Do you have a question about Beanie Babies® authentication?

Ask our friend and authentication expert, Peggy Gallagher. Send me an email with your question, and I'll forward it to Peggy. She will respond to the question, and I will post both the question and answer here. By using this forum, Peggy will not have to repeatedly answer the same questions, and all information will be available to everyone at anytime. Please keep your questions brief. Also, please put "Question to Peggy" in the subject field of your email. The newest questions and answers will be posted at the top of the list starting Monday, Nov. 24, 2003.
Sincerely,
Gramma Pat


Q. Hello to Pat and Peggy:

First I would like to thank you for this service. The extra work on both you and on Peggy Gallagher's part is very much appreciated. My friend and I are die hard Beanie collectors and sorry to say are hopelessly into the oddities etc. We follow the "boards" and feel much of the talk is very negative and takes alot of the fun out of collecting. This forum is so much better.... Thanks again!

My question to Peggy Gallagher: My friend Jenny, swears there is an oddity Coral that is corduroy. I do not know where she comes up with this but she is very certain she has either seen one at a Beanie show "in the old days" or read about one or possibly heard you speak of it on your radio show. Can you help??? does this exist?

She also says there is an oddity Pinchers that is orange. She thought it was from an old time collector in Michigan. She vaguely remembers it was the wife of a minister that had it. Do you recall stories of an orange Pinchers? We watch eBay all the time and have never seen these come through. Nor does anyone ever mention them.

My friend has been doing Beanies much longer than I have and the stories from the beginning days are so much fun. She has seen you at many shows in the Chicago Metro area when Beanies were really "hot" and says you have always been so nice and so helpful.

Collecting the oddities can be so much fun. We have not been "hurt" because we are careful. We don't bid on new seller auctions without substantial feedback as a seller and we don't bid when entire pictures are not included. It might be helpful if you give pointers on how to use eBay feedback wisely when deciding when to bid. This might help clear the confusion. Although most of it seems like common sense if folks are new to eBay they might not understand how it works. Just a suggestion.

Thanks for your time. We hope you will be able to answer.

Jenny says you might remember her. In the beginning you helped her locate a Humphrey. This was pre-eBay and pre-counterfeit Beanies and pre-Beanie show days. The Cat's Meow in Glenview gave her your phone number. You sent her to an antique store in LaGrange, Illinois and she got her perfect Canadian Humphrey for $8.00. This is when Humphrey's were literally impossible to find.

Sincerely,
Amanda and Jenny

A. Dear Amanda and Jenny:

Thank you for the kind words! Gramma Pat's board will be much more fun and educational! The "true" collectors are friendly and positive people!

Yes, the infamous "counterfeit" corduroy Coral did exist! This particular counterfeit Beanie was illegally purchased at the Beijing Markets in China and resold in the USA in mid 1997. I specifically remember when the buyer sent it to me. Ty, Inc. never manufactured Coral with the "corduroy-like" fabric. Unfortunately, you will have to tell Jenny its not an authentic Ty Beanie Baby. The fabric at the end of the bolt has always been the "fuzzy" type of fabric. The corduroy fabric is a counterfeit version released on Bubbles, Coral, Goldie and a few more!

I remember the orange Pinchers. It was merely sun exposure from the store window. I had called the owner of the store where the lady bought it and the store owner confirmed it was being displayed in the store window! The Ty heart tag was also bleached from the sun to a pale pink color! That was a lot of fun discussion on the AOL boards prior to eBay and prior to Ty's website about the orange Pinchers!

I agree people bidding on auction sites should read the feedback and also email the sellers and ask plenty of questions! If the seller does not answer your questions DONT BID! I get a tremendous amount of emails from collectors wanting to bid on auctions! I would only recommend to bid on auctions with pictures!

LOL Coincidentally,. I do remember Jenny and also remember she bought her Canadian Humphrey in July of 1996!! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!


Q. I am concerned about your answer concerning the retagging of Ty products. Are you saying that you believe the practice of retagging is ethical and honest? Have you ever retagged a Ty product yourself?

A. I am very sorry that you misunderstood the answer. Perhaps you need to re-read the question and answer. I do not recall saying anything about "ethics" or "honesty". I have never retagged a Ty product and do not have the material or machine needed to tag the product. I have, many times, been given permission from collectors to cut off counterfeit tags from an authentic Beanie and then to authenticate the Beanie. I have always returned the counterfeit tag to the owner so they have the opportunity to get a partial refund from their seller for the original Beanie transaction.

Q. Have you considered making a policy to NOT authenticate changed button or changed flag oddities since they obviously can be changed after market? Since you can't confirm that they come from Ty this way don't you think it would be a good idea to not put your name on them? Just how many oddities with changed buttons or extra flags do you see in the span of a few months? Don't you get suspicious when there are several of the same type from the same person? Thanks for answering.

A. Yes, we are considering the option to not authenticate any Beanie with a button oddity! There are very few factory oddities with changed buttons, flags, etc., being submitted in a year. The Beanies being submitted are usually being sent in by different collectors and returned to different addresses. Thanks for the question and Happy Thanksgiving!



Q. You have stated that you will not authenticate a beanie if you can see that it has been tampered with, and you have also stated that you can tell when a beanie has been altered about 99% of the time. You must not have been able to tell that the oddities from the seller in WA had been altered, since you authenticated them. If he/she was able to get so many oddities past your inspection, how do you know that others have not done so in the past? How could you possibly know that you are able to tell when a beanie has been altered 99% of the time?

A. Well I just recently started writing on all the certificates that "we cannot guarantee that the button was released from the Company upside down, etc" because we had concerned collectors that were being deceived etc etc. Keep in mind there are not that many Beanies out there like this!!! People seem to think there are so many and there simply are not that many! 99% of the time you can find evidence of the Beanie being altered. These Beanies have never been authenticated.

Q. Has there ever been an instance where you authenticated a beanie, and it was later determined to be counterfeit, or have counterfeit tags? Do you offer any recourse to the buyer who trusted in your judgment?

A. Yes we did accidently athenticate a counterfeit Sakura when they were first released on the market and we sent the lady a new authentic Sakura!! We took her counterfeit Sakura to the Ty Company and had them investigate the counterfeit Beanie, counterfeit tags and the serial number! We then published the serial number all over the Internet! The lady was one of the nicest colectors we had ever met!!

Q. I do not know about pbbags, but Becky at True Blue has decided to stop authenticating Ty signed pieces (besides the employee beanies) unless they come with a certificate of authenticity from Ty. I suppose that she realizes she is not a handwriting expert and is not in a position to authenticate a signature. Do you authenticate Ty signed pieces (besides the employee bears), and if so, are there any stipulations? If you authenticate the piece, does that mean that the beanie and the tags are authentic, but that you cannot guarantee that the signature is? Isn't this a similar situation to the oddity situation?

A. We do not want to discuss or criticize any other authentication service. It is unfair and is unprofessional. We authenticate any and all authentic Ty products as long as they are authentic. YES, we have and will always authenticate authentic Ty signed pieces. We take the Ty product over to Ty Inc. to verify the signature if we are questionable about the signature or the product! There was a stipulation: A few years ago we did not authenticate the Indonesia Britannia. We never had the authentic one to compare it to. We finally had received the authentic Indo Brit from a Ty employee and we began accepting Indo Britannia for authentication submissions because there were more counterfeit version out in the market place than authentic ones!

Q. How do you feel about the practice of retagging (taking an authentic beanie purchased with either no hang tag or a badly creased hang tag, and attaching an authentic mint hang tag obtained either separately, or from a donor beanie)? Would you ever recommend that anyone retag a beanie?

A. The only time I would recommend retagging a Beanie or any Ty product is if you knew and could trust who and where the authentic uncreased tag originated. BUYER BEWARE: There are a lot of excellent counterfeit version tags that are near impossible to detect. A few years ago I helped the Ty Company Security and the DuPage Illinois States Attorney's office convict several distributors of EXCELLENT counterfeit version Peanut, Garcia, Coral, Libearty, Lefty, Righty, Radar , Trap, Peking, Chilly, Teddy, Nana etc., etc., tags.



Q. Attached is some pics I took of a Libearty I bought off of an auction site. I am worried it is a fake since the certificate says a 1st generation tush tag?? Hope you see the pics well enough to tell.
Thanks a bunch!

A. Thanks for the pictures of the certificate. The certificate and handwriting looks authentic. Was the certificate laminated? We would like you to send in the certificate and the Libearty to be re-examined. Please send it in with a filled out authentication form and include a note so there is no confusion when it arrives.




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