We haven’t had a review of production beanies in a moment. Most collectors in the hobby strive to add 1st generation tagged pieces to their collections – viewing them as one of the pinnacles of regular vintage production. Indeed, assembling a full set of 1st generation pieces, especially in MQ condition, has become quite a strenuous task. Especially a “true” original 9 MQ set – all original 9 styles with 4-line korean tush tags, with all name and color variations. Try finding a 4-line raspberry patti, or a 4-line CUBBIE (not Brownie) in MQ condition. Such a challenging task. Now, the original 9 beanies that made it over to the United Kingdom did not have the country’s required CE mark on them (conformite Europeenne), so Ty quickly put om them very flimsy square rectangular white hang tags, in place of the 1st generation red tags. True Blue Beans outlines this all quite well in an article via their beanie baby price guide website:
The ty fasteners can be red OR clear. Pictures of both below. The hole punch in the tag was not uniform and could be in various spots at the top of the hang tag – also seen below. So do not use these two items to gauge authenticity. These tags have been heavily counterfeited, so you MUST send them in to True Blue Beans – the best grading and authentication service.
The original 9 pre 1st pieces can ONLY come with a 4 line korean tush tag. Additionally, the patti in this set MUST be the raspberry color (NOT deep fuchsia). Cubbie and Pinchers are denoted as such (not Brownie or Punchers). Lastly, the pre 1st rectangular hang tags on these pieces are technically identical – with no names listed. So hang tags on these pieces are interchangable. But given their limited total population (suggested to have only been a few hundred) and their fragile nature, pre 1st hang tag swapping is so very limited, but accepted.
Rarity Tier: GHOST RARE/ELITE Rare.
Again, original estimate production populations range, but no more than a few hundred tags are believed to have been created. This paired with their age and fragility, have led to single digits per style surviving today. The most commonly seen (but still RARELY seen) pre 1st styles tend to be Spot, Pinchers, and Cubbie. But finding any pre-1st piece in any condition is a feat. There are only 4 known complete MQ MWMT sets of these currently known, with 1-2 more sets that are close to complete (missing 1-2 pieces). Below is one of the known completed 4 MQ pre-1st sets. Finding a pre-1st hang tag is orders of magnitude more difficult than finding ANY 1st generation hang tag (or later). True Blue Beans often includes letters of rarity (seen below) when one of these turns up.
Rarest Beans 