DON’T Invite Her for Thanksgiving: The True Value of Gobbles the Turkey

The story of Gobbles the Turkey

The year is 1997.

While the world grapples with the confusion brought on by Batman & Robin and experiences one of the best years in video game history (FFVII, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, AND GoldenEye 007 were all released before the end of the year), a brand new Beanie Baby joined the ranks of beloved plushies.

Gobbles the Turkey.

Named for the titular turkey sound as well as her penchant for grubbing, Gobbles was quickly accepted as a fan favorite in some Beanie circles. ESPECIALLY around Thanksgiving. Debuting at a price of just $5 – like all Beanie Babies in the 90s (Source: History.com) – It was simple and cheap to make Gobbles the Turkey part of your family. 

These days, not so much. And the reason for that is kind of baffling. 

In the 26 years since Gobbles came on the scene, her valuation has skyrocketed. That’s fair, right? Some Beanies command prices in the tens of thousands of dollars, so why not Gobbles? Well, because there are certain factors that make those Beanies “worth” that price, and Gobbles doesn’t really meet any of them. If you saw a Gobbles the Turkey sell for $5,000 on eBay and started rubbing your hands together thinking about the tiny turkey you have in your grandma’s attic, you might want to read the rest of this article before thinking too hard about how you’re going to spend your windfall.

How many versions or Gobbles the Turkey are there?

In many ways, Gobbles the Turkey is not very special. However, since she only has a single variant, you could technically say that she’s one of a kind! 

That alone must surely be worth something, so let’s take a closer look at this treasured turkey:

Gobbles the Turkey

Gobbles was added to the Ty Beanie Baby lineup on 10/1/97 and was retired just short of a year and a half later on 3/31/99. She looks like a stereotypical turkey, with a brown coat, yellow beak, red-tipped wings, and white, red, and brown plumage with black button eyes. Oh, and the wattle. You GOTTA have the wattle. Gobbles has actually been produced with a few different kinds of wattles, but we’ll get to that a little later.

Since she debuted as a 4th gen Beanie, Gobbles came right out of the gate with her own birthday and poem!

Birthday: 10/27/96

Poem:

Gobbles the turkey loves to eat

Once a year she has a feast

I have a secret I’d like to divulge

If she eats too much her tummy will bulge!

The Beanie Baby poems added so much personality to the little plushies that we can’t believe there was a time when we had to live without them! How else would we have known about Gobbles’ propensity for overeating? To that, we can say, “Same girl, same”. Especially around the holidays.

Gobbles can be found with a 4th and 5th-gen hang tag, as well as a 5th or 6th-gen tush tag. Shockingly, her stuffing isn’t the food kind, but rather PVC or PE depending on when she was manufactured. Speaking of manufactured, there are Gobbles that were produced in China and some that were produced in Indonesia. 

While there is only one Gobbles the Turkey, it’s worth noting that she is associated with a few different sports promotions. The first was a hockey game between the St. Lois Blues and Nashville Predators on 11/24/98 (Source: BBPG), and the second was another hockey game a few days later between the Phoenix Coyotes and the New Jersey Devils on 11/26/98. (Source: BBPG)

How much is a Gobbles the Turkey Beanie Baby ACTUALLY worth?

Rarity – How many of a particular Beanie are in circulation? In the case of Gobbles, the answer is many. She was in production for just over a year, but you also have to take into consideration the Beanie Baby Timeline. Gobbles was being made during the height of Beany Baby madness, when Ty, inc. was making millions of them to satisfy the insane demand. Because of that, there are PLENTY of Gobbles to go around, and she’s therefore not very rare.

Age – How old is your Beanie? By that, we of course mean the date a Beanie was produced, not the birthday stamped on the hang tag. Gobbles has been around for 26 years, which would typically be a good thing in terms of value. Unfortunately, Gobbles’ lack of rarity outweighs this factor.

Materials – Beanie Baby collectors tend to prefer older or “more original” materials when shopping for Beanies. That means if you have a PE-stuffing Gobbles, it won’t fetch as much as a PVC-stuffing one unless you’re dealing with an amateur Beanie hunter. 

Condition – Like most collecting hobbies, condition is king. Nobody wants a ratty old Gobbles the Turkey when there are plenty of well-loved but also well-maintained ones out there on the market. Take care of your stuff, folks. It could pay dividends later on!

Note: like our article covering the 25 Most Valuable Beanie Babies, the following section will utilize information from Sell2BBNovelties.com and recent eBay.com auctions.

Let’s see how Gobbles the Turkey is doing in terms of value these days.

Gobbles the Turkey

Mint Condition – $0.50

This is the only listing Sell2BBNovelties has for Gobbles, and shouldn’t come as a surprise. Fifty cents is pretty much the standard offering for common Beanies, which is Sell2BBNovelties’ way of saying, “The only thing this Beanie Baby is good for is keeping you warm”. Whether that means lighting it on fire or snuggling with it will differ from person to person, but essentially Gobbles isn’t worth much.

Now, let’s see what nonsense the mad lads over on eBay are pulling.

Most Recent Sold Listing – “$4,500” (November 2nd, 2023)

Most Outrageous Listing – $40,000 (!!!!!!)

Highest Plausible Listing – $5

Oof… 

Ok, let’s talk about this. You might have noticed that our “Most Recent Sold Listing” value is in quotation marks. That was certainly not an accident, because I’m not so sure I can vouch for the validity of that sale. The account that listed it is a brand-new account with no feedback rating, and apparently it also relisted the item “or one just like it”. Hmm, seems fishy to me, especially knowing what we know about Gobbles. 

The absolutely brilliant researchers and Beanie Baby fanatics over at BeanieBabiesPriceGuide.com have also documented this phenomenon, and it seems that this isn’t such a rare occurrence. Especially when it comes to Gobbles. 

We can all agree that if Gobbles isn’t actually worth $4,500, then she’s DEFINITELY not worth $40,000. That’s either a typo or a really bad joke. While there are listings that range from $10-$15, the more reasonable Gobbles the Turkey listings are actually going to be in the under $10 range. Selling your Gobbles isn’t going to give you a down payment on a house anytime soon, if ever.

How do I know if my Gobbles the Turkey Beanie Baby is valuable?

We hate to break it to you, but the odds are unless your particular Gobbles the Turkey contains a piece of Ty Warner’s soul due to some kind of eldritch ritual, it’s just not going to be worth very much at all. She was included in a viral list of “most valuable Beanies”, and the lies spread like wildfire.

There is a laundry list of errors, changes, and differences across the available Gobbles the Turkey Beanies, but the point is still moot. She was produced in high quantities, so collectors looking for the most valuable Beanie Baby are better served looking elsewhere.

But hey, at least she’s still adorable!

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, you should check out our other Beanie Baby-centric articles, like the guides we created for Princess the Bear, Millennium the Bear, and Peace the Bear. At any rate, those Beanies are more likely to earn you some cash than poor old Gobbles!

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Mike Alexander

Mike is a video game enthusiast, a chronicler of the 90s, and a collector of many things. Born in the mid-90s, he was able to catch the wave of some of the best things the decade had to offer, like Power Rangers, Pokémon, Bagel Bites, the list goes on. Despite the amount of time that has passed, he still enjoys many of those things today! If he’s not writing or gaming, he’s probably wondering why Warriors of Virtue didn’t take off the same way Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles did.

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