Greetings fellow Beanie collectors.

    I am pleased to be able to tell you that I have at last collected all the new Beanie Babies, thus keeping my collection up to date. I have had to buy yet another chest of drawers to accommodate the new arrivals, and spent a pleasurable time sorting the Beanies into categories for storage! All the birds in one drawer, dogs in another, sea creatures in another, two drawers of bears, and so on, and so on! In fact the new chest of drawers seems remarkably full already-help!

    We spent ten days in Georgia-U.S.A over Easter, and I managed to track down several of the new Beanies while I was over there. They were a better price over there too, costing between 5 to 7 dollars, a dollar being around 66p.Also I bought one Buddy bear-Valentino, and he was 10 dollars, again, cheaper than the usual 10 pounds or more here.

    My best buy was Beginning Bear. The lady in the shop said that she had the new Beanies in, but would not be selling them for a couple of days until she had put them all in “grab-bags”. Apparently, due to rioting by mad American Beanie Babies collectors, it is a method of sales she and some other shop keepers have adopted, whereby all Beanies are placed in non see-through bags, you pay your money, and it’s pot luck what you get! Anyway, I must have looked really crestfallen when I explained to her that I had been trying hard to get Beginning Bear, and she very kindly said that if I came back in a couple of days she would see what she could do. This we did, and to my delight when we went back, there was the coveted teddy all ready for me-in a “grab-bag” and ready to go! I think the British accent helped an awful lot!

    The hardest to track down were Aurora, the polar bear, and Swampy the alligator. I still haven’t  actually seen Swampy in a shop myself, a neighbour picked it up for me in her travels.

    I accidentally came across Q.V.C, the shopping channel, the other night, and they were selling Beanie collectibles. I was amazed to see that some of the latest bears, and some of the last few bears released in 1999 were being sold at £30 each already!

    My collection of Buddy Bears has also grown of late. I now have 16, including my latest purchases, which are Kicks, Ty 2 K and Signature 2000. Needless to say my Buddy Bear cupboard is full up now too, and I am desperate for more storage space. We will need a bigger house soon at this rate!

    This is all for now. Do visit our Beanie Guestbook and leave us your comments, or a message. Or alternately-mail us and tell us about your collection or collections, be they Beanie Babies, stamps postcards, dolls, or anything!