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If you were alive in the 1990s, then you were most likely inundated with pop culture from all angles — from catchy pop songs on the radio to classic blockbuster movies in the theaters to themed merchandise with your fast food. Today, the toys that came with your Happy Meal can actually be worth hundreds of dollars, if not more. McDonald’s toys from the 1990s that are now worth a ton of money include some iconic action figures, characters, and collectibles, but one in particular stands out as a staple from that era: Beanie Babies.
Beanie Babies became some of the most popular toys prior to the turn of the century, with McDonald’s helping to stir the craze and fervor for the stuffed toys. They’re still popular today with collectors and some have only grown in terms of worth What makes these Beanie Babies from McDonald’s so desirable to the point where people will pay loads of money to own them?
Imperfect Beanie Babies tend to be worth more money
There is an unexpected value to Beanie Babies that you might not have originally seen coming when you first purchased them, a value which has gone up in time depending on the type and condition of the toys. However, there is another factor at play for driving the price of these collectibles up: mistakes. Some Beanie Babies put in Happy Meals throughout the 1990s came with errors, which has only made them more sought after and worth more money on online marketplaces.
One seller on eBay had a 1999 set of four Beanie Babies, including Erin, Maple, Glory and Britannia, from the Ronald McDonald House Charities with hard-to-find errors that was initially listed for $499. Similarly, another eBay seller had a set of six Beanie Babies that came with “Errors Tush Tag 1993” along with an extra Maple and Britannia bear, with an original asking price of $1,000.00. The notes from both sellers described that these Beanie Babies are still in the box and never used, only checked for errors to assess the price — which ultimately did drop.
The most expensive Beanie Baby toys for sale
Even though the Beanie Babies found in Happy Meals can go for hundreds of dollars online, they are not always the most sought after. That’s because collectors are hunting some Beanie Babies worth $12,000 or more, with the most expensive of these toys going for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Valuable Antique Detector found the top 25 Beanie Babies that are worth the most money starting with Squealer the Pig, originally released in 1993 and currently valued to be $14,444. That number might make you do a double take until you get further down the list to the top three Beanie Babies with the highest value, including Baby Nut from 1996 in third place with an estimated value of $156,000 and Peace, released between 1997 and 1999, being the second most valuable at $179,000. However, the No. 1 Beanie Baby with the most value remains the Princess Diana Bear from the late ’90s, which was found at one point on sites like eBay with as much as a $1,000,000 asking price.
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