BEANIE VARIATIONS (page 2)
When is a variation not a variation?
First there are variations, and then there are oddities. How can you tell the
difference? The generally accepted definition of a variation is a beanie who has
changed as a conscious process in the manufacturing process, not by some
accident on the production line! These generally involve design change, colour
change, or even name change!
Many 'oddities' are caused by simple mistakes in the manufacturing process - this can be as simple as a ribbon being tied on the wrong way up (the UK trio with their red, white and blue ribbons), a flag being sewed on the wrong way up (or not at all) or the wrong tag being attached to a Beanie. Be careful with Beanies wearing pins though, as these are quite easy to swivel around, and may not therefore constitute a genuine oddity. There are some Beanies who have suffered the ultimate indignity of having their body parts incorrectly attached. These are generally the most desirable oddities, as well as being the easiest to spot.
Whilst some collectors spend much time and effort building collections of oddities it is not always worth paying that extra bit of cash for an oddity. It is often the case that a whole batch of Beanies suffered the same mishap, and the oddity might not be that rare. It is always best to wait for the market to settle, and to gauge how unusual an oddity really is!
If you are in any doubt about purchasing an oddity it is always best to have the Beanie authenticated by an expert!
Even less odd
Sometimes even Ty fail the proof reading test. There
have been several instances of mis-spellings on the tags of Beanies. These are
worth noting, as these are sometimes mistaken by collectors who are just
starting out on the road as counterfeits.
Poor old Millennium very famously had his name mis-spelt as 'Millenium' on both his hang and tush tags.
Then there is the famous Beanine Libearty. Some of the original batch of 1996 Libearty were issued with the word Beanie mis-spelt on the tush tag as 'Beanine'.
Some hang tags in 1998 managed to mis-spell both the words Original and Surface (as in surface wash) as 'Origiinal' and 'suface' respectively.
There is also the third generation tush tags which also manage to mis-spell the word Surace as 'surfrace'.
There are probably other mistakes not covered here, so don't panic if all is not as it should be, it isn't always a sinister attempt at counterfeit, sometimes it is a genuine mistake!
So - let's take a look at some real variations! (page 3)