Sasha & Malia Obama Beanie Babies

Seems every member of this presidential family is destined to become a celebrity doll. First there was the Presidential Campaign Cabbage Patch Kid doll of then presidential candidate Barack Obama which was created and sold for charity and then there was the controversial Ty Beanie Babies in Ty's Girlz Collection of President Obama's daughters, Sasha and Malia.

Ty, Inc. claimed the name choice was random although the choice of the girl's names of Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia, seems pretty obvious to me. Michelle Obama was, of course, less than impressed at having her daughters made into dolls. Her spokeswoman said that they found it, "inappropriate to use young private citizens for marketing purposes."

Eventually, Ty offered to donate the proceeds from the sale of the dolls to charity but by then it was too late. The dolls had already suffered from the negative publicity and Ty retired them by changing the name of these dolls to Sweet Sydney and Marvelous Mariah. Since then, this second set has also been retired.

What does this mean to Ty Beanie Babie collectors everywhere? Well, Sydney and Mariah are widely available but the ones they really want are, of course, Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia. Demand does drive prices up and, in this case, a pair of the original dolls has recently sold for as much as $1,300.

If you are looking for a set of these dolls, I wish you good luck! This page will attempt to unite you with the originally named versions of these dolls although you can bet many of them are safe and sound on a shelf somewhere waiting to become more and more valuable as collector's items. Of note, even the second set named Sydney and Mariah, has already appreciated in value.
 

Picture by docealfajor.