Peace the Bear

No two Peace bears are alike. The tie-dyed fabric was cut from dyed lengths, so the pattern falls differently on every one, and collectors have spent years hunting for particular colour placements. Peace was also the first Beanie Baby to carry an embroidered emblem rather than a printed or stitched-on one.

There is a neat piece of timing behind him. Peace was introduced on 11 May 1997, the same day Ty retired Garcia, and the two bears are the same toy in every respect except the name, the tags and the peace symbol on the chest.

Collectors sort Peace into two broad groups. The tie-dyed bears came first; the pastel tie-dyed ones carry fifth generation swing tags and sixth generation tush tags. Between the two there are more tag variations than almost any other Beanie Baby, including fifth generation swing tags misprinted with ORIGIINAL and Suface, and bears wearing tush tags that belong to Blackie, Curly, Garcia, Teddy or Valentino. A few left the factory with no peace symbol at all.

Counterfeits are usually caught by feel and shape rather than by colour, since the tie-dye varies legitimately. The fake head is the wrong shape, the ears are undersized, and the body is overstuffed enough to feel hard. Peace also turned up in promotions, including 10,000 given away at an Oakland A's game in May 1999.