Okay so the context here is that back in the 90s grifters pushed the idea that “collectables” would inevitably be worth huge amounts of money in the future bc some very rare comics and baseball cards were trading hands for a lot of money. So there was all kinds of fake artificial scarcity stuff; Magic the gathering cards, limited edition decorative plates, a bunch of other shit, and beanie babies.

Beanie babies were shitty little stuffed animals. There were hundreds of different animals in different colors and patterns. Some were “rare”. and huge, huge numbers of people were convinced that these little shitty 6$ stuffed animals were going to become incredibly valuable in the future because people would want to collect them or some bs. It was a serious craze for several years in the 90s. People spent vast amounts of money to get a specific “rare” beanie baby they thought would go up in value. We’re talking camping out in front of stores to get first pick out of the fresh delivery, people getting in to fights over children’s toys, people stealing bags of these things and trying to pawn them.

Just absofuckinglutely ridiculous. Like NFTs but it lasted for a couple of years before everyone just collectively moved on.