If you’ve spent any time digging through plastic bins at estate sales or scrolling through frantic eBay listings, you’ve probably seen it. A tag. A date. October 6. For some reason, this specific date on a Beanie Baby heart tag sends a certain type of collector into a total tailspin. They think they’ve found the "Holy Grail," a mistake that’s going to pay off their mortgage or at least buy a new car.
It won't.
I’m being blunt because the secondary market for Ty Warner’s creations is a minefield of misinformation. Most of what you see on TikTok or "valuation" blogs is just noise. People get confused. They see a date like October 6 on a tag and assume it’s a rare error because the birthday of the actual animal is different, or they think the year is wrong. Honestly, the October 6 Beanie Baby phenomenon is mostly a lesson in how internet rumors can turn a five-dollar plush into a "rare" artifact that isn't actually rare.
Which Beanie Baby are we even talking about?
Most of the time, when people search for the October 6 Beanie Baby, they are looking for Pumkin (yes, spelled without the 'p' at the end) or Sheets the ghost.
Pumkin is the bright orange bear with a pumpkin embroidered on its chest. He was released in the late 90s, right when the craze was hitting its absolute fever pitch. His birthday? October 6, 1998. Now, here is where it gets weird. Collectors started spotting "errors" where the tag said 1998 but the tush tag said 1999, or the dates just didn't seem to line up with the production cycle.
People love an error. They crave them.
But here’s the reality: Ty Inc. was mass-producing these things in factories across China and Indonesia at a scale that is hard to wrap your head around. Tens of millions of units. When you produce at that volume, things get sloppy. A 1998 birthday on a swing tag paired with a 1999 date on a tush tag isn't a "one-of-a-kind" mistake. It’s just how the manufacturing batches overlapped. It happened to thousands of them.
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Why the October 6 date sticks in people's heads
The date October 6 appears on several popular Halloween-themed Beanies. You have Sheets, the ghost with the hauntingly cute green eyes. His birthday is listed as October 6, 1999. Because he’s a holiday-specific release, he had a shorter production window than, say, a generic bear like Valentino.
Short windows usually mean higher prices later. That's the logic, anyway.
But Sheets isn't the "Royal Blue Peanut" of the ghost world. If you find a Sheets Beanie Baby with an October 6 birthday, you’re looking at a value of maybe $5 to $15 on a good day. If it’s authenticated by someone like Becky’s Beanie Babies (BBMB), maybe you get a little more. But the "thousands of dollars" listings you see on eBay? Those are "placeholder" listings or, frankly, money laundering. Nobody is paying $5,000 for a ghost with a standard birthday tag.
The "Error" Myth that won't die
You've probably heard that a misspelling on the tag makes a Beanie worth a fortune. On some October 6 releases, people point to the "Oak Brook" vs. "Oakbrook" spacing issue on the tag.
Listen.
Almost every Beanie Baby made during a certain era has that "Oakbrook" lack of space. It’s not an error; it’s just the version of the tag they were using at the time. It’s like saying a penny is rare because it has Lincoln’s face on it.
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Comparing the actual value: October 6 editions
If you're holding a Beanie with an October 6 birthday, look at the tush tag. That's the small white ribbon-like tag on the bottom. If it has a "red stamp" inside the loop, it means it was part of a specific factory batch. Some collectors care about this. Most don't.
Let's look at the two big ones:
Pumkin the Bear (Birthday: October 6, 1998)
- Common price: $7 - $12
- Condition matters: If the heart tag is creased, it’s worth about $2.
- The "Error" version: Some have "Gasport" instead of "Gosport" on the tag. This adds maybe $20 to the value. Not $2,000.
Sheets the Ghost (Birthday: October 6, 1999)
- Common price: $5 - $10
- The draw: He’s cute. He’s a classic Halloween decoration.
- The reality: Millions were made.
There is also Slippery the seal. While his birthday isn't October 6, he was often released in shipments alongside these other Beanies. People get them grouped together in their minds. It's a bit of a Mandela Effect situation where the "October 6" date becomes a catch-all for "that one rare Halloween Beanie I heard about."
How to tell if your October 6 Beanie is actually worth something
You need to look at the generation of the tag. This is the only thing that actually determines value beyond basic condition.
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- Check the "Hang Tag": If it’s a flat tag with no star, you might have something. If it has a star and a "4" or "5" inside it, it’s a common 4th or 5th generation tag. Most October 6 Beanies are 5th gen. They are worth the price of a fast-food meal.
- The PVC Pellets: Look at the tush tag. If it says "PVC Pellets," it’s an earlier version. Later ones used "PE Pellets." PVC is generally more desirable for high-end collectors, but for a 1998/1999 release, it’s not going to make you rich.
- Authentication is King: If you truly think you have a unique error, don't trust a Google search. Use a service like True Blue Beans or PBB (Peggy Gallagher). If they don't give you a certificate, the "error" is just a typo that doesn't add value.
The psychology of the "Rare" October 6 Beanie
Why do we keep talking about this? Why do these articles keep popping up?
It’s nostalgia mixed with a little bit of desperation. We all want to find a treasure in the attic. We want to believe that the $5 we spent at Hallmark in 1998 was a genius investment.
The truth is that the Beanie Baby market collapsed in 2000 because Ty Warner flooded the market. He made too many. The "October 6 Beanie Baby" is a victim of that overproduction. Because so many people bought them and kept them in plastic cases, the supply is still massive today.
High supply + moderate demand = low price. That’s basic economics.
Actionable steps for your collection
If you have one of these bears or ghosts, here is what you should actually do:
- Stop looking at "Sold" listings on eBay unless you filter by "Ending Recently": Scammers often put up fake sold prices to drive up perceived value. Look for auctions with actual bids.
- Check the "Made in" location: Beanies made in Indonesia with "Indy" on the tush tag are slightly more sought after by completionists than the ones made in China.
- Enjoy it for what it is: A Beanie Baby from 1998 is a piece of pop culture history. It’s a great desk toy or a gift for a kid who loves Halloween.
- Ignore the "No Space in Oakbrook" hype: It is the most common non-error in the history of the hobby. Every serious collector will tell you the same thing.
If your October 6 Beanie is in mint condition with a tag protector, hold onto it for the memories. If you're looking to sell, expect enough money to buy a coffee, not a house.
The real value of these items isn't in a secret error or a specific birthday date. It’s in the fact that for a few years in the late 90s, we all collectively decided that small bean-filled animals were the most important thing in the world. That's a story worth more than the $10 you'll get on eBay.
To properly value your specific plush, compare the tush tag year to the swing tag year. If they match, it's a standard production run. If they don't, it's a "production variation"—interesting to a niche group, but rarely a windfall. Check for the presence of a "Canadian tush tag," which is a black and white extra tag required by Canadian law; these sometimes carry a small premium for US collectors.