no flag on the chest at all.

Glory 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. McDonald's also gave a separate Glory to its own crew members. The plush matched the public version, and only the swing tag differed, so the tag rather than the toy is what separates the two.