Vintage Bear Profiles #2: c.1908 Steiff, "Annie"

Annie is a rather adorable 9.5" Steiff bear, dating to around 1908. She has pretty good mohair coverage for a lady of almost 100 years old! Sadly she lost her Steiff button many years ago, but even worse than that, she lost her right arm as well! I don't know how this came to be, seeing as she was in this condition when she came to live with me. I imagine it might have been the case that she was carried around by that arm in her younger days, when she was most likely a child's toy. This could have caused a lot of damage to the arm and it may have been too difficult to repair, hence the "amputation". Of course there could be a whole range of reasons for her arm being removed, and no amount of speculation will yield any definitive answers!

Little Annie is a cheery little soul despite having lost her arm. She doesn't seem to mind one bit, but then she is happy with the company she keeps; Annie and Fritz are always together, you see.







Annie's mohair is in good condition and she has good coverage, as I mentioned above. She retains her original nose stitching and original boot button eyes. She has, however, lost her mouth stitching. Despite this, she still looks like a happy little girl to me!

Here Annie is pictured wearing a shawl that was hand-knitted for her myself, and some "precious pearls" (!) around her neck (she likes a bit of glamour!)

Vintage Bear Profiles #1: c.1915 Steiff, "Fritz"

Fritz is a c.1915 cinnamon Steiff bear, measuring approximately 13" tall. He still retains the all-important button in ear, a trademark patented by Steiff in 1904. Fritz, as you can see from the photos, is in far from mint condition! He is missing a substantial amount of his cinnamon mohair and he has areas of damage to his muzzle area and his paw pads, some of which have been repaired rather poorly. He also has a few holes in his mohair. It is well known that vintage cinnamon bears don't tend to survive that well; this is due to the fact that the dye used to create the cinnamon colour weakened the mohair significantly. Cinnamon bears in good condition are hard to come by, and command high prices when they do show up. Fritz has obviously been very well loved over the years. He came with some written provenance from his previous owner, which details a rather sad story about his past.

I intend to have Fritz restored in the not-so-distant future, so as to preserve as much of him as possible. His nose damage stands out at the moment because at some point in the past he has had some rather obvious 'repairs' - if you can call them that! I think he will be much happier if these repairs are done more sensitively, so as not to be a focal point!

I do think Fritz is a character - despite all his 'flaws' he looks like a happy bear, and given his history he's done well to keep his 'chin up'.

I have dressed Fritz in some knitted clothes I bought for him because of him being so fragile. The clothes should help to protect him from any further damage and keep him warm! He also wears some baby booties to protect his fragile paw pads which would otherwise possibly leak stuffing (these booties were actually made for low birth weight babies, but they fit his large feet rather well!)



Fritz is a charming old Steiff - considering he's over 90 years old, he's doing pretty well really!

Bear Profiles #3: Other artist bears

The above picture is of one of my many other artist bears. He was made by Tacha of Bearly Treasures, as far back as 2002 I believe. However I acquired him fairly recently - he'd been in my local teddy bear shop for quite some time and I took pity on him! He's made in a traditional style with large feet and paws, long limbs, a protruding snout and a slight hump on his back. He's fairly small - he measures just over 7" tall when standing. He has lovely long sparse mohair which is a rich blond/gold colour and he is mainly soft-filled but has steel shot / pellets in his tummy. He's quite easy to pose because of this and he is quite a little character!

I have been unable to find the artist online, so I can only assume she is either no longer making bears or just hasn't set up a website yet! This seems to be the case with a lot of the lesser-known artists, although I have noticed a lot of them now sell their creations on eBay (and probably other internet auction sites as well). If you want to search for artist teddy bears you'll find quite a few if you search using the term OOAK - meaning one of a kind! Many budding artists have low starting prices for their bears (and other animals they make) so these auctions can be a good way to build your collection without spending a massive amount of money!

I will be profiling some of my other artist bears at a later date, because I don't have them all at my house and am therefore unable to photograph them all at the moment; some are with my parents due to space constraints etc. At this rate I'm going to have to buy a 5 bedroom house to comfortably house all of my bears. Yikes! :D

Bear Profiles #2: Bears of Grace by Jo Vernalls

The two bears pictured above are Bears of Grace, by Jo Vernalls. The boy bear is from the Out of the Attic Hero Collection, and he is dressed in the style of a Chelsea Pensioner. The girl bear is also from the Out of the Attic Collection, but I am unsure of her name! I just call her Gracie. She might be from the Posh Collection, as her dress is particularly stunning!

These bears are made to look old - the mohair is distressed, they have bald patches in places, they have 'repairs' and their claw stitching is loose in parts. This adds to the appeal of the bears for collectors such as myself, because I generally prefer old bears to new ones (or at least traditional style bears as opposed to modern style ones!)

The attention to detail with Jo Vernalls' bears is amazing, even down to the clothes the bears are dressed in.

I have been unable to find a website for Bears of Grace but an Google search will turn up lots of the bears for sale in teddy bear shops and on internet auction sites. They seem to be very popular bears with collectors, and it's not difficult to see why!

Bear profiles #1: Humble Crumble bears by Victoria Allum

The two bears pictured above are both Humble Crumble bears, made by Victoria Allum in the UK. As you can see, the bears are of a very traditional style with long limbs, humps on their backs and long snouts. These bears are absolutely adorable, the amount of work that goes into producing each bear is amazing. The attention to detail is fantastic - their noses are waxed, they have hand painted features to give them an 'aged' look and their facial expressions are beautiful. The mohair used to make these bears is of excellent quality, and they are filled with soft polyester fibre and weighted with steel shot which gives them a lovely quality feel.

The larger bear, Elliot, was made for me as a commission in August 2006. He is about 17" tall and made of gorgeously soft blond mohair. He has an old key on a ribbon around his neck. His neck is wobble-jointed which allows for many different 'poses' - he looks extremely handsome and appealing!

The smaller bear, Nettie, was again a commissioned bear - a little sister for Elliot! She is about 12" tall and is made of slightly darker mohair which is quite curly. She is dressed in an antique doll's dress, which fits her perfectly. Again, her neck is wobble jointed. I think you'll agree they look adorable together!

Visit the Humble Crumble website for further information on the wonderful bears Vicky produces :)

Collecting teddy bears!

Collecting teddy bears has been a lifelong passion for me. My father bought me my first teddy when I was 3 weeks old, as a gift for my first Christmas. The bear was named Joshua by my parents and he can be accredited with starting my teddy bear collection!

Over the years I have acquired many, many gorgeous collectors' bears made by well-known and respected manufacturers and also by some lesser-known teddy bear artists. I don't just collect one type of bear; I have quite a diverse collection. However, the majority of my bears are by Steiff, which is the most well known teddy bear company in the world. I am fortunate enough to have acquired some very early Steiff bears, dating from c.1906, c.1907, c.1908 and c.1915 (with provenance). In addition to these vintage bears I have also bought some English vintage bears, one c.1930s by Chad Valley and another c.1950s, possibly by Pedigree. My preference is for very early teddies, pre-1920, but these are becoming increasingly difficult to come by at reasonable prices!

Obviously the vast majority of my collection consists of modern bears. I have a few Dean's bears, a few miniature bears by Deb Canham, some Hermann miniatures, some Merrythought bears (Joshua is one!) and I have lots of modern Steiff bears. I also have a number of artist bears, including some by Bears of Grace, two commissioned Humble Crumble bears by Victoria Allum and some others by various artists that either didn't make it big or just aren't around anymore!

I find that it's not necessarily who made a bear that makes it attractive as a potential purchase - it's the bear's face and character that matter. If a bear does not 'speak' to me or pull on my heart-strings, I can't buy it. This is a good thing, because with any collection there is absolutely no point in collecting something you don't like. Yes, with teddy bears (more-so the vintage ones) you are likely to see an increase in its value over the years, but the market can go both ways so you are best off buying bears you like so that if they don't gain value, or even if they lose value, you won't be too disappointed. I think of my bears as being an investment but don't buy them with the intention of selling them. This might not make sense, but what I mean is that I buy them knowing I could sell them if I needed to - and I hope that I won't have to!

As far as vintage bears go, the ones that fetch the highest prices tend to be those that are in fantastic condition (if you find one in original condition which still has its manufacturer's label, it will be worth a lot!) However, if a bear is rare, it will fetch a high price even if it's not in mint condition. The first mega-expensive Steiff bear sold at auction was a red one named Alfonzo, which belonged to the Russian princess Xenia. Alfonzo, c.1908, is the only known surviving red bear of a batch consisting of 12 red and 12 blue bears. His history (provenance) also played a part in the price he sold for (£12,500 in 1989).
Since then, there have been many teddies sold for record-breaking prices. The most expensive was sold for £110,000 in 1994. Yes, you read that correctly. This is an exception to the rule, however - no other teddy bear has sold for more in the 13 years since that auction. It does show, however that vintage teddy bears have become exceptionally sought after. The famous auction house, Christies, holds two sales a year devoted to teddy bears. While some absolutely amazing mint-condition teddies always turn up at these auctions, and fetch very high prices, there will always be some well-loved old bears for sale - it's possible to get a bargain!

The wonderful thing about collecting teddy bears is that you can have lots of fun finding appropriate accessories and clothing for them. Some collectors prefer not to dress their bears, but in the case of vintage bears which may be rather fragile, it is often necessary to protect the bear from any further damage. If vintage bears are dressed in outfits reflecting their age they can look very fetching. For larger bears, vintage childrens' clothing - for example christening gowns - can look really effective. It is all down to personal choice, however. Each collector has their own ideas about how to display their bears!

If space is a problem, it can be nice to collect miniature bears. These are often (but not always!) cheaper than larger bears. I have noticed that the tiny "soldier" bears, made by Farnell, seem to be enjoying rising popularity at the moment. They were made in blond mohair as well as the patriotic colours of red, white and blue and were often given to soldiers going to war (WW1) as mascots. They are usually 3.5" tall, so a collection of bears like this wouldn't take up a lot of space! I personally think it's nice to have bears of varying sizes as they look lovely when they're displayed together - a large bear can have a few smaller bears sitting on and around him.

In addition to collecting bears, I've made a few myself. This is something I really enjoy doing and I'm hoping to continue this hobby and expand it. A wrist injury has prevented me from pursuing this for the past few months but I fully intend to resume my bear making in the next couple of weeks!

In future posts I'll be writing about the bears in my collection in more detail and adding some photos of them. I'll also write about a teddy bear fair I visited recently. I intend to relay news from the teddy bear world and keep you up to date with my personal collection, which is rapidly expanding (much to the groans of my husband!)

Feel free to make any comments you may have about my bears and anything bear-related! I'm always happy to give advice when I can so if you need any tips please just ask :)