Many have questioned why I temporarily removed the sewn on patch Britannia article. It was removed due to a chain of events that transpired along with the release of the article. I had a couple of e-mails that encouraged me to investigate further into the history of this bear and I needed to do so before I could honestly address e-mails being sent asking for advice.
Unfortunately many did not read the article correctly! The article was a simple interview of questions asked of Peggy and her responses. The article NEVER said she authenticated the bear! It did say that she authenticated the tags!
There was NO intent in this article to sway
anyone into running out and purchasing this bear from any dealer.
As a matter of fact I think I made myself very clear when I shared
my closing comments. Please take the time and read the article
as it was written.
Know that there are many ways of protecting yourself against counterfeit
bears. Trader List is a good example. http://www.traderlist.com
The next two e-mails are being shared to help shed some light on this situation.
Dear Ms. Janie,
I read your interview on Saturday and must admit I am surprised
you pulled it from your site. I thought it was very informative
and answered all the right questions. I have dealt with Sam at
Ryebypost quite a bit and found him extremely knowledgeable and
helpful. As I write this I have a Patch Britannia on it's way
to Peggy Gallagher for authentication. I hope you will continue
to keep us up to date on this rare beanie.
Regards,
Darlene W
______________
Ms. Janie,
I have a situation that I would like your opinion on. I purchased
a sewn on patch britannia from ryebypost because it was reasonably
priced. I had it authenticated by two different people who gave
two different opinions. How will I ever know which one is right?
Also I would like to make a comment if I may; ryebypost offered
a link into your article in their newsletter. It appears to me
that if they had sold fakes either knowingly or not they would
not have exposed themselves the way the did. The reason I say
this is because I know that some people question their pricing
on these bears and just assume that they are fakes, do you care
to comment on this.
Anonymous
_________
Dear Anonymous,
You bring up some rather good points and I'm not sure I can answer
them. I am not an authenticator and therefore can not speak on
their behalf. I will say that it has become public record that
not only are these bears ugly they do differ in appearance. This
may be the reason for all of the confusion. To be 100% honest
I simply do not know. I did receive a couple of notes from other
collectors asking the same question.
Ryebypost was generous enough to supply a contest winner with a sewn on patch Britannia. When I first viewed the bear I was a little uncomfortable BUT not knowing much about it I could not speculate. I did write to them about my concern and was told that in fact the bears are ugly but that it was real. I had no reason to doubt them and had no information to base an opinion or discussion on.
Many seem to be so infatuated with this bear so I will elaborate a little further what triggered this article other than educating others and myself.
When a contest winner received her bear she was very excited. It wasn't until recently that beaniewonderland posted a blurb about fake Britannia's and placed a link back into my page for their viewers to read that she became concerned.
She viewed that page and immediately contacted me. She claimed that the bear she had in her possession was not real and obviously was pretty upset.
Her e-mail sent me on a frantic search for
the truth! It wasn't until later that I realized she had viewed
a FAKE Britannia page and NOT a fake sewn on patch Britannia page.
When I informed her of my findings she admitted that she did not
even know there was a sewn on patch Britannia. Unfortunately I
could not shed much light on the subject because I myself did
not have any information on this bear.
It was then that I decided to finally do something about this.
Although I was aware of this bear and the controversy surrounding
it, I had very little information to share.
I immediately contacted Peggy and ryebypost for help and the rest is history. I am also happy to announce that the person who obtained this bear now understands that there are two versions and I have promised to have it authenticated to help ease her mind. In the mean time I have shipped her my Britannia to help keep her company until the authentication process takes place.
I can tell you that it's a horrible feeling
when things go wrong and I feel helpless and unable to help others.
I have viewed this as a valuable lesson and will to the best of
my ability try to continue to learn everything possible on these
little critters. I will also clearly be marking the Britannia
page so that NOBODY else becomes confused in the future.
Ms. Janie
~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~**~*~~
Additional comments from Ms. Janie
I would also like for it to be known that the reason I contacted Peggy was because she openly made a statement that she authenticates these bears! Ryebypost was contacted because they were the ones who donated the bear in question, which did turn out to be real according to Peggy.
It is IMPOSSIBLE for me to police sellers and that's why it is important for collectors to become educated! If by chance you have received what you believe to be a fake Beanie I would suggest that you contact the seller and request a full refund or an authenticated bear. Please remember that if you choose to purchase Beanie Babies® plush from secondary market dealers, and not from Ty authorized accounts, Ty Inc. cannot vouch for the authenticity of these products.
How can secondary dealers help to protect
their customers?
Ryebypost has implemented measures to protect their buyers. They
will now offer sewn on patch Britannia's in three forms. You may
wish to purchase an authenticated version by two different authenticators
or a version that has not been authenticated, the choice is yours.
I'M JUST THE MESSENGER!
If you have previous issues with ryebypost I would suggest that
you contact them directly. I hope that this confusion surrounding
the sewn on patch Britannia has not tarnished their reputation.
In my opinion they have been above board with ME and have been
very helpful in sorting out this situation. They also value their
customers and their opinions and therefore want to protect them
as well.
Collectors are not the only ones who get scammed into purchasing fakes. Some secondary dealers often times have been taken for the ride of their lives! They too depend on accurate reporting and as a matter of fact often time's assist with valuable information to help determine fakes on the market place.
Recently a secondary seller informed me of fake Sakura's. She also assisted in helping to possibly track down where they originated. Without her help I never would have been able to write the article and provide detailed photos. Although she got burned badly her first concern was for the collector. She felt the need to get the word out in order to protect collectors and warn other dealers.
UPDATE:
Since I responded to the above e-mail a few things have happened that I would like to bring you up to speed on.
The bear donated by ryebypost has been deemed
authentic by Peggy Gallagher.
Peggy and I worked closely with the bear's owner to ensure its
authenticity and I will be shipping back her prize.
I have given this situation a lot of thought and here are a few things that many of us could speculate from now to dooms day!
Just how rare are these bears? Ty has never released numbers. I would have to assume that the production of the bears was still on going whilst the first shipment of bears were in transit to the UK.
What happened to the bears? How many were
on the ship being transported to docks and just how many were
actually returned due to the recall?
Did retailers hold the bears back and then later decide to flood
the market with them making it appear as if they were fakes?
If they were shipped via boat in containers, as most goods from Asia are, how long did it take for them to arrive in the UK? How long were the containers sitting in the docks awaiting customs clearance, then there was the road transport via trucks to the Ty Europe warehouse, unloading, storing & then deliveries made to Ty Stores.
How much time had lapsed before the original recall and how many stores complied? I would assume that this was not a prototype test run, but was a full-scale production run of this bear.
I have to wonder just how many of these
bears were in parts of this continuous chain before the actual
recall was made.
500 or so may well have only got out over the counters at Ty stores
before or during the recall, but just stop and think for one minute,
where did all the recalled bears go? What happened to ALL the
other bears that were in the warehouse, containers, still on ships
& in the Indonesian plant?
The million-dollar questions are??????
Were these bears destroyed? Were the ships turned back because
the bears were recalled? How many bears were actually manufactured
before being recalled and during the recall stage?
Please bear in mind that all of this is speculation but there
obviously are enough questions here to raise a few eyebrows and
cast shadow of doubt as to how many of these bears actually were
manufactured and released.
The bottom line is we will NEVER know!
Although it is quite obvious that this bear is NOT considered
mass marketed because of its recall it could be possible that
there are more than anyone knows or is willing to admit.
Would I consider this bear RARE? Yes, if you can obtain a real
sewn on patch Britannia I would consider it a rare bear. Not only
for its history but also because of its lack of history!
Ms. Janie
~*~**~*~~**~~*~*~**~*~*~~*~~*
I have asked ryebypost if they would be interested in making their own closing comments. The following was shared through e-mail
a. The confusion of this bear seems to have steamed from rumours and unjust comments made by others.
b. Rye By Post are probably the UK's longest serving online store.
c. Rye will very shortly be offering 3 purchasing options for the Sewn On Patch Britannia Bear Standard, Authenticated By Peggy or Authenticated by Becky, it will be the customers choice.
d. I would like to say many thanks to Ms.
Janie and Peggy Gallagher for their assistance in this matter.
e. It has always been our company policy to ensure customer satisfaction
at all costs.
We are very pleased that this sewn on patch Britannia scenario
has been resolved; we hope that everyone can now learn about the
patch Britannia and turn attentions to enjoying their collecting,
rather than being frightened by everything you hear or read.
Many thanks,
Vic Underwood
managing Director
Tel: 01797 367788
Fax: 01797 367799
International Tel: +44 1797 367788
Please read the original Sewn On Patch Britannia article at the following link - HERE