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While it may have ‘Peace’ in the name, speculation regarding the value of this beautiful tie-dye Beanie Bear has been anything but calm over the years. Having been featured in our list of rare and valuable Beanie Babies, we already know that the value of TY Inc.’s Peace Bear has had its fair share of absurd estimates over the years. Some online sources have even claimed Peace Bear could be worth $2500 or more! But, how much is Peace the Bear worth in reality? Let’s find out.
If you take a glance at past eBay sales for Peace the Bear, the value of this Beanie Baby is all over the place. One apparently sold for an unbelievable $10,000 in December 2022! However, listings like this should be considered with a grain of salt, since it only has one bid for the exact asking price from an unregistered user with no other sales history. When you look closely, it’s clear that this listing is a scam.
Fake listings like these cause people to seriously overvalue their Beanies, and Peace Bear is no different. Don’t be fooled – these Beanie Babies were mass-produced and won’t ever fetch you more than $100 to $200 at best. Depending on its condition and rarity, of course.
So, what is Peace the Bear actually worth?
In general, Peace Bear is worth anywhere from a few dollars to up to around $50, but a specific rare version can be worth more to the right buyer. The highest most recent sale we could find on eBay was for around $200 (as of 2024).
This video from BBToyStore on YouTube does a great job of explaining what factors are important to collectors:
Essentially, the fact that this Beanie Baby is tie-dyed has the biggest effect on its value, with tush tag errors having a negligible impact. Because of how tie-dyeing works, every Peace Bear has its own unique color variation. As a result, some simply look prettier than others. Solid colour Beanies just can’t match that level of intrigue.
As BBToyStore explains in the video, Peace Bears with a solid, brightly colored chest and legs will sell for more than those without. These Beanies seem to be known as “pyjama” versions in the community, with the bright blue and bright yellow varieties being the most in demand.
While the color profile is the main value indicator, it’s not all about looks! A TY Peace Bear’s value can also be influenced by whether it has a red factory stamp inside the tush tag. Beaniepedia’s entry on Peace the Bear explains how stamps that say “102” can raise the value by around $10 to $15 depending on if it is pastel or neon-colored, while stamps reading “108” or “113” can get up to $35 or more depending on the beanie’s color mix.
As explained in our article on the Princess Diana Beanie Baby, some universal factors also influence the value of a Peace Bear, such as whether it was manufactured in Indonesia or China, or whether it is filled with PE or PVC pellets. These factors are quite important to the right collector, as they affect the nap and look of the Beanie Baby when it’s on display.
Good colouring and manufacturing history aside, a Peace Bear also needs to be in great condition to attract attention from collectors. If you have a Peace Bear that’s a little worse for wear, check out our guide to how to wash/clean Beanie Babies. This is an absolute must before selling any kind of Beanie.
Some websites and eBay listings talk about a “no emblem” Peace Bear where the signature peace symbol is missing, describing it as a manufacturing error that adds value. In reality, this is no error at all; it’s an entirely different Beanie Baby!
That’s right, all the Peace Bears you see without their peace sign are actually “Garcia”, the original tie-dye Beanie Baby released a year prior in 1996. TY retired Garcia right before Peace the Bear was released (so they didn’t confuse people with two bears featuring tie-dye colours). However, this has still led some to believe that Garcia is some kind of prototype, and a few dishonest sellers have tried to pass it off as a one-of-a-kind Peace Bear.
Since Garcia had a production run of just a year, it’s much rarer than Peace Bear and generally sells for twice as much – if you can even find one for purchase.
Although the 1997 Peace Bear will always be the most iconic and valuable, the concept has enjoyed some refreshes over the years. In 2002, TY released a new version of Peace the Bear, except that it was tie-dyed with a single blue or purple color instead of a rainbow. There are also two versions of this Beanie Baby where the peace emblem is either hollow (can see through to the Beanie’s fur) or filled. Since they didn’t have the exciting multicolored tie-dye of the original, these Peace Bears aren’t very popular and don’t sell for much.
Like most of the most in-demand Beanie Babies, Peace the Bear is beloved for its striking visual appearance. Since this is the only type of Beanie Baby that is tie-dyed (after retiring Garcia), it’s already more valuable to collectors just for its unique aesthetic. And since no two Peace Bears are identical, you could even build an entire collection of them without doubling up.
Regardless of how good Peace looks on the shelf, the idea of a Peace-loving tie-dye Beanie Bear also has an inherent appeal and charm. Peace is an obvious reference to the hippie culture that sprang up in the 1960s and 70s in protest of the Vietnam War, and this makes it a little more interesting than many of the relatively generic Beanies out there.
Peace the Bear also has, by Beanie Baby standards, quite a lovely poem:
All races, all colors, under the sun
Join hands together and have some fun
Dance to the music, rock and roll is the sound
Symbols of peace and love abound!
Mike is a video game enthusiast, a chronicler of the 90s, and a collector of many things. Born in the mid-90s, he was able to catch the wave of some of the best things the decade had to offer, like Power Rangers, Pokémon, Bagel Bites, the list goes on. Despite the amount of time that has passed, he still enjoys many of those things today! If he’s not writing or gaming, he’s probably wondering why Warriors of Virtue didn’t take off the same way Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles did.
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