The
Many Colors of Peace
By Susan Sternberg,
PhD in Peaceology (updated 4/23/00)
There are few beanie babies as beloved
. . . and as confusing . . . as Peace bear. Introduced
in spring of 1997 to replace Garcia, Peace is so much
more than a tie-dyed, multicolored bear with a peace
sign. It’s also a sign of hope guaranteed to bring a
smile to everyone’s face. The confusion with Peace arises
because of the many fabric changes during the two-plus
years of its circulation. The most-important change
during the summer of 1998, when for only two months
the fabric colors lightened dramatically, was the signal
that there was more to Peace than meets the eye. Here’s
a simple guide to the different versions in approximate
chronological order. You can figure out which variation
you have by checking the hang tag, fabric colors, date
of purchase, and tush-tag number (if any). This is based
on researching literally hundreds of Peace bears of
every variation.
Old-Style/Vivid
The first Peace released in spring 1997 is considered
to be “old style/vivid .” It’s made with PVC pellets
and carries a fourth-generation hang tag (birthday is
in the format 2-1-96). It looks a lot like Garcia with
a peace sign. It has darker colors. This variation continues
into early 1998 with some of the pellets changing to
PE and the first fifth-generation hang tag that had
a mistake common to several other beanies: “Original”
on the front of the hang tag was spelled “Origiinal”
and “Surface Wash” on the back of the tag was spelled
“Suface Wash.” After awhile, the back of the tag with
“Suface Wash” got a sticker that said “Surface Wash”;
“Origiinal” stayed the same. The Ty Europe location
inside the hang tag is Fareham, Hants for all 1997 and
1998 Peace bears. The OUTSIDE of the tush tag reads
“1996 TY INC.” in all capitals for old-style, neons,
and pastels; it changed to “1996 Ty Inc.” with the 1998
autumns.
Neon
Neon When the entire tag was corrected by spring 1998,
the fabric changed to ne on. It looked much brighter
than the vivids and was available during the spring
and summer. During its run, the tush-tag numbering system
started for all beanies and continued into 1999 and/or
until their retirement. There is a red oval with a number
stamped INSIDE the tush tag. This supposedly signifies
where the beanie has been manufactured or the factory’s
line where the beanie is made. Neons either had no number
or carry the number 102 inside the tush tag (some 110s
and 119s may fall into the neon group).
Pastel
This variation seemed to have been an aberration, since
it had such a limited circulation. That’s what’s made
it the rarest version. The fabric was noticeably lighter
than neon or vivid, almost as if the bear had been dropped
into bleach; it has little if any brown or olive green.
Its tush-tag numbers were only 101 or 102; those made
in Indonesia, though, had no numbers.
Summer Transitional
This was an odd category of Peace. There were some numbered
Peace bears (102, 107, 108, 110, 114, 115, 116, and
119) whose fabric looked to be transitioning from vivid
to neon that were bought during the summer of 1998.
Thus they have parts of vivid and neon on them (hybrids).
It can be confusing to figure out whether you have a
summer transitional or an autumn. The key is the “1996
TY INC.”—if it’s in all-caps and the tush-tag number
is one of the above listed, it’s an ST; if it’s in caps
and lower case, it’s an autumn.
Autumn
After the lightness of pastel and the brightness of
neon, last fall’s autumn Peace bears looked downright
drab (thus the tag “GI Joe” Peace). They were seen from
September 1998 through January 1999 and had browns and
olive greens as the dominant colors. The tush-tag numbers
included 100, 101, 102, 112, 113, 115, 116, 120, and
121, with 115s and 116s being most-prevalent.
Spring
The final Peace variation was spring (February 1999
through retirement in July of 1999), which eventually
had few if any browns and olive greens and was brighter
and lighter than autumn. The transition to spring started
with the original Ty Europe location in Fareham. Around
February, the Ty Europe location changed for all 1999
beanies to Gasport (it already had made that switch
with the new 1999 releases). Last March, the “Gasport”
was changed to the correct spelling of “Gosport.” Gosport
Peaces were among the prettiest, with lots of pieces
of neon fabric. The tush-tag numbers were 101, 102,
110, 111, 112, 115, 116, and 119; the most-prevalent
were 112s and 115s.
Pastel vs. Whitewash
Going back to the rarer pastel version, a lot of confusion
has arisen over the designation of a “whitewash” Peace.
Whitewash is merely part of the wide range of pastel,
which includes total, primary (most but not all light),
and partial pastels (the latter two occurred when the
fabric transitioned either from neon to pastel or from
pastel to autumn; their value wouldn’t be as high as
a total pastel, which is totally light and has no neon
or brown/olive green). What is “whitewashed?” On some
Peace bears, parts of them (like an arm) are so light
that they appear to be almost white in strong light.
Value
“Value” is what someone is willing to pay you
for a beanie. Collectors now think the pastel version
is worth the most, because it’s the rarest. The unnumbered
and 102 neons also seem to have been in limited supply
(though not as limited). With autumn being the drabbest
Peace and spring being the most recent, neither is commanding
a high price yet. Ultimately, the later Gosports should
be valued higher than Fareham autumns and Gasport springs,
because they could be in shorter supply, plus they were
so pretty. There always are subsets of Peace collectors
who are willing to pay top dollar for their special
interests. For example, a mostly blue unnumbered fifth-generation
Peace sold for $152.50 on eBay. Some Peace collectors
will pay more for an unusual tush-tag number—the rarest
Peace bear seems to be the Fareham 108. The best guide
to determine what value others are putting on your version
of Peace is to check out the eBay or auctions. Be sure
to know what version you have first, though! Anyone
with questions can e-mail me at smsternber@aol.com.
Yours in peace, Susan Sternberg PhD
in Peaceology (with special thanks to Susan G., a fellow
Peaceologist in the Houston area)
Note: Susan Sternberg is Smart
Collecting's Official Peaceologist and a contributing
writer for Mary Beth's Bean Bag World Monthly.
