Woolie
Style #: 6011 & 6012
Designed by: Linda Harris
Woolie
Woolie Gold and Woolie Brown are both part of the original 12 attic treasures.
Seen below are Guthrie (guhth-ree), Woolie Gold, Woolie Brown, and Woolie Cinnamon from the collection of Linda Harris.
Woolie Gold was first issued with a red bow 1A “woolie” tush tag and Hong Kong hang tag.
Woolie Brown was first issued with a red bow 1A “woolie” tush tag that was cut off as do all four examples and Woolie Gold #6011 hang tag.
The Four Faces of Woolie Brown
By: Andrew Vurlumis
This post is to celebrate the Woolie Brown Attic Treasure – the rarest and most infamous style in the Attic Treasure line. Even if attic treasures are not your thing, know that a few of us in the hobby serve as historians and cartographers mapping out the whereabouts of the rarest corners of the Ty Hobby. While the Beanie Baby line may be the most famous, Attic Treasures were a parallel line filled with rare ribbon and clothing variations that made completing a set extremely challenging. Woolie Brown is a piece that captured the imagination of this author, and ignited an interest for the ultra rare.
The original 12 attic treasures, introduced in 1993, included the rare Woolie Gold, as well as his brother, Woolie Brown. Unfortunately, Woolie Brown never made it to production. But four “production prototypes” were displayed at the original show/fair where attics were first introduced – all with clipped tush tags (said to get in the way of display). The original designers confirmed only four Woolie Brown examples had been created. These four are separate from the “Woolie Brown” pictured in the original 1993 ty catalog, which was in fact the “Woolie Cinnamon” prototype – Ty darkened the fur for the catalog image.
The most avid attic treasure collectors hunted ardently for them. And finally, with intense hunting and diligence, after 20 years, all four examples of Woolie Brown have been identified. In order of their discovery:
Woolie #1: Top Left (group shot). Sal’s. Woolie Brown #1 ended up in the hands of Sally Grace – of Sal’s Attics. The piece was sold to her by an old ty employee/exec. The exec knew what they had. The piece was in a lot with other originals/prototype attic treasures. Sal secured the piece in 1999/early 2000. It had a creased 6011 Woolie Gold hang tag. The piece has since had a MWMT MQ 6012 hang tag (from a Whiskers/Woolie) attached, and graded MWMT by TBB. The piece now resides with a private Ty super collector.
Woolie #2: Bottom Right (group shot). TyRiffic Store/Ty Trade. This example made waves when it appeared on display at the Tyriffic store in 1999-2000. It had no hang or tush tag. The piece was later a capstone offering for the fledgling TyTrade auction site in August of 2000. The piece had been authenticated by Peggy G with a MWMT 6012 Woolie Brown hang tag. It sold to Michael Bean! Unfortunately, we have not heard from Michael in years, So Michael, if you’re out there, give us a holler!
Woolie #3: Top Right (group shot). Kathy’s. Woolie Brown #3 made its way to the co-owner of Sal’s Attics – Kathy Embleton via a Ty Executive – the one responsible for the TyTrade Woolie auction. The piece has no tush tag, and at the time, had a nonmint 6011 Woolie Gold hang tag. The piece has since been upgraded with a MWMT MQ 6012 Woolie Brown hang tag by TBB.
Woolie #4: Bottom Left (group shot). Linda’s. Woolie Brown #4 was discovered on 3/10/2022 in the collection of original Attic Treasure designer Linda Harris. Many in the hobby knew she had a small set of original prototypes, but her reveal of Woolie Brown was astounding! The piece has no tush tag and has a lightly creased 6011 Woolie Gold hang tag. It now resides in a super collector with Woolie Cinnamon (pictured)
Woolie Cinnamon was first issued with a red bow. Woolie cinnamon was the example used for the Ty catalog introducing Attic Treasures in 1993. He is labeled Woolie Brown and the image was adjusted to appear darker brown.
Woolie’s original prototype was the original design of Linda Harris. This example was handmade by Linda Harris and was named Guthrie (guhth-ree).
I can only assume Woolie Brown’s tag was lost in the factory with no Woolie Browns to pair them with. They remained there until Whiskers was released. Whiskers also shares the style number 6012. Initially whiskers was issued with its correct tag “Whiskers Style 6012”. As the earlier Whiskers were issued, they consumed the correct tag until a box of tags labeled #6012 containing Woolie Brown’s tags entered the assembly line and were paired with Whiskers creating this infamously difficult to acquire, Whiskers with Woolie Brown tag. Again, this is only what I can imagine, anything is possible. Possibly Ty himself wanted to create this lovely challenge since the Attic Treasure line was created with collectability in mind. The Woolie Brown that was later sold on Ty-trade was ultimately paired with a MINT Woolie Brown tag that it was intended for, and two other Woolie Browns have since been reunited with MINT Woolie Brown tags. The Challenge of acquiring a Woolie Brown and hunting down a MINT Woolie Brown tag which can only be found through finding this tag in the wild is perhaps one of the greatest challenges in collecting Ty.
Other Examples of Woolie showing his variable Constuction.
