Once upon a time a senior Ty executive brought in a set of 15 unbelievable Billionaire Bears to True Blue Beans. Pictured below as an insane group. These pieces we were told were a special set created specifically by Mr. Warner. It is unclear why he let this set go – but it is suspected that Billionaire 15 (released in December of 2012) was supposed to be the final Billionaire Bear created. To be sure, the Billionaire 16 was not released until December of 2016 – 4 years later, and it was in the form of a Teeny Ty chaser – to promote the new Teeny Ty line. Ty has since released Billionaire 16, 17, 18, 19, and Billionaire 21 (skipping Billionaire 20). Some in Beanie Baby form, some in other forms (flippable, teeny ty, squish-a-boo). After Billionaire 21 in 2022, we saw the release of the signed Celebrate in 2023. It is unclear if we will see a special Ty Signed piece for the holiday 2024 season.
While this set originally contained only 15 bears, eventually a Billionaire 16, 17, 18, and two billionaire 19 prototype bears were added – bringing this collection to a total of 20 bears – now known as “The Ty Warner Set” – on account of the origin of most of these stunning pieces. It is considered one of the only two “complete” true departure Billionaire prototype sets. The quality of the bears in this set, and the “Executive Set” are unmatched. Many of these prototypes have only two known examples for that respective style (known = to have surfaced outside of Ty, or to have had visual proof surface of pieces still held internally). As one example, we know of only two Billionaire 5 prototypes to exist – the one in this set, and the executive set. Each bear in this set is detailed below.
Rarity Rank: -1 – 0. True departure Billionaire bear prototypes with pax tags are already in their own class. But these pieces as a set, especially given such impeccable provenance and origin story – elevates these pieces to unique highs. Additionally, just LOOK at some of these bears! Clearly their particular billionaire style is important, but they are also absolutely wild and vivid in their presentation – exactly want you want from a prototype.
Billionaire 1 – This Billionaire has a beautiful gold ribbon, nose, and emblem, with production fabric. All pax tags and 7/98 pax dates. Hang tag initialed by Ty with his approval. The Billionaire 1 prototype in this set was actually swapped out for the example that was originally in the Executive Set (that set will be outlined right after this post).
Billionaire 2 – This Billionaire 2 prototype is the slightly older brother of the solid green inverse Billionaire 2 bear reviewed in an earlier post. The patch of green fabric on its shoulder is the tell:). 7/99 pax dates, with gold dollar signs and maroon ribbon. Fabric on this piece matches production.
Billionaire 3 – Stunning bear with shiny purple ears, feet, paws, and crystal purple nose! Production fabric for the body. Amazing piece! 7/00 pax dates. The shiny purple choices match the general color (but not shade) of this bear’s dollar sign.
Billionaire 4 – Shiny gold ears, paws, feet, and nose + gold lace ribbon! 7/01 pax dates! The gold matches the color (but not shade) of the emblem on this bear.
Billionaire 5 – Orange sparkle fabric for all extremities, and nose + ribbon. Color matches the emblem color. Special square Ty Inc prototype tag – signed by Ty Warner!
Billionaire 6 – WILD rainbow sparkle fabric for this bear’s extremities. Beautiful crystal neon green nose and ribbon to match the bear’s emblem. A pattern of symmetry displayed by Ty:). So this all fits his typical patterns… Ty Inc. prototype tag signed by Ty Warner!
Billionaire 7 – Incredible vivid sparkly red fabric for this bear’s extremities, and crystal red nose and red ribbon (unlike the production blue!) that match the color of this bear’s chest emblem. Ty Inc. prototype tag signed by Ty Warner!
Billionaire 8 – Shiny gold fabric for all extremities, and a crystal GREEN nose to pair with the bear’s production color. Ty Inc. prototype tag signed by Ty Warner!
Billionaire 9 – Like the Billy 8 proto in this set, shiny gold fabric for extremities, and gold nose! Matching the emblem color. Ty Inc. prototype tag signed by Ty Warner!
Billionaire 10 – Shiny purple fabric for this bear’s extremities, and crystal purple nose + silk ribbon to align with the emblem color. Ty Inc. prototype tag signed by Ty Warner!
Billionaire 11 – Silver shiny fabric for all extremities, shiny crystal silver nose, and shiny silver ribbon – Ty Inc. prototype tag signed by Ty Warner! This guy is very striking – classy.
Billionaire 12 – The very tough to find Billionaire 12. This guy has wild shiny pale yellow fabric for his extremities, plus lemon yellow nose and thick silk ribbon. Ty Inc. prototype tag signed by Ty Warner!
Billionaire 13 – Another tough one to find in production land. This piece has bright shiny speckled yellow extremities, ribbon, and crystal yellow nose – lining up with the emblem color. Ty Inc. prototype tag signed by Ty Warner!
Billionaire 14 – A tough one too! This bear like Billy 13 has the same yellow departures and fabric to match the emblem. Ty Inc. prototype tag signed by Ty Warner!
Billionaire 15 – This bear like Billy 13 and 14 has the same yellow departures and fabric to match the emblem. Ty Inc. prototype tag signed by Ty Warner! We have a theory that Ty did the Billy 13-15 bears at the same time to streamline the process.
Billionaire 16 – This is wild! The production Billy 16, as we all know, was released as a teeny ty chaser. THIS is an example IN BEANIE BABY FORM! The bear is a wild blue and purple tie-dyed fabric with advent hang tag + a Billionaire 16 emblem! Wow!
Billionaire 17 – the production version of this bear used a shily rainbow fabric – similar to the extremity departure fabric seen in some of these recent prototypes – so it appears Ty finally used this sort of fabric. For THIS prototype, we have a full and wild departure from production in deep black fabric with silver speckles, silver ribbon, crystal light silver nose, and silver padded speckled feet. Complete with advent hang tag. Wow!!
Billionaire 18 – WOWZERS!! The Billionaire 18 production we know was made as a flippable. This here is a prototype for the piece in BEANIE BABY FORM! The ears and feet hint at the flippable fabric. Unclear if Ty was close to making this the example used. Billy 18 emblem! Complete with signed Ty Inc prototype tag.
Billionaire 19 – #1 and #2: The Billionaire 19 bear used the teeny ty US #2 chaser fabric – a wild neat speckled fabric we only saw in the rare teeny ty chaser line. These two prototype Billy 19 bears come in solid red and solid white fabric. Both with signed Ty prototype hang tags. Their extremities do use the chaser production fabric – a very very cool nod to the eventual production pieces.
Rarest Beans 