Maple! We decided to put all known Maple prototypes (in our memory) in one review post. Maple was the first official country exclusive beanie released by Ty on 1/1/97. The original batch had the ‘pride’ tush tag error. Above we have five prototypes for this stunning piece. All with pax tags and dates that pre-date release by about 9 months.
Production Maple Prototype: solid white (like production). Ribbon and flag pinned to chest. Standard for Ty to create an example without colored fabric.
Cream: Textured cream fabric – full cream departure with production flag and ribbon. Technically the earliest pax dates. Interestingly, we would not see textured fur like this until fuzz the bear, released 1/1/99. Tylon fabric, as it would be coined. Ty had its creation ready years before its launch.
Solid RED: Solid red departure with white ribbon. A neat “inverse” color scheme – a common symmetry in Ty’s playbook. We believe this version might have been the most seriously considered alternate to the production Maple.
Solid BROWN: This example is solid brown. Fabric shade matching (we believe) the shade used for the new face brown teddy. This would have been a very classic take for Maple. We would see Ty use this color (or similar) for Britannia – his second country exclusive (released one year later). Production flag, with red and white ribbons.
Solid ORANGE: This solid orange Maple is in fact part of a wild flag nose country exclusive set. Complete with white/red ribbons and full departure bright orange fabric. This is perhaps the most out of the box known prototype for Maple. WILD!
Rarity Ranks: 1.75-2. Maple was such a memoriable and revelutionary style when he first launched. The first official international exclusive style. He remained difficult and “hot” through his retirment date in July of 1999 – over two years after his Jan 1, 1997 release. A pivotal 4th generation style – with each example a strong, vivid departure. We would place the oldest white concept design example closer to a “2”, with the full color departures at the “1.75”.
