In September 1998 Enesco released the first rare bears. The idea was to make collecting a little more fun by having some of the released bears be a little different and 'more rare' than their non-rare counterparts. The first bears with rare versions were the "Summer Friends Figurines" Cole, Marty, Miranda, and Tanna. All rare bears have gold paint for the understamp, along with a gold "R" and a certificate in the box identifying the bear as rare.

The first rare bears have different color fur. The rare Cole has rust brown fur and a goose with yellow feet and bill. The rare Marty has grey fur and darker colored clothes. The rare Tanna has white fur with a brown outfit and the bears in her basket are different colors. The rare Miranda has chestnut brown fur and a white teddy. 1,000 rare Mirandas worldwide are also signed by Priscilla Hillman, their creator. Roughly 25% of the Summer Friends bears are rare. The non-rare versions of Cole, Marty, Miranda, and Tanna are limited edition pieces.

Crystal, the next rare bear, was released in spring 1999 as part of the second set of carousel bears. The rare version of Crystal has a unicorn with a different stance, gold painted wings hooves and horn, and Australian crystals as decoration. The rare Crystal bear has gold wings instead of white wings and Australian crystals adorning her head. Some rare Crystals have an error understamp where the understamp was stamped in regular brown ink instead of the gold ink. This factory crafting error was later corrected.

The next batch of rare bears came out at the end of 1999 as part of the Professional Business series. The policeman Kent was released in rare and non-rare form. The rare version of Kent holds a green GO sign, while the non-rare version holds a red STOP sign. The painter Anthony was a surprise rare bear that was not pre-announced. The rare version of Anthony has gold paint.

[source: Mary T's Attic, www1.iwvisp.com/flatman/ct.html]