Well what do we have here? This is an extraordinarily special Chef Robuchon bear! This piece is tan in color with a solid brown dark nose (production had a black nose) – the color appears to match/is similar to production. The piece has a completed WHITE menu – production had black, and is complete with TWO prototype tags. A traditional circular advent hang tag dated 2/28/06 – five months ahead of production, and a week later than the dates on the famous blue and pink chef examples. This tag has “Chef Robuchon tan/sample earmarked. Extremely unusual to have a second prototype tag – but not unheard of – this piece also has the rectangular Ty inc. proto/sample hang tag on its reverse, with “#1 sample” listed. On the reverse is also a jean patch of fabric – perhaps matching the fabric that came to be on the bear’s jacket lettering? Last but not least, this piece has a ‘production-looking’ tush tag – single/non-looped. Fascinating indeed. We suspect this piece was Ty’s deciding on the color he wanted to make the production bear.
Rarity Rank: 0. It’s a Chef Bear prototype/sample. It’s spectacular. But it still feels a bit naked/unfinished, which is perhaps the definition of a work-in-progress prototype. Certainly a piece like this would command a value closer to a -.5/-1 piece, but we still believe a full color departure is more visually impressive. But at this level, splitting hairs.
Rarest Beans 