When it comes to items of pop culture, few things can hold a candle to the beloved Beanie Babies. Introduced in 1993 by Ty Warner, Beanie Babies soon gained special favor with collectors due to a number of clever marketing strategies. Beanie Babies are special in their simplicity of design, having kind and winsome faces. Beanies feel good in the hands, they can be made to perch just about anywhere, and they aren't very expensive when compared to many of the larger stuffed toys.

We have a few Beanie babies in our own home. As a matter of fact, there are probably a couple of them peering at me from the toy box as I write this. In our house, Beanies are not considered collectible commodities. They are sweet little critters which accompany our little girl as she reads books, colors with her markers, or as she eats her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Some Beanie Babies have had significant collector value. This is generally due to their scarcity, and is largely affected by their condition. Although the Beanie boom has somewhat waned, there is still a significant Beanie trade. Getting Beanie Baby valuations is not difficult. There are many helpful Beanie pricing guides to be found online, such as the nice common sense Beanie pricing guide, published by eHow.com.
Just about a year ago, Beanies 2.0 were introduced. These new-age Beanies carry forward many of the current Beanie styles, but come with a scratch-off code that allows collectors to go online with their Beanies to partake in a virtual Beanie world. It all sounds just a little bit over the top for my involvement with stuffed toys, but if you think a Beanie version of Second Life might appeal to you or your children, a good place to start might be the official Ty website.