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Brownie the Bear is a “lying down” style bear with brown plush fabric and tan muzzle. Brownie is considered a “pre-Beanie,” which means that it is rare and difficult to find because it has only been retailed for a very short time.
Brownie the Bear was one of the first nine Beanie Babies presented in 1993 at the World Toy Fair in New York City. These first nine caps would become known as the “original nine”.
The “Original Nine” Beanie Babies were Brownie the Bear, Flash the Dolphin, Spot the Dog, Legs the Frog, Squealer the Pig, Patti the Platypus, Chocolate the Moose, Splash the Whale and Pinchers the Lobster.
Brownie the Bear has the style number 4010 printed on the tag. Brownie doesn’t have a birthday and doesn’t have a poem.
Brownie only has the first generation tag and a 1993 black and white tush tag.
The first generation label is a single heart-shaped card attached to the cap with a plastic closure. The first generation tag is double-sided and a single sheet of cardstock. Next generation tags open like a medallion. The first generation tag has “ty” printed on the front of the tag in a lowercase white font which is much thinner and smaller than today’s tags.
The first generation tag has “The Beanie Babies Collection”, the style number and the name of the Beanie printed on it.
Brownie was quickly withdrawn, meaning the Ty company stopped making Brownies. Brownie was replaced with Cubbie the Bear.
Cubbie the Bear is physically identical to Brownie the Bear in color and size. The only thing that makes them different from each other is the fact that both bears have their name printed on the first generation tag. Aside from that, the first generation Cubbie and Brownie are identical.
So, if you changed the tags on the two bears, no one would know which Brownie or Cubbie really was. And if you remove the tag from Brownie you wouldn’t know if it was a Brownie or a Cubbie. So you can’t really sell a Brownie the Bear as a “Brownie” if it doesn’t have a tag. It could very well be a Cubbie if it has the black and white tush label.
Brownie was sold in the $ 3,000 to $ 4,000 price range in 1998. In 2013, Brownie was sold in the $ 500 to $ 1,000 price range on eBay.
Because the Brownie was so valuable, many counterfeits were made. Rather than creating a counterfeit Brownie with a counterfeit tag, it would have been much easier if the counterfeiter had purchased a Cubbie with a 1st generation tush tag without a tag on eBay and then attached a 1st generation counterfeit tag to it. Instead the counterfeiters attempted to duplicate both the Beanie and the tags and made a serious mistake with the fake tag.
Every counterfeit Brownie I’ve ever seen had the wrong generation heart tag. As I said earlier, Brownie the Bear only came with a first generation heart label which is a single sheet of cardstock. All the counterfeit Brownies I’ve seen have the second generation heart tag that opens like a locket.
If you are a Beanie Baby collector, you will want to add Brownie the Bear to your collection if you have the opportunity to purchase one at a good price. Just do an “advanced” search on eBay for “completed auctions only” for “Brownie the Bear Beanie” to see what they have sold in the last 90 days. You want to make a note of which ones were actually sold and not what they were listed for. Try to buy one in the low end of the price range and you will get a good deal.
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