The violet employee teddy set is well known to collector enthusiasts: the violet new face teddy with either a green ribbon or red ribbon was given to employees on the Odyssey cruise in 1997 – details outlined in previous articles. What we have here is the second prototype set reviewed on our site. This set is magnificent. Pax dates of 8.26.97 (slightly newer than the embroidered violet teddy prototype set with 8.2.97 pax dates) puts this set’s creation shortly ahead of the 9.13.97 release date for the distribution sets – and supports original theories that Ty didn’t have much time to assemble this release ahead of the cruise – hence why using the violet employee teddies was the eventual option. But in a slightly different scenario with more time, we may have ended up with a set like this! Two bears, one in red, one in green (fabric akin to Erin’s emerald shade vs. new face teal or legs fabric). Each with the alternate’s ear and ribbon color. All pax tags. The pax hang is signed by Ty(!) and denotes these as “Employee Bear 01 and 02 “rep gift red/green” – confirming that they were serious contenders for employee recipients/established their provenance without a doubt.
Rarity Rank: -.5 As with the prior set, ranking a set like this is tough. They are absolutely exceptional, and with the notes from Ty on their pax tags – at the highest echelons of the hobby. Full departure, unproduced teddies for the ultra elite employee teddy set. Rarity comments from our original employee prototype set (embroidered) apply. While at a glance without context or scrutiny, you may not realize how spectacular these bears are, but when you zoom in and break down exactly what you have here – full, vivid departures for the extraordinarily elusive violet employee teddies, you can easily make the case that these pieces are among the most spectacular prototypes to exist. To this point in time, Ty had not used either fabric for a teddy design. We do not see the use of the emerald fabric until a few months later (3/98) for Erin, and the red fabric for the #1 rep bear (in 1998). We did see this fabric used for other earlier prototype teddies that were never released.
Rarest Beans 