One of the most linked to pages at the moment is of a guy on ebay, thedrunkensailor, who sold a box full of Beanie Babies. His story was that his ex-wife had left them behind when she moved out, that he knew nothing about them, and that he didn't care if he only got $10 for them; the winning bid was $860. Since the original auction he's gone on to sell 'Buy the Drunken Sailor a Frost Mug' certificates of appreciation, and even has his own website.

To be fair to the guy he never claimed that the Beanie Babies were all originals, but some people were having none of it and reported him to ebay and The Trader List. Their complaints were dismissed, but it seems they might have been right after all.

In an interview with thedrunkensailor, Florida news site Sun-Sentinel is reporting that the ex-wife story was made up after all. He is actually 32 year old, happily married, Steve Kay. His wife and him had picked up the Beanie Babies over a number of years and found them when they were packing to move house. So, not quite the honest bloke he's made himself out to be then.

It's unfair to say that he is a crook who was deliberately set out to con people, but probably as equally unfair for him to say that he had no idea of their value - the guy is a regular ebay user. Whichever, it was a pretty clever way to sell a box of stuffed toys.