Here are a few answers to those of you who are just getting to know Muffy, Hoppy, and the Vanderbear clan: 11. Is it true that Muffy Bears and other Vanderbears will not be produced after 2001? Yes and No. The current word from North American Bear is that they are discontinuing the production of their regular Muffy line, but keeping the Boxed Gift Sets, the budget-conscious Clothesline, and a few limited editions and holiday editions. This is actually a good sign for collectors of all the first 18 years' worth of Muffy and her family and friends because it means that what there is is all there is and there ain't no more! Of course, it also means that what we have of those original sets in stock now at Purciful's is likely going to be all WE will have available for sale, too. 1. Can Muffy and Hoppy wear each others' clothes? YES. Sort of. The main differences between the little bear and the little bunny are the tail (Hoppy has a big fluffy one, and Muffy has none), the ears (Hoppy's are bigger and closer together), and body shape (Hoppy has a pot belly, while Muffy has a trimmer figure and can wear waisted clothes. The result is, there will be a breeze in the back if Muffy wears Hoppy's cloths that are vented for her tail, hats won't interchange, and Hoppy won't be able to fit into some of Muffy's more tailored outfits because of her little tummy. In general, when Muffy and Hoppy have matching outfits, Muffy's will be some cool shade of blue/green, while Hoppy's will be some hot red/orange/pink color. There are exceptions, but not many. 2. Who are all the other animals that are featured in the Vanderbear collections? OATSIE is Muffy's pony. She has appeared in many collections from WILD WEST RODEO SHOW and CHRISTMAS CAROL to this years Cirque de la Lune. LULU is Muffy's dog. She made her first appearance in the Highland Fling Christmas Collection and in in many of this years collections including Cirque de la Lune, Deck the Halls, and the new Valentine set, Candy Hearts. PURRLIE is Muffy's kitty. She first appeared in the New England Country Chirstmas Collection, and appears in this years Cirque de la Lune and Deck the Halls. RUDY the pig appeared first in the Down on the Farm collection, and has since also appeared in the recently retired Sweets for the Sweet Candy Co. collection. PATTI the cow also appeared first in the Down on the Farm series and has since appeared in the Skip to My Lulu square dancing collection. BRUCE the Spruce Moose made his debut in the recent All Spruced Up family Christmas collection. BUD and ROSE are bunnies that first appeared in the Flower Festival collection, and there has also been a duck (Down on the Farm), a sheep (Down on the Farm and Little Bear Peep), a squirril (Squirril Friend), a black swan (Czarina Muffina), a turkey (Muffy Pilgrim), and a seal (Muffy of the North). 3. Are all Muffy bears the same? Absolutely NOT. Muffy has been made by many different manufacturers over the years and in many different countries. Some differences that are most obvious are fur color (from creamy beige to a toast tan) height (from 6 1/2" to 7 1/2") face (some appear to be smiling, while others are not) and the extremity of Muffy's bowlegged-ness. All Muffy's are slightly bow-legged, but for a period of years in the early 1990's it was much more exagerated. Some early Muffy bears had two tags sewn into her back, and later Muffy has a tush tag. 4. Do all Muffy bears increase in value over time? Hard to say, yet. There have been a few collections over the years which were not big sellers for one reason or another (not as "pretty" or did not fit as well), and so were discontinued early by North American Bear. One of the results of this early closure is that those outfits are harder to find and so have seemed to sell for more in the short run. The popular teddy bear is just 100 years old, and it has only been in the last 25 years that the "secondary bear market" has really come into being. Muffy was created in 1983 -- and has been increasing in value ever since -- what the future holds for Muffy remains to be seen. North American Bear Company creates an atmosphere of collectibility by limiting the number of Muffy bears made in each style, and by creating "Limited Edition" bears for holidays and other special events. There have also been a few "over-produced" Muffy's along the way. In spite of their age, these bears continue to sell for much less than their counterparts from the same time period. 5. Are Muffy and the Vanderbears made for adult collectors, or for children to play with? Yes. On our TIPS page (link in the left hand purple column) we have a special page written just to address this question. You might also want to notice that the Gift Box Muffy bears made for 2000 Christmas season (5 different Muffy's available in this gift box) are designed with the child-collector and playtime bear lover in mind. Additionally, the Muffy ClothesLine clothing is also available for the allowance-budget crowd. Muffy is equivalent to our Maple Landmark wooden train sets in that the initial gift can be any of the basic Muffy bears, and then you have an instant gift for any birthday, special occasion or holiday in years to come. The trains have this same quality because additional cars, track sets, buildings and other pieces can be added for later gifts. These are both gifts that can be added to for a long time, and collected (and saved for future generations). 6. How long is each Muffy collection available? Only North American Bear knows this. Each year there is a holiday Muffy produced in Limited Edition which is available for that year only. There is also a 1 per year fan club editon, and a 1 per year "event" bear made for special store events. Family sets tend to be introduced once every year or two -- and then they are produced for up to 2 years before being discontinued. Often Muffy and/or Hoppy from that family group will be produce for an additional year. Some Muffys and Hoppys have been produced for extended periods -- the Muffy Christening, Muffy Bunny, Cocoa Bunny, Muffy Pilgrim and Pocahoppy have been around the longest and are still being produced. 7. What if I lose a shoe or some other accessory? Many times, if you write to North American Bear Company in Chicago (go to www.muffy.com) and tell them what you have lost or broken, they will replace it as long as they still have those pieces in stock. 8. Do all Muffy's and Hoppy's wear shoes? Not all Muffy's are wearing shoes. The first several years, little Muffy went "bear"foot all the time. The original 1987 Christmas collection "The Nutcracker Suite" where Muffy played the Plum Fairy -- had little Muffy wearing ballet slippers. This is a very expensive and difficult to find Muffy -- especially with her shoes! NABCO produced a second, mass market Muffy Plum Fairy in the 90's but her dress and outfit are much different and she sells for about 75% less. In 1988, Muffy wore ice scates in the Furrier & Ives collection, and her first Mary Janes in the 1989 Tree Trimming collection. After 1990, nearly all Muffy's have shoes except the swimsuit, pajama bears, and an occasional spring/Easter outfit where bearfeet are appropriate. 9. How do I know if I've got a complete collectable Muffy and/or Hoppy? There are 2 excellent resources. One is the Muffy Vanderbear Identification and Price Guide which is now in its 2nd printing. Also, if you join the Muffy Vanderbear Fan Club, they send you a photo album of all her outfits and collections. You can also ask if you're not sure and we here at Purciful's can tell you. 10. If I were going to start collecting Muffy's, Hoppy's, or Vanderbear family groups, where should I begin? Of course the first advice is to pick a Muffy or family grouping you really like. Pick one that fits your family or favorite activities. It's probably also a good idea to get a copy of either Identification and Price Guide, or the Fan Club's photo album so you can see what the choices are. (you can also cruise our site, since we have all but one or two of the Muffy and Vanderbears pictured here -- and we're searching for high quality images for the missing ones....) Next, you'll probably want to decide whether you want to collect dressed Muffy's / Hoppy's, or just have 1 bear and a collection of outfits. You'll also want to decide whether you want family groupings, whether you want the accessories that were made for each collection, and whether you want to collect the limited edition bears. You'll want to decide whether you intend to keep the Muffy's in original collector's editions boxes or not. Bears that have never been removed from their boxes retain a higher value in the short run, but as the years go on and more and more bears/bunnies disappear, even the slightly played with but mint condition bears will be valuable. There is a description of what we mean by "mint" on the Collecting and Play page in the TIPS section on the left. If you want to display your Muffy's and other collection pieces, you will need bear stands. NABCO and most other bear / doll companies make standard sixed stands for 5-10" dolls, 10-18" dolls, and 18-29" dolls. We here at Purciful's prefer the metal stands, but many companies also make wooden or plastic stands (the plastic ones tend to break easily unless displayed where they are never handled.) You'll need to decide where you want to keep your collection -- again, bears kept out of direct sun, COMPLETELY away from smoke, away from pets, and in a reasonably dust-free environment will have the greatest long-term value. Many collectors invest in glassed cabinets for display, while others store their collection in big "rubbermaid"-type storage containers. 11. How long does it take for collecting bears / dolls to "pay off"? Part of that depends on your definition of "pay off"! This bear collection has only been produced since 1983 -- and the really "valuable" bears are obviously those produced in the first 3 years when the collection was young and nobody "invested". The majority of bears sold in that period were purchased to be played with, given as gifts, or something other than true collecting. About 1986, the light began to dawn on folks that these bears were of a genuinely high quality and creativity -- and the variety of such a creative venture was producing a really investable bear. The first bears were all "family groupings" -- and Muffy wasn't introduced until a year after the parents and twins. Muffy was produced alone in 1986 in her first Valentine outfit and her first Halloween (Witch) outfit, and has been showing up alone or with friends as well as family ever since. Bears of all kinds have in the last 25 years become as highly collected as dolls. Before that, they were kept for sentimental value -- but hardly ever thought of as investments or displayable art. Since this new way of looking at bears, we have seen the advent of bear "artists" who produce editions as small as 1 bear of a kind, and up to issues of 10,000. We have also seen the advent of 4 major American bears manufactured with the intent to produce a collectable product: Boyds Bears and Dolls; Ty Beanie Babies, and NABCO VIB's and Vanderbears. Each of these collectable lines has its own philosophy of what makes bears collectable. Whether the economy can support such consumer collectables remains to be seen Like everything else, however, if the fashion falls away and most bears are sold off for cheap, given to children, or simply discarded, then the remaining bears become MORE valuable. If it is true that 85% of all Americans collect SOMETHING, then there's a lot of collections of _____ out there. -- and not all of them can be goldmines. The bottom line is, a collection of anything only becomes really valuable in the LONG term -- that is, to your grandchildren, great grandchildren and beyond. If you need a short term (10-15 year) pay off, this is not your game. Part of the current secondary bear market slump is the result of collectors with no staying power who are selling off entire collections for less than their original wholesale value. -- when the short term payoff didn't materialize, they JUMPED SHIP! And they seemed to do it all at once. A lot of very young collectors don't realize that a collection of bears, dolls, or cookie cutter all have to be cared for and stored properly for their values to be maintained and increased. It takes a particular kind of person to have the stomach for buying something and then intentionally putting it away for 40 years. And -- I think we can expect the same kind of ship jumping with Ty in the near future. Like Barbies, however, the tide will turn back for all these collectables. Until 10 years ago, the only Barbie collectors were a small group huddled in a corner with their blond pony-tails tucked under the bed. --Then the Barbie market took off again and the original Barbies sky-rocketed. Now Mattel produces between 12 and 30 Barbies a year just so they CAN be collected! The real bottom line -- if there is one -- is that you should only collect things you really love. The money is not really the point for most collectors. Collect something that has meaning to you whether it's autographed golf balls or Star Wars figures. The real value is what each item in a collection represents and how it holds a particular memory or favorite personal story. If you're doing it for the money, you best start collecting when you're 8 years old and expect to sell to pay for retirement -- because in between you'll just have a long ol' wait and a lot of time to store, move, and stare at your collection. It had better be something you love..... 12. What are the MOST collectable Muffy bears and other Vanderbears"? The most limited editions are the 1-offs produced each year for the Disney Bear and Doll Show in Orlando. A fairy tale is costumed on Muffy and her friends and family in rich fabrics, using extremely high quality workmanship and materials. In the past, there have been sets like Alice in Won-bear-land, Cinderella and others -- with elaborate set pieces and finely detailed work. These 1-off sets go on auction and are rarely ever seen after they are photographed for publicity purposes. Aside from these single-edition auction items, the most rare are those sets produced in greatly deminished numbers such as the Dusk to Dawn 2000 millinium set of which there are only 2000 copies available; and then the very earliest Muffy and Vanderbear family bears -- simply because they were produced so long ago and before they were thought of as collectable bears. The first 4 family groups are the hardest to come by -- up through the Nutcracker series. Alone, Muffy in her first Christening outfit, Muffy Valentine I, and Muffy Witch are the hardest to find in good condition. Muffy Witch is especially difficult to find with her mask still in tact. If you have further questions about Muffy and her friends, feel free to email us at purcifuls@yahoo.com and we'll tell you what we know -- or what we don't know -- and perhaps direct you to further information. HAPPY PLAY! ********************************************* REACH US BY EMAIL AT purcifuls@yahoo.com OR BY PHONE AT (806) 239 2927 during business hours. IF YOU DON'T GET A LIVE PERSON -- JUST KEEP TRYING! THIS TIME OF YEAR WE TAKE LOTS OF CALLS!! ********************************************************* BE SURE TO CLICK THE GLOBE ICON AND GO TO OUR FRONT PAGE FOR CURRENT SPECIAL OFFERS AND COUPONS!!! ********************************************************* FOR COMPLETE SHIPPING DETAILS (what kinds are offered, how long it takes, how to choose etc....) 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