(no subject)

[phosfate]

So what do you do when you're insanely bored on a national holiday? Go to Aardvark Antiques, obviously.

We didn't expect much except a nice walk on concrete, but there was a bunch of new stuff in. From a pile of *yawn* Boyds bears, an odd little gold critter stared out at me:



A Merrythought M-type, in the traditional gold mohair. The same make as this fella, but smaller (he's about 8 inches, sitting down) and older (from whenever the wishbone tag was held on the chest -- the poor bastard still had the plastic tag thing going through him). Ribbon and paper long gone. The dealer, who was asking book-plus for the B**** bears, wanted $7.00 for him.

Well okay.

(For those of you who are not bearheads, this is roughly the equivalent of finding a Beatles butcher cover at a thrift store in Mexico City.)

Comments

[saskia139.livejournal.com]

So is this little fella looking forward to a nice restoration at Miss Ann's capable hands?

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

All done. He just needed a good brushing, a seam clearing, and a bit of a trim. Now I will love him and squeeze him and call him Booster.

[saskia139.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

ooooh nice one! He's beautiful! :)

[pollyannadesade.livejournal.com]

Ooh, nice shopping, very well done!!

[thistlethorn.livejournal.com]

Awww! So cute. Yay, you!

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

He's a peach! But you know... uh, what's so bad 'bout Boyd's Bears? I like 'em. Am I terribly naive? Not a bearhead, I just like them 'cos they're small and have personality.

Boyds sucked me in with a white mouse wearing a red knit scarf about 15 years ago and I have bought quite a few of their small bears, cats, rabbits since then. They live in happy harmony in an antique bookcase. I never bothered to buy Beanie Babies, preferring Boyds.

[ryanbrech.livejournal.com]

It was an old interest and I am no longer interested in it so please remove me from your friends-list. If you claim it was me who added you to my friends-list then you are a lier and obviously a poor loser.It was an old interest and I am no longer interested in it so please remove me from your friends-list. If you claim it was me who added you to my friends-list then you are a lier and obviously a poor loser.

[aldenmacrae.livejournal.com]

Yay for bear!

[randomways.livejournal.com]

And, wow, such beautiful drama encapsulated in a single bizarre comment.

I want the backstory, up to and including the deletion of the journal. It better involve camels.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

I have no idea. I've never heard of this idiot.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

He's also not on my friends list, deleted or not. Go figure.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

There's nothing wrong with Boyds Bears! But they're everywhere, and a lot of secondary market dealers seriously overcharge for them. So I was amused to find a bear of ten times the value on offer for much less than she was asking for her Boyds. (Imagine a dealer asking $10 for last month's X-Men, and $5 for a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15.)

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know there was any sort of resale value, over-valued or not, on Boyd's stuff... because, yes, as you say, they are *every-freakin'-where*, common as dirt, so they should never cost a lot. Part of why I like them is that they *are* so inexpensive, yet they are well-made and have a sweet sort of personality in their little beady eyes, and they look a little old-fashioned. They're so cheap I can give them to nieces who will actually *play* with them rather than get in a tizzy about keeping the tags "clean and uncreased" for heaven's sake. Beanies are cute, but I don't like the whole fake collector's market type thing that sprang up around them. I just donated a bag of Beanies to a local no-kill shelter to sell at their fund-raisers (I own 4 cats so people are always giving me Beanie cats as gifts! Gah!) The first Boyd's I bought was that mouse I mentioned... and the next time my niece visited, she literally mugged me for him, took him right out of my hands with a *PLEASE can I have him* and some eye-batting. She then took him to school in her school blazer pocket for the next year or so as her mascot.

I think that bear is as lucky to have found you and you were to find him! ;)

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

I didn't know people could still post from deleted journals! How odd. As odd as the post itself!

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

I would imagine he posted, then deleted. He's either an idiot, or some sort of troll.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't even get me started on tag fascism! Let alone people who don't play with their stuffies. (If the poor thing is old and fragile, that's one thing. But putting brand new animals in plastic containers to preserve their 'value' is just cruel.)

Beanies were cool because they were well made and inexpensive -- perfect for kids and young teens to collect or give each other as presents. While the whole frenzy thing is hardly the animals' fault, seeing a gift shop jammed with people on cell phones every time a new box comes in is just...annoying.

Weird. For a moment my head tried to make your sentence into a no-kill shelter for Beanies, and I thought, Man, they really have overproduced the poor things if it's that bad...

There's resale value on anything that anyone collects. It's not necessarily high (that's why comic stores have quarter bins), but it's there. There are also a couple of Boyds price guides out now. Great for keeping track of them, but a lot of guides' prices are pulled out of somebody's ass.

I have a cache of Boyds Bearwear. How can you not love a little tennis sweater, or a turtleneck with TEDDY on it?

I am so happy with Booster that I could spontaneously give birth. His eyes are off center, giving him a pensive air, and his gold color is really quite jolly. He seems to get on with the others okay. (Moth is a bit aloof, but I think the heat makes her cranky and she doesn't like anybody right now.)

[kannaophelia.livejournal.com]

That's a shame. I was hoping to find out about the old interest you used to force him onto your friendslist in order to suck out his energies, probably in order to infuse teddybears with stolen life spirit. Must have been really interesting.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine ever friending someone who can't spell "liar" correctly.

[kannaophelia.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, ryanbrech doesn't seem to think you can be trusted to tell the truth on this issue.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

I know. My soul dies a little every time I read that.