BURGER AND BEANIES PUT JUICY PROFIT ON THE MENU; COLLECTING.

Byline: LORNE SPICER

A TWO-dollar promotion brought customers flocking to McDonald's restaurants in the US.

The Teenie Beanie Babies they bought when they ordered a special meal were a tasty investment. Sets are now selling for $500 ([pounds sterling]300).

The Teenie Beanies are small versions, exclusive to McDonald's, of Beanie Babies, bean-filled toy animals made by the Ty company in America.

Ty Beanie Babies have been stars of the collectibles scene for several years, and demand for discontinued Beanies is soaring in Britain after Financial Mail reported the craze in March.

Elaine Smith and her husband Kevin run Lemon Lainey Design Marketing, a company based in Slough, Berkshire, that specialises in the toys.

Elaine says: 'We now run the third most popular Beanie Baby Website in the world and cope with 10,000 emails a week. Interest keeps growing.' The most elusive Ty Beanie Baby is Peanut, the royal-blue elephant. It was made for only a month three years ago and sells for [pounds sterling]2,500-plus.

There may be a Peanut Beanie on show at the Collect it! fair at Newark & Nottinghamshire Showground on August 8 and 9. Fair manager Lucy Outhwaite says: 'Elaine Smith is coming to the fair as a dealer and is also bringing her collection of retired Beanie Babies. One dealer is hoping to bring Peanut.

'When Elaine attended a shop opening a few weeks ago, hundreds of collectors queued for five hours to see her.

'We have had enquiries about the fair from American and Canadian collectors, who are flying here with lists of the Beanies they want to buy.'

A Beanie Baby that is sold only in the UK, the Britannia Bear, has become a legend for its scarcity. In theory, retailers each receive six Britannia Bears, no matter how many other Beanie Babies they order.

Shop shelves are full of Ty Beanie Babies, but Britannia remains elusive.

Some collectors accuse shops of keeping Britannias from customers and selling them on the secondary market.

American collectors are desperate to buy Britannias.

Earlier this year US customs seized and destroyed stocks of the bear shipped from Europe to the US for resale. Britannia Bear is not licensed for sale in America.

Naturally, other companies have tried to cash in on the bean-filled toy craze. The most effective venture has been World Cup Beanies, launched by Disney Stores.

As part of a promotion for the football event, 3,000 Mickey Mouse and 2,000 Donald Duck Mini Bean Bag toys were marketed at [pounds sterling]7.99 each.

Both sold out instantly, not to football-mad Europeans but to Beanie collectors in the US, who are now paying up to [pounds sterling]250 each for them.

Disney Stores executive John Hob-son says: 'News got out over the Internet that these Mini Bean Bag toys were made in small numbers, and this increased demand.' Meanwhile, if the Beanie Baby craze falters, another waits in the wings - soft toys covered in plush, bigger and hairier than Beanies, but expected to fuel just as much demand.

* Elaine Smith's Website is: http:// www.lemonlaineydesign.com.

A Beanie Baby guide listing current and discontinued Beanies is available at [pounds sterling]3.99. Elaine also stocks Mary Beth's Beanie Baby World magazine, an American publication with a 2.6 million circulation, for [pounds sterling]3.50. Call 0800 146345.

The Collect it! fair is at the Newark & Nottinghamshire Showground, Newark, Nottinghamshire, on August 8 and 9, phone 01636 704555.