A TREASURE hunter was stunned after finding a hidden gem in his parents’ attic – a collection of Beanie Babies he claims is worth thousands of pounds.
The TikToker shared an incredible collection of soft toys which became hugely popular in the 1990s.
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Collectors went mad for the toys with many seeing them as a financial investment – while the bears were described as the first-ever ‘internet sensation’.
The video shows the thrifter going through boxes full of Beanie Babies while pulling out some of the rare finds.
He says: ” So my parent used to collect these Beanie babies back in the nineties…so we looked in the attic and there they were.
“When my parents said they collected some Beanie Babies, I didn’t expect they’d collected a whole bin filled with them.
A green bear with a tartan scarf in perfect condition, having been kept inside a clear box, is pulled out by the thrifter.
The Tiktoker says: “As we were sorting through them, we found this guy.
“And we saw that he sold for $5,000.”
He then flashes a screenshot of the eBay listing for the incredible rare Wallace Beanie Baby, which appears to have sold $5,000(£4,000).
Most eBay listings on the Wallace bear are currently between £5 to £100 – but those in pristine condition or those with an unusaul error could be worth a lot more.
He then pulls out a purple bear with a white rose on its chest, a limited edition Princess Diana Beanie Baby.
He shows an eBay listing claiming that a Princess Di bear sold for a whopping $14,500(£11,875).
The soft toy went on sale just months after the Princess of Wales tragically died in a car crash in 1997 and was priced at around £8.50.
Naturally, the bears flew off the shelves with all profits going to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.
A few years ago, an English couple listed one on eBay for a whopping £75K, after buying the bear for just £10 in a car boot sale.
However, the purple bear didn’t make anywhere near that amount.
But one Diana bear with a mistake on its label did sell on an eBay auction for £20,482 ($25,000) in October 2020.
TYCollector.com lists the values of all the different Beanie Babies and has warned people against paying excessive amounts on eBay, explaining the bear is actually worth between £30 and 70.
But the bears are understandably valuable to fans of Princess Diana.
Some questioned the value of the Beanie Babies claiming that some eBay sellers create listings to inflate the market and encourage big sales.
Others claimed if the bear has an ‘error’, making it completely unique, it could be worth more money.
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The tied-dyed crab, named ‘Claude’ has sold for as much as £8,000 due to an unusual error on its tag.
Other valuable Beanie Babies have sold for as much as £11,000 at auction, according to completeset.com
The Peace bear sold for a whopping £12,126($14,800) at auction in August 2020.
The Chef Robuchon bear also sold for £6,024 ($7,353) and is so uncommon, that they are rarely offered for sale.
One of the most valuable toys is thought to be Peanut the Elephant but after years of counterfeits being made the value of the soft toys has dropped dramatically.
Peanut has been credited as the toy that began the collecting frenzy in June 1995 after a few rare versions were made in a royal blue colour.
Collectors were urged to check old toys and books in their loft to find collectibles that could be worth £400,000.
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