Families bet their savings on plush toys during the Beanie Babies bubble of the 1990s

Ty Inc.'s $5 beanbag animals became speculative assets in the mid-1990s, with rare designs reportedly reselling for thousands of dollars and Beanie Babies briefly accounting for a tenth of all sales on eBay. Some collectors poured their savings into stockpiles they expected to fund retirement or college. By 1999 the market had collapsed, leaving warehouses of toys worth a fraction of what people paid.

— Ty Warner, Ty Inc., Beanie Babies — Speculative peak, 1996–1999