Collector warning issued after couple pays $15 for Beanie Baby, believes it’s worth tens of thousands

Correction: This article has been corrected to clarify that the listing price on Princess Diana bears has little connection with actual value. It also has been edited to reflect a warning issued by the website tycollector.com. 

(WITI) -- Oh, the 90s. If there’s anything the decade taught us, it was how to spend copious amounts of money on mundane objects that may be worth a truckload one day.

For the thousands who blew their hard-earned cash on Beanie Babies, the small teddy bear-like animals stuffed with “beans” and labeled with a heart-shaped “TY,” the only thing their investment ever got them was a healthy dose of shame and regret.

One couple in Great Britain reportedly hopes their flea market find may turn into a down payment for a house, but a leading collector group is dismissing the possibility.



Leah Rogers and Ryan Flanagan were selling a range of toys in Bude, Cornwall when they noticed a particular purple bear at a nearby seller’s stall, the Daily Mail reported.

Flanagan, 22, used to collect the bears and recognized that it was the limited edition Princess Diana Beanie Baby.

The bears were first released in 1997 to raise money for the Princess of Wales Memorial Trust after the former future queen died in a tragic paparazzi-fueled car accident in Paris.

Certain markers indicate that a Princess Di bear is not a first edition, like an extra space in the poem or a stamp inside the tag.

The couple paid just £10 ($15) for the toy, but when they checked eBay, they found a listing for £62,500 ($93,406) for the rare version they say they have.

They now have their own listing on eBay with a starting bid of £20,000 ($29,890). The couple is hoping to turn their special find into a down payment for a house, the Mail reports.  But there have been no bids yet, and their good fortune may be much ado about nothing.