When a company designs a new bear, they send a drawing or model of what they would like to the factory, usually in Asia (China, Thailand, Singapore, etc.), and receive one or more sample Prototypes. One of these Prototypes is selected and production begins.

Many bear companies (Limited Treasures, Salvino's Bammers, Celebrity Bears, Beverly Hills Plush, among others) also order a SMALL number of special bears called Promo Bears, which they distribute to wholesalers as promotional samples, usually before the normal bear appears on the collectible market. In most cases the Promo will be somewhat different than the normal bear, and many have PROMO embroidered on the arm. Most have some kind of documentation stating that they are special editions.

To a knowledgable collector of anything, be it art glass, limited edition prints and plates by famous artists or even vintage cars, the fewer that are made, the more prized it becomes as a collectible over time.

TIME is the keyword here, as with any prized small edition collectible item, the longer you maintain and enjoy it in its original condition, the MORE it will be eventually worth over the years. Markets change constantly, with swings from low values to high, and they can never be acurately predicted. My rule of thumb is - IF you like something, for whatever reason, and can find it at a reasonable price to add to your collection, go for it! DO NOT get it as an investment of any kind because it is EXTREMELY risky. So many people had subscriptions for limited edition collector plates (which were produced by the thousands!), which are nice and all, and received them on a regular basis, paying over $30/each for them. You can now find these same plates at yard sales and flea markets for a fraction of the original price!

TY Beanies, although much more popular some years ago, now ONLY seem to be Hot when they are first released, commanding ridiculously high prices on the internet auctions from people who simply MUST HAVE them immediately. The problem usually is that after a few weeks, the same toys are available all over the place at a normal price, and what they considered an investment flew out the window! And since they are produced by the millions, even your neighbors have them all, except for some of the RARER older ones. It may be 20 or more years BEFORE any of them may be worth considerably more than retail, as has happened with Barbie Dolls, vintage comic books and many other childrens' items. So make sure that you stash your Beanie treasures carefully away so that they are still minty fresh when your grandchildren are old enough to take an active interest in them.

I was lucky to have traded a ton of retired Beanies for the bears listed below. They all are connected with persons who are historically important in some way, which in itself makes them unusually interesting.