How Much is Peace the Bear Worth? 2023 Value & History

How much is the TY Peace Bear worth?

If you take a glance at past eBay sales for Peace the Bear, the value of this Beanie Baby is all over the place, with one apparently selling for an unbelievable $10,000 in December 2022. However, listings like this should be taken 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.

Fake listings like these cause people to seriously overvalue their Peace Bears. 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 condition and rarity.

So, what is Peace the Bear actually worth?

The vast majority of Peace Bears are 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 $20.49 (as of 2023).

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 tag errors having a negligible impact. Because of how tie-dyeing works, every Peace Bear has its own unique color variation, and as a result, some simply look prettier than others.

As BBToyStore explains in the video, the Peace Bears with a solid, brightly colored chest and legs will sell for more than those without. These Peace Bears seem to be known as “pyjama” versions in the community, with the bright blue and bright yellow varieties being the most in-demand.

What other factors influence Peace Bear’s value?

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 the 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.

Color 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.

What about the “no emblem” Peace Bears?

Some websites and eBay listings talk about a “no emblem” Peace the 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 tie-dye bears). 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 the Bear.

Since Garcia had a production run of just a year, it’s much rarer than Peace the Bear and generally sells for twice as much.

Don’t forget those ‘other’ Peace Beanie Babies

Although the 1997 Peace the 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 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.

Why is Peace the Bear such a popular Beanie Baby?

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!