DATE: Tuesday, November 4, 1997             TAG: 9711040001

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B11  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Opinion 

SOURCE: Dave Addis 

                                            LENGTH:   72 lines

THE BEANBAG BROUHAHA : ADULTS JOIN A KIDS' GAME AND, OF COURSE, RUIN IT COLLECTIBLES IS A PARALLEL UNIVERSE WHERE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS HAVE BEEN SHOVED ASIDE BY THE 7 DEADLY SINS. IT IS XANADU FOR THE GULLIBLE.

What can we make of a public that will complain in one breath that schools and teachers cost too much, but with the next breath will shout out a bid of $2,000 for a rag-bag full of dried beans?

That question came to mind the other day after reading a New York Times report on the pathology of Beanie Babies.

Beanie Babies, if you've been locked in a closet for the past couple of years, are ootsy-cutesy plush-animal beanbags that come in a wide selection of characters and colors. Bronty the Brontosaurus, Steg the Stegosaurus, Peanut the Elephant. That sort of thing.

At retail, Beanie Babies start at $4.95, which makes them a cheap and popular toy for kiddies to collect. And a lot of parents and grandmommies are happy because suddenly it is easy to buy the nipper a birthday present that is both appreciated and cheap. Not an easy task these days.

But when the adults got into the game, things turned childish. Beanie Babies have become the hottest thing in a land called ``Collectibles.'' Collectibles is a parallel universe where the Ten Commandments have been shoved aside by the 7 Deadly Sins. It is Xanadu for the gullible, where can be a godhead if you own enough scrap from the Franklin Mint. A land where Jim Beam jugs are objets d'art, where it doesn't matter if the face on the Elvis plate looks more like Bruce Lee, you collect it anyway because it is a collectible. It says so right on the box.

It is a land where the magic words, ``limited edition,'' will cause sane people to rip open their pocketbooks and beg for the chance to buy.

Which is what is happening with Beanie Babies. Through careful manipulation by the manufacturer, new Beanie Babies are released in a steady stream, while existing Beanie Babies are ``retired,'' or taken out of production - thus ensuring their scarcity.

It is marketing genius. The new releases spur buying in the primary market, while the manipulated shortages drive up prices in the secondary ``collectibles'' market. Cyberspace websites crackle with rumors about which Beanie is about to be retired, or sightings of a rare Beanie that never really has been documented - sort of a Sasquatch for the flea market circuit. Sealed-bid auctions are held for the rights to fluffy-wuffy sacks of dried peas.

Some of these $4.95 toys now command prices in the thousands of dollars. A rare royal-blue edition of Peanut the Elephant, according to The Times, was introduced in 1995, ``retired'' a few months later, and carried a price tag of $2,995 at a mid-October holiday fair in Atlantic City.

Imagine if you'd bought a hundred shares of stock at $4.95, and less than two years later it was selling for $2,995. Greed may be God at the New York Stock Exchange, but even the brokers don't dream of run-ups like that one.

The comparison, though, is not imagined. Here's how The Times reporter described Beanie Babies speculators at that Atlantic City show: ``Dealers and collectors were working the vast floor with walkie-talkies and cell phones, placing bids like Wall Street traders.''

The thrill of the hunt for true collectibles makes for a fine hobby. Whether its mother-of-pearl straight razors, antique radios, Civil War regalia or even Pez candy dispensers, the legitimate collector has a visceral connection to the quality of workmanship or at least the nostalgia for a lost era. With Beanie Babies, the frenzy centers on an item that was manufactured last year, ``retired'' last month and declared ``rare'' last week.

The only driving force here seems to be: Somebody else has one and I don't.

As a parent, you have to be careful about exposing your little ones to this sort of greed, pride, envy and lust too early in life. You and the nipper might do well to agree that Beanie Babies are just fine so long as nobody's paying more than they're worth. $4.95 seems about right.

When the kid grows up and learns how the game really works, she might even thank you. MEMO: Dave Addis is the editor of Commentary. Reach him at 446-2726, or

addis(AT)worldnet.att.net.

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