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Learn the Lingo!
All the words, sayings and phrases of collecting Beanies!
Animal: A beanie which is not the regular ‘sitting up’ bear.
Announcement: An important newsflash that is made public through the Ty Official Homepage.
Amazing Kids!: At the start of 2003 the Children’s charity, Amazing Kids!, ran a Ty sponsored competition to win a $1000 scholarship in design and to be mentored by a professional Ty Toy designer – www.amazing-kids.org
Attic Treasure: A line of Ty products including Old fashioned, jointed bears and animals.
Ask Ty: A question weekly answered by Ty Warner about himself, his company and his beanies. Members of the Ty Site can submit their own questions and 5 are chosen each week and put into a site vote. The winning question is then answered by Ty Warner.
Authenticity: Proof that the beanie is what it is claimed to be.
Authentication: The process of proving authenticity.
Authorised Ty Retailer: A shop that sells beanies that is an official retailer of Ty products and that receive their products direct from the Ty warehouses.
Autumn Fair: One of the most popular Trade Fairs in the UK. Held every August at the NEC in Birmingham.
Basket beanies: A special Easter product similar to the Jingle Beanies Christmas Tree decoration. Around £3/$3 Retail price.
BBOTM: Beanie Baby of The Month. A Yearly subscription to this offer via the Ty Store, will bring you a new beanie to your doorstep each month. This beanie will be a brand new bear or animal product exclusive to the BBOTM offer. Cost: $60 plus shipping each year.
BBOC: Beanie Babies Official Club. Each year, a new ‘Clubby’ will be introduced and by filling out the form included with this beanie, you will be eligible for Club membership and special offers such as the Clubby Buddy and other products for the membership time.
BBBOT: Beanie Baby Board of Trade. A special section on the Ty website where collectors can sell or trade their beanies with other visitors to the site.
Beanie Babies: Palm-sized, bean-filled animal or bear. Hang Tag contains a Name, Birthday, Poem and additional information. Around £5/$5 at retail price.
Beanie Buddies: Larger versions of Beanie Babies. Usually introduced after their Beanie Baby counterpart has been retired. Contain a name, fact about the original beanie baby and additional information. Around £10/$10 retail price.
Beanie Kids: Palm-sized, Child-like beanies wearing clothes. This product line have been discontinued. Around £6-7/$6-7 retail price.
Beanie Boppers: More recent introductions to the Ty range. Similar to Beanie Kids, but longer and thinner. Each have a different personality and extra information is given on their own ‘homepage’ on the Ty Official site. Around £10/$10 retail price.
Beanies and More: Ty’s official collectors magazine that was previously called ‘Mary Beth’s Beanies and More’ which Mary Beth was the editor of.
Beanie Mania/Beanie Mania II: A popular, unofficial book written by Becky Phillips and Becky Estenssoro.
Beanies with Ellis: A secondary market programme on a home shopping channel on UK TV. Presented by Ellis Ward and sells a number of plush products including Ty, Chubbley and more.
Beans: The small, plastic pellets that are the filling of the beanie and allow the beanies to be poseable.
Bear: A sitting up style of products, like a Teddy bear.
Birthday bears: A beanie for each month to celebrate a birthday. Each is released the month before and the colour matches the birthstone for that month. The 2001-2002 Birthday bears are ‘Pot-bellied’ bears and the newer 2002-2003 Birthday bears are regular bears with a party hat. Both have a badge on their chest bearing the name of their month, and have facts inside their tags referring to the Birthday month.
Bright Ideas: A section of the Ty Cyberboard where collectors can submit messages about beanies they would like to see created and sold by Ty. All ideas become copyright of Ty Inc after submission.
Canada (Ty): A part of the Ty company that distributed and managed Ty products and retailers in Canada. This part of the company has now ceased trading and Ty Warner promised that this problem would be sorted out soon.
Canadian Tush Tag: The two small pieces of fabric, that by law, must be included on a soft toy product in Canada. On all beanies in other countries, only one is used.
Checklist: A list of Ty Products that collectors can ‘tick’ off members of their collection.
China made: The most recent beanies are made in China.
Classics: Ty’s range of Classic-like bears and animals. Similar to buddies, but simple and old-fashioned.
Clubby: A bear introduced annually to celebrate a new year of BBOC Membership.
Country Exclusive: A beanie that is only available in shops in a certain country. For example, Britannia the British bear is more collectible as she could only be purchased in the UK.
Color-Me Beanie: A plain, white beanie brought out with felt tip pens which can be decorated and designed.
Color-Me Gallery: A special gallery on the Ty Official Website which is dedicated to the Color-me creations of collectors.
Craze: The time (about 1998) when Beanie babies were the biggest craze.
Cracker Barrel: A joint promotion between Ty and Cracker Barrel gave us Herschel the Cracker Barrel bear who was exclusive to Cracker Barrel Stores throughout the USA.
Creased tag: A creased Hang-tag will devalue a product.
Current: A Ty product that is currently in manufacture and available for order to Ty Authorised retailers.
Cyberboard: A Message board on the Ty Homepage where collectors can talk with other collectors about beanies. The four categories are: Daily Tymes, Bright Ideas, Grins and Gripes, and Mixed Bag.
Daily Tymes: A section of the Ty Cyberboard where collectors can post News and Rumours about Ty products
Display Boxes: Special boxes introduced by Ty to help protect and store beanie babies. Similar boxes were introduced by different companies to store both Beanies and Buddies.
Ebay: The internet auction website that allows collectors to bid on rare, retired and special beanies, and even current beanies at secondary market prices.
E-beanie: A beanie which is only available over the internet through the TyStore.
Embroidered: Many bears include an embroidered badge on the left hand side of their chest.
Exclusive: A beanie which is only available to a certain store, country or via the Ty Store.
Ex-large: The Ex-large version of a buddy product. Around £50/$50 retail price.
Fabric: The type of material used to create a Ty Plush product.
Fake: A counterfeit beanie.
Fastener: The small piece of wire that attaches the Ty Hang tag to the left ear of a beanie. The first beanies to be manufactured were created in Korea with short white fasteners, but have since been changed to longer, red fasteners.
Felt: A type of material used in the manufacture of some beanies, e.g.. A Variation of Inch was released with both yarn and FELT antennae.
Fun-o-rama: A section of the Ty Official website where visitors can play beanie related games and puzzles.
Gear: A line of clothes for the Beanie Kids products.
Generation: The different style of Hang Tag or tush tag that can determine the age, secondary market value, and the rarity of beanies.
Gosport: The port in the UK where Ty products are delivered to for distribution throughout the country.
Grins and Gripes: A section on the Ty Cyberboard where Collectors can reveal their shopping experiences – “The Good, the bad, and the ugly!”
Hallmark: A joint promotion between Ty and the Hallmark company which led to an introduction of ‘Yours Truly’ which was only available for purchase in a Hallmark store with a Hallmark Gold Card. This bear was quickly retired soon after introduction, and makes it highly sought after.
Hang Tag: The red card tag that is attached to a beanies left ear. This contains a name, copyright information, barcode and more. If a beanie, this will contain a poem and birthday plus any additional information. A buddy’s hang tag will include a fact about it’s beanie counterpart, boppers will contain personal information about each of the boppers, and Classics, Pluffies and Punkies contain space for who it’s to, and from.
Holiday beanies: Since 1997, a new Holiday beanie is introduced annually to celebrate Christmas.
Hotel: A non-Ty product. Hangs on doors and contains space to store beanies.
Indonesian made: A few Ty products were made in Indonesia, and these are mainly more sought after than Chinese made products. Examples of some beanies that were manufactured in Indonesia, are Peace and Britannia.
Info Beanie: The daily Internet diary of a current beanie on the Ty Official website. Each month one beanie is voted for by visitors to the site.
Introductions: The group of new products released at the start of each month through the Ty Official website.
Jingle Beanies: Small beanies with material for hanging on a Christmas tree as decorations.
Jumbo: A Ty buddy product that is the largest available. Around £80/$80 at retail price.
Korean made: The very first Ty products were made in Korea.
Large: The large version of a Beanie Buddy. Around £30/$30 Retail price.
Mary Beth’s Beanies and more: A Official Ty magazine brought out in 2002. Mary Beth left the company in March 2003 and the magazine is now run by Ty.
MasterCard: A joint-promotion between Ty and MasterCard where collectors could apply for a Ty Mastercard and receive a free MC or MC II bear. Purchases made with the card earn points redeemable for Ty merchandise such as Coffee mug, T-shirt, Baseball cap, Polo shirt, Sweatshirt, Denim Shirt, and Wind breaker.
Memorabilia: Ty promotional devices and non-plush products that are highly collectible due to their rarity.
Mint Condition: A product that is in perfect condition.
Mixed bag: A section of the Ty Cyberboard where collectors can discuss any topic.
MWNMT: Mint with not mint tags.
MWMT: Mint with mint tags.
MWT: Mint with tags.
Number: The number sometimes printed inside a beanie's Tush tag and can often determine a fake beanie.
Oakbrook, IL: A suburb of Chicago where Ty’s Headquarters are based.
Old Face: An old style of bear with a pointed, pushed-up snout. Similar to old-fashioned bears.
Original Nine: The original 9 beanies that were first released in 1993. In early tag generations, these beanies are highly collectible.
Peace Variation: The variations of Peace are: Vivid (aka Old Style), Spring, Summer, Autumn, Neon, Pastel.
Pellets: The small plastic beans that fill Ty Products. In the Early days of Ty, the pellets were made from P.V.C, but where then changed to P.E pellets.
Pluffie: A recent line introduced by Ty. Bigger in size than Beanies, but smaller than buddies and softer fabric is used.
Plush: A soft, cuddly product.
Portsmouth FC: The Football Team sponsored by Ty Europe. This sponsorship lead to Portsmouth FC Exclusive beanie called Pompey.
Pompey: The Nickname for the Ty Europe Sponsored FC - Portsmouth FC.
Pot-Bellied/Pooh-Style: A style of bear which is different to the original sitting up, rounded face bear. Has a larger stomach and a pointed snout, similar to Pooh bear, where this style gained it’s nickname.
Promotional divices: Posters, mobiles, badges etc. which are given to retailers or Ty Reps to promote the products and company. Highly collectible among collectors.
Punkie: A recent line introduced by Ty. Similar in size of beanies, but new and crazy fabric.
Quote of the Day: A feature on the Ty official website where daily, a visitors suggested quote is placed on the front page for all to see with their username. Visitors can submit their own ideas for the quote via the Ty Cyberboard.
Registration: To apply for a Username on the Ty Official Website and will entitle registered members to added perks.
Rep/Representative: An employee from a company who represents the company in making sales, orders and deliveries for retailers.
Retailers: Someone who sells products in their shop/shops.
Retail price: The price of a beanie which it is the recommended retail price in Ty Official retailers.
Retired: The status of a product which shows that it is not in manufacture any more.
Retirement: An announcement on the Ty Official website to tell collectors that a beanie will not be manufactured any more or available to purchase at a Ty retailer.
Secondary market: A way of purchasing products other than through Authorised retailers. This is the only way to purchase an older, retired or exclusive product that is no longer available in Authorised Ty retailers. Products are sold at secondary market prices which are often more expensive than purchasing at an Authorised Ty retailer.
Shelf-sitter: A product which is not as popular as others and stays on shop shelves unsold.
Spring Fair: One of the Biggest fairs in the UK that is held annually about February time at the NEC in Birmingham.
Sports Promotion: A promotion between Ty and a sports team where Ty gives away an exclusive product to the first number of children that enter the stadium at a certain game. These special promotional beanies are highly sought after especially with the seat ticket for that particular game.
T
Tag protector: A small, clear, heart-shaped piece of plastic which is shut around a tag to protect the hang-tag.
Teenie Beanies: A Joint promotion between Ty and McDonalds where small beanies were given away as the free toy with McDonald’s Happy Meals.
Trade Fair: A show/fair where companies display their products and take orders from retailers.
Tush Tag: The small piece of fabric that it attached to the bottom or leg of a beanie which contains information such as materials and copyright.
Tush Tag protector: A small plastic cover for a Ty product’s Tush Tag to protect it and keep it in mint condition.
Ty Europe: The European part of Ty Inc.
Ty-folio: A record on the Ty site of member’s own collection. Collectors can keep track of their collection, how many of each product, and add notes about each beanie if they wish. Visitors can also create their own ‘Wish-list’ where they can make a note about which products they would most like to add to their collection.
Ty heart logo: The famous red heart with ‘Ty’ written in white letters.
Ty.Inc: The company
Tylon: A woolly fabric used in the manufacture of some of the Ty products. This was developed and used exclusively for Ty. You can see an example of this fabric in Holiday 2001 Buddy.
TyLux: A soft, short-hair, fabric used in the manufacture of the Ty products, Pluffies. This fabric was developed and used exclusively for Ty.
TySilk: A shiny, soft fabric used in the manufacture of some of the Ty products. This was developed and used exclusively for Ty. You can see an example of this fabric in Sizzle Buddy.
TyTips: A spiky fabric used in the manufacture of the Ty Products, Punkies. This fabric was developed and used exclusively for Ty.
TyStore: An online store on the Ty Official Website where Ty’s internet exclusive beanies are sold. A subscription of the Ty magazine, Beanies and More is also available at this store.
Ty Warner: The founder of Ty Inc. and the most famous, most illusive man in Beanies
www.Ty.com: The Official Website of Ty Products
Username: Your chosen name when registering for the Ty Official website. Through this registration, visitors are entitled to extra perks such as their own Ty-Folio, BBOT, Fun-o-rama, and are entitled to submit Ask Ty questions and messages on the Cyberboard.
Variation: A product which is introduced is several slightly different designs.
Valentines Cards: The greetings cards which were manufactured by Ty in 2003 to celebrate Valentines day.
Wallpaper: The free Ty desktop wallpaper that is released through the Ty Official Website at the beginning of the month.
Wish-list: A feature on the Ty Official website where collectors can keep track of products that they would most like to add to their collection.
Ziploc bag: A small, clear, plastic bag which is closed by a zip.