family

As discussed, I’m a huge history nerd. To make matters ‘worse’ I am also one of those parents who prefers that kids not only learn but seek knowledge. I see collecting as one way to instill such passion in our kids (and adults too). Sure, our kids are called ‘weird’ — apparently for just not falling far enough from their weird-parent-trees. (Thanks, Wes Cowan!) But in this age of video games and passive entertainment, I’m thrilled to produce geeks & nerds.

However, instilling such passion in your children is work. It means you have to make the time, be it at home, the thrift store, or right there on the auction floor, to educate your kids… Maybe push them a little bit too. And it means you need to look past a lot of mainstream stuff (i.e. popular toys) to find gifts for your children which will delight as well as continue to quench their nerdy curiosities. That’s not always easy to do. And it’s even more difficult to find something that you can collect together.

So far we’ve bonded over games, vintage vinyl, books, and History Detectives. But there are less ‘new’ items which seem to meet all my (admittedly persnickety) needs. The Noah’s Pals animals are neat, helping with those environmental lessons, but what about history?

Historical Plush Beanie Collectible Figures

Enter the Famous Be’an Collectibles.

Made by Creation Station LLC, Famous Be’an® Collectibles are plush ‘bean stuffed’ toys like Beanie Babies — however, Famous Be’ans are famous historical beings.

Each historical figure is dressed in their appropriate period attire and includes a hang tag with an original colorful illustration and accurate historical information — in poetic verse and prose, to pique interest (we all hope!).

You’ve got your presidents, like Lincoln and JFK, and their wives, such as Mary Todd Lincoln and Jacqueline Kennedy; but there are so many other historical figures and legends too. Activists & authors, explorers & entrepreneurs, inventors and scientists, outlaws & musicians — even animals.

Plush President Lincoln & Other Famous Be'an Collectibles

Standing in front of their booth at the recent museum conference, I was giddy. So many cool plush toys — and so many possibilities for collecting with my kids!

Aside from just being cool history themed things to collect, there are many other reasons why adults will enjoy collecting Famous Be’ans with children:

• There’s a wide variety of historical figures to choose from.
• Because these collectibles are being made today, kids can put their favorite Famous Be’an on holiday lists for Santa and on birthday lists for extended family members.
• And the familiar/understandable topics means people know what the heck the kids are talking about — which means adults can more easily find and purchase the gifts as well as have actual conversations with the children about their collection. (And isn’t that part of what both collecting and gift giving are about?)

Socks The Cat As Famous Be'an

You (or grandma!) can even sign up for the Famous Be’an® Collectible of the Month Club and have a new plush collectible come to your home every month. The company allows you to specify particular areas of interest (Civil War, Native American, etc.) and if you send them a list of which Famous Be’ans you already own, they’ll make sure not to send you duplicates.

For all this ease, Famous Be’ans are real collectibles. Figures will be retired — in fact, some already are! This adds to the thrill of the hunt as you try to find ‘who’ you can while they are available — then search the secondary market for those you have missed.

The company also offers Famous Be’an bookmarks and collecting accessories, such as display cases and display stands. (And if you’re a teacher, there are even Famous Be’an lesson plan books.)

To add to the fun, there are even exclusive designs sold as souvenirs and fundraisers to museums and other organizations. That means you & your family can enjoy discovering new historical figures when you travel to historic sites and exhibits — like Socks the Cat at the Bill Clinton Museum. Now you can get the kids excited about ‘another family car trip’ *wink*

Museum Souvenir Historical Figure Plush Toys

(While some of the exclusives are listed on the website, other gems like Socks and the Headless Horseman shown here are not. Contact Creation Station for a complete list of Famous Be’ans and locations.)

Mom, Dad, hubby… anyone who knows me, if you’re reading this I’ve simply got to add Susan B. Anthony and Rosie the Riveter to my ‘feminist’ collection. Belle Starr too.

And then there’s the kids… Hunter will want Abe Lincoln, Destiny will want Blackbeard, and Allie will want Seaman the dog.

OK, I’m pretty sure that between the kids and I, we want them all. They are just too-too cool.

So sing along with me, to the tune of “It’s Crying Time Again”., It’s Purging Time Again, I’m Going to Leave You.

I guess the accumulation of gifts bestowed upon me by family and friends at this time of year has an affect on my mental state. I become conscious of all the things I have accumulated over the years in an “It’s a Wonderful Life” moment.

No, wait, maybe I just can’t fit another thing in my closet, on shelves or in drawers.

I have always taken the ‘tween’ holidays period to offload accumulations of paperwork from my real job. Discarding two year old quotations, around two-thirds of the proposals of products never purchased, old catalogs, price lists, blueprints, invoices and assorted paper correspondence. With today’s paperless society, why is it necessary for each and every e-file to have at least two paper copies, one in my file cabinet and one in the company office?
I do the same on the hard drive, but files less than four years old are still archived because I now have 500 gigs. (Any body out there who can translate that into the number of file cabinet drawers is welcome to do so!)

But in my clothes closet, three new shirts must somehow fit on hangers. So I have to select three discards. Pull this one out, but no, I could still wear it to cut grass, or maybe paint the stairwell into the basement. Three are finally selected, shirts that are still in good condition, but have dust on the shoulders from not being moved in four or five years. I decide to place them in a box for donation and get the inspiration to check for other items. Shoes are checked, but in a true manly manner, I wear them till the soles are so bad, they are no longer acceptable in shoe heaven. (When you live in snow country, old shoes are saved for snow days when I have to slug through a client’s unplowed parking lot for a meeting.)

Wifey pulls out an old, very warm winter jacket, replaced by gifts last year, I still had trouble saying good-bye. Well, into the donate box. Sweaters are off limits, old ones get used around the house, none so bad as to embarrass me if the Governor stopped by. Pants too, well maybe. I have some that are now too big, but might fit with all the meals and snacks, at the abundance of gatherings Wifey booked us into this season.

Together we decide to go through other assorted clutter. (Note! I avoid the word collections, some things are off limits even to discuss.) Old Auction Action News,papers from three years ago are discovered in a back closet, phone books of the same vintage are all placed in the recycle bin.

We have our oldest Grand Baby staying with us this week. She will soon be moving into her own apartment. Wifey has “hired” her while she’s here to help sort through the stored antiques and collectibles wifey sells on Ebay and in her antique mall booth. Some items, while looking so good when first purchased, are now deemed to be too new and placed in the donate box. Sorted also are items usable by our granddaughter in her new digs. The giving spirit lets us part with items we hope will help others.

It’s a great time of year, we have family and friends around, we share gifts, a meal, laughter, discuss the past and look forward to the future. We have welcomed the arrival of our latest Grand Baby, watched the incredible progress of our other Grand Kids, reminisced about and shed a tear for friends no longer with us.

And we wish all of our Collector’s Quest friends a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

“Gotta Collect? Then You Gotta Connect – Join our Collectors’
Community”

On October 17, 2005 Steve King and Janet Rosso started Caboodle! Toys LLC., and exactly 16 months later their first container of Noah’s Pals (lovingly sculpted, beautifully hand-painted animal figures, built to 1:24 scale) shipped from overseas — they were officially in the collectibles business.

Just a few weeks after the February 2007 Toy Fair, where they presented Noah’s Pals to toy lovers, I caught up with Janet and Steve and asked them some questions about their new animal collectibles.

You know I love the concept of animals (they’re cute, affordable, educational, and fun for generations), but why did you choose animals?

Steve: We started out by defining the things we’d like to see in a collection. We wanted it to be educational, optimistic, and non-violent. Then we decided to do some research by talking to collectors — but we never got to that point…

Janet: Steve asked me if I knew anybody that was really into collecting so we could interview them. I jokingly said, “Noah.” After all, he was the first and biggest collector of all time. And with that quick conversation, we decided on Noah’s Pals.

Steve: The beauty of the Noah’s Ark story, how it evokes the beauty in all animals, and its relevance to many of the popular religions in the world including Christianity, Judaism, and Islamism, it seemed like a natural.

It does inspire one to take stewardship of animals and the environment more seriously. But, I have to ask… Why isn’t there a Mrs. Noah?

Janet: Mrs. Noah is coming soon. We plan on introducing her in early 2008.

OK. I was afraid she had missed the ark! How many animals are currently on the ark — in the series?

Janet: Noah’s Pals is our premier collection. All forty pairs of animals, Noah with the doves, and the ark were released at the same time.

Just how does the collectability come into play? Will all 40 animal pair inventory just sell out and that’s that, or is there another plan?

Janet: We’ve noticed that some collectible companies suddenly ‘retire’ a product without warning. We find that this lacks integrity.

Steve: We think that it makes sense to fully disclose the quantity and availability of our collections. It’s the honest thing to do.

Janet: With Noah’s Pals, we’re creating limited editions of those animals that are in danger of becoming extinct. For example, five of our animal pairs are ‘endangered’ and we have decided to only make 10,000 editions. Another ten pairs are ‘vulnerable’ in the wild and we are making 20,000 editions of those. After we’ve produced all of those editions, they will officially become retired.

But there’s a reason to collect the non-endangered, not-so-limited animals too, right? You can register all/any animals to get that Caboodle! And I hear it involves some really rare animals…

Steve: The Caboodle! reward contains several great ‘bonus’ items for the avid Noah’s Pals collector. We decided to offer an ‘extinct’ species of animal with each series. For the first series of forty animals, the Caboodle! includes Derek + Delilah Dodo. They are not for sale, and the only way to earn the pair is to gather the rest of the collection.

So cool — you can only get the extinct species by saving the others. It’s like good karma!

Janet: The Caboodle! also includes a lunch box and a memory card matching game featuring our distinctive animal icons. Plus a few other special surprises too!

Please describe how the registration and reward system works, so folks know just how to get a Caboodle.

Steve: We’ve designed it to be simple as possible. Kids and parents need to first register as a member of Noah’s Crew on NOAHSPALS.com. After that, they just need to visit our online “Check-In Desk” and enter the full ID codes found on the back of their ID Cards. We also have an “offline” Redemption Form that comes with our Arks. Collectors can write the codes on a single sheet of paper and mail it to us to redeem their Caboodle!™

If folks register online, along with the interactive aspects of the website and earning the reward of a Caboodle!™ they can win prizes too. Will these items be limited in anyway and be collectibles themselves?

Janet: The raffle prizes are an extra thank you to our collectors, but they can also be purchased from our online shop. We would hope that the Caboodle! itself becomes a valued collectible.

And there’s interactive fun too — like games, downloads and animal information.

I know you’re still planning to expand the website for registered users… Any plans you can share?

Janet: We’ve compiled a long list of animals and it took us quite some time to decide on the first forty — we’d like to add twenty Noah’s Pals every year. We plan on working with our collectors to choose the animals that will be released in the next series.

Noah’s Pals are adorable and collectible, which I’m completely a fan of, but they are for children and well, kids will be kids… Are Noah’s Pals toys too? What are they made of? Are they fragile?

Janet: Yes, they are toys and meant to be enjoyed! They are made of PVC (stands for polyvinyl chloride), which is simply plastic in lay terms. Our plastic is hard, but not solid. Our products have been extensively tested and meet the safety standards of the United States, Canada, and Europe for children 3+.

I’m curious, what sort of feeback or comments did you receive at the Toy Fair?

Janet: We had several zoo buyers inspect our animals and they just loved the little details we added through sculpting and painting. For example, on our zebra, we added a shadow stripe on their hind quarters to distinguish the plains zebra from other species. They also loved our ID Cards and the educational focus of our line.

Steve: We found that everyone appreciates the “built to scale” aspect of the collection. We’re not the first company to offer animal figures, but apparently we’re one of the first to maintain scale across the animal kingdom.

They sure are beautiful — and I wish you much success!

Janet: We hope Noah’s Pals becomes popular in the collecting community so that we can continue to work together on Noah’s Pals and entirely brand new collections too.

Along with the links included in this interview, Noah’s Pals are found at specialty toy stores, gift boutiques, and zoo shops. If you can’t find them at your local store, contact Steve and Janet at their website and ask them to help you locate a retailer near you.