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Teddy Bear
Articulated arms,
legs and head (5 joints)
Height: 65cm
An old Teddy Bear with no obvious labels or tags. Looks very old, believed to be antique. Bear has articulated arms, legs and head (5 joints), which are in good order. There is some flexibility in the arm joint (see photo) but quite secure. The bear is filled with straw and solid/firm to the touch. The front of ears were damaged and repaired with new red material. The lower arms, from below elbows were missing due to excessive wear/damage etc and restored (diy) with similar coloured material and padded with polyester stuffing.
Bear is a clean animal with no smoke or other odd smells. Although he has been through the wars he does not have any bald patches. If you want other specific photos of the bear let me know.
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If you can give me any further information about this bear (maker etc) I’d appreciate it.
About Teddy Bears (general)
A teddy bear is a soft toy in the form of a bear. There is some dispute as to who came up with the first Teddy Bear.
The name ‘Teddy Bear’ is connected with former US President, Theodore Roosevelt (18581919). On a 1902 bear-hunting trip in Mississippi, Roosevelt was offered a stunned, lassoed bear to shoot but he refused. This was then depicted in a cartoon in the Washington Post, which inspired Russian immigrant toy maker Morris Michtom to create a bear that he put in his toy shop window in Brooklyn, calling it ‘Teddy’s Bear’. The US bear appeared towards the end of November 1902.
Richard Steiff registered his teddy bear design in July 1903. There is evidence of a sample being sent over to the US late 1902/early 1903, and this would have taken a while to design and make it for registration, so the timing is very tight, possibly even simultaneous.
Before the bear, children were playing with porcelain dolls, soldiers, tin toys. They were hard and cold and Steiff wanted to give children a companion that they could hold. Steiff’s first bear was called 55-PB. The 55 stood for its height, P stood for plush and B for moveable.
Steiff displayed the 55-PB at the Leipzig Toy Fair in spring 1903 but there was little interest. There was a story that Hermann Berg, a buyer for Borgfeldt in New York, spotted the bears as Steiff was packing up and ordered 3,000 bears – a massive order. Archives have copies of the orders, which were made, packed, and shipped from Germany to America. But the 3,000 bears never arrived in the USA, and it is believed that all were lost at sea. The idea of all those shipwrecked Teddy Bears is a matter of great concern to the children.
The teddy bear became an iconic children’s toy, celebrated in story, song, and film. Since the creation of the first teddy bears, which sought to imitate the form of real bear cubs, “teddies” have greatly varied in form, style, color, and material. They have become collector’s items, with older and rarer “teddies” appearing at public auctions. Teddy bears are among the most popular gifts for children and are often given to adults to signify love, congratulations, or sympathy. And they make a nice present at Christmas, too.
Teddy bear auctions
Sales of teddy bears remain strong, these days, according to Hugo Marsh from Special Auction Services. The heyday of teddy bear auctions was in the 1990s when 1,500 people went to Christie’s bear auctions. As the market levelled off, the quality handmade bears have held value best.
Top makers include Steiff, Hermann, Martin and Bing. Merrythought is Britain’s last surviving teddy bear factory, but there are some smaller operations around too.
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