Property Malaysia

by JanetandPhil

Steiff Teddy Bears

Writing an article on Steiff Teddy Bears is probably one of the hardest articles to write on Teddy Bears, the reason?  There is just so much to cover.  The history, the family, the bears themselves, how they are made, etc. it goes on and on.  You could write books on this subject rather than articles.

Truth is, whether you love and collect Teddy Bears or not, there are not many people on the planet, especially in the Western World, who have not heard of the magic words “Steiff Teddy Bears.”   I think it is the famous “Button-in-the-Ear” which most people know of, as, when you show them an Old Teddy Bear, one of the first things they say is, ‘’Does it have a Button in it’s ear?”   Steiff is certainly an international company.

Steiff began in 1877 in Germany, it’s founder being a very brave lady called Margarete Steiff, who was crippled with polio and confined to a wheelchair from a very early age.  She grew up to become a very experienced and dedicated seamstress,  despite the odds always being against her, employing lots of women from her local town who was desperately in need of employment due to the very hard times.  She started to make soft toys, using left-over felt pieces.  The company became so successful that she employed her nephews to help, one of these nephews being Richard Steiff.  Richard was put in charge of new designs and creating new ideas and products.  A very experienced artist, after studying art at college, Richard spent hours studying the animals at the local Stuttgart Zoo, where he would make lots of sketches of the animals, including the bears that lived there.

Richard saw that children needed a soft toy that they could take into their arms and cuddle, as, all the toys available at that time were hard, even the dolls of the time were made of very hard materials.  Some toys were made of wood and even metal, especially German toys.

Steiff made soft bears for children but these bears were on wheels and still could not be cuddled.  Steiff also made a set of skittles for children, using different animal characters and what Richard Steiff noticed was, children seemed to like the Bear Skittle most of all.  So, using the sketches he had done at the Zoo and using lots of imagination, Richard Steiff began to design a bear that children could hold in their arms, a comforter and friend.

The first bear was born in 1902 and was known as the 55 PB.  This bear had very primitive joints which were attached by string.  It has to be said that Richard’s Aunt, Margarete, really did not like the first bear that Richard produced but luckily, this only made him more determined to create a successful bear that she did like.

Richard Steiff presented his first Bear to the Spring Fair that was being held in Leipzig in 1903 and the initial reaction to the Steiff Bear it has to be said, was not very good.  Feeling very disappointed with this reaction, Richard began to pack his bears away when literally, out of the blue came a buyer from the New York Importer, George Borgfeldt & Co. who was at the fair looking for something that was just a little bit different.  He saw Richard’s bears and almost immediately placed a big order.  Luckily for Teddy Bear lovers everywhere that he came along or else, who knows, we probably would never have known of the Teddy Bear.

Richard carried on working on his bears, improving their jointing techniques and in 1904 the 35 PB Teddy Bear was born.  This Teddy Bear received great acclaim and by the end of that year, some 12,000 Teddy Bears had been sold.  In 1904, a smaller version of the Teddy Bear – the 28 PB – was also produced with newly patented rod-joints and then, in 1905, the very successful 35 PAB Teddy Bear was released onto the market.

By now, the Teddy Bear – as we know him – was becoming iconic in the toy market.  America especially loved him.

As I mentioned earlier, most people, when you mention the word Steiff think of a Teddy Bear with a button in his ear, well, this Button-in-the-Ear trademark was first patented by the Steiff Company in 1905, simply as an attempt to stop other manufacturers from copying their products, this was not very successful and many soft toy companies also put buttons in the ears of their bears, which Steiff had to stop and they did rather successfully.  The first Steiff label was actually made from cardboard, with an elephant (with an ‘S’ shaped trunk) on it – I will cover the reason why an elephant was used in a later article. 

The imprints on the metal Steiff button has changed over the years and to this day, it is still changing and so helps with the ageing of your Steiff Teddy Bear.  Again, I will go into this more in a later and more specialised article.

In 1908, cloth labels started to be used which were attached to the Steiff metal buttons, these labels carrying further printed details of the company and/or the product they were attached to, again making  dating the Steiff Teddy Bear more easy.  Again, I will talk more about these labels in a later article.

Margarete Steiff died in 1909, but her famous motto ‘’Only the best is good enough for our children” was certainly carried on by the Steiff Company who, today, still produce some of the finest Teddy Bears and Toys in the world and whose design and quality is second to none.

Steiff Teddy Bears are highly desired by Teddy Bear Lovers and Collectors the whole world over.  Prices for Old and Antique Steiff Teddy Bears are always at a premium and, certainly when you see how an Old Steiff Teddy Bear ages, it is not surprising why.

When Old and Rare Steiff Teddy Bears come to auction, they are always the Bears that hit the headlines in the media, making such big prices.  Take, for example, the famous Teddy Bears, Happy, Elliott and Teddy Girl, to name but a few who have hit the headlines, they are all Steiff Teddy Bears.

As Steiff Teddy Bears were originally made as a comforter for children, today they still make excellent companions for small children, especially as Steiff are so strict on the safety element.  Also, a Steiff Teddy Bear will simply last a lifetime, probably getting better and better with age.

by TunnelBug

Miniature Teddy Bears

As we are all more than aware, collecting Teddy Bears is extremely addictive and once you get the bug there really is no going back, you just collect more and more and more Teddy Bears, not accounting for the Teddy Bear items that you collect alongside them.

Collecting Teddy Bears is wonderful and I cannot think of anything better or more beautiful to collect but, it can be a real problem if space is tight.  There is an answer, however, and that is to collect Miniature Teddy Bears.  True, you cannot hug these Teddy Bears in the same way as their larger cousins, but there is no doubt that these little bears can be both charming and adorable.

These little Teddy Bears have a big plus on bigger Teddy Bears, for example, if you want to have a Teddy Bear with you always, for either a good luck mascot or as a companion, a little Teddy Bear will fit into your handbag (if you are a lady) or in a pocket (if you are a man).  No-one need ever know you are carrying a well loved friend, if you don’t want them to.

The earliest known miniature Teddy Bear was made by the famous German Teddy Bear Company, Steiff (inventors of the Teddy Bear), way back in 1905.  Many other manufacturers followed their lead, including another German firm call Schreyer & Co – who we now know as Schuco.  Miniature Schuco Teddy Bears, are probably the most adored and collected little Teddy Bears in the world.  They set the world on fire.  They are indeed well made, adorable and as full of character and charm as any Teddy Bear could possibly be.

I don’t have to explain in this article the connection between Theodore Roosevelt and the Teddy Bear I am sure.  Roosevelt was very quick to see the potential of the link between himself and the Teddy so, when he stood for re-election way back in 1904, his supporters were given commemorative campaign badges depicting, yes you’ve guessed it, the Teddy Bear.  This wonderful piece of Teddy Bear memorabilia, which was made by an unknown manufacturer, was the first occasion on which a Teddy Bear was used in this type of connection.  This commemorative Teddy dates back to 1904 and was made from metal wire on an armature, this was covered with chenille and he wore a red, white and blue ribbon.  Of course, this little Teddy Bear is very delicate and extremely susceptible to damage, hence these little Lapel Teddy Bears are very very difficult to find, especially in reasonable condition today.

A very old and very collectible little Teddy Bear is the Atomiser Bear and you could say he is one of the strangest ever of little Teddy Bears.  The Atomiser Bear looks a bit like Humpty Dumpty, comprising a flat round receptacle, which is filled with a favourite perfume through a small screw base.  Then, by squeezing the little bear’s rather wide body, a spray of perfume would come from a tube that squirts out of the little Teddy’s nose.  These extremely collectible of Miniature Teddy Bears was made around 1930.  He has a fixed head with stubby arms and his feet are attached directly onto his rotund body – he has no legs!   There are no records to say who made this miniature Teddy Bear, but it seems more than likely that Schuco was responsible.  He measures just 3 ¼ inches tall and he is very rare.  If you love unusual Teddy Bears, you really would love him.

Once again, looking at Schuco Miniature Teddy Bears, Heinrich Muller, the founding partner of Schuco (or Schreyer & Co.) had lots of imagination and this led to the lovely and highly collectible Schuco Piccolo range of Teddy Bears.  This wonderful little bear was popular with ladies of fashion and style as he made a perfume bottle from one of his little Teddy Bears.  In 1925, Muller applied for a patent on this little bear .  The little Teddy Bear was made in two sizes, 3 inches (7 ½ cms) tall and 5 inches (12 ½ cms) tall.  These beautiful little perfume bottle bears were made in a variety of colours and included the wonderful lavender colour.  However, the most popular colour was the golden bear.  This amazing little Teddy Bear was made in 1930 and bless him, he was fully jointed.  He is probably rated as the most desired of old miniature Teddy Bears for collectors.

During the last few decades, we have seen the rise of the Artist Teddy Bear.  Artist Bears seemed to begin in the United States in the 1970′s and their popularity was so great that by the late 1980′s Teddy Bear Artists had sprung up all over the world.  Miniature Teddy Bears seemed to become very popular with them, as they showed an unusual, certainly challenging and important part of the Teddy Bear Artists creations.  These little bears seemed to be made in every colour, style and material imaginable.  Some Teddy Bear Artists stopped making the larger Teddy Bear and concentrated solely on making one-off miniature bears.

A collection of charming miniature Teddy Bears can be exciting and as worthwhile to collect as bigger bears.  Once again, you can collect old or new miniature bears, or a mixture of both, just like their bigger Teddy Bear cousins.  As per larger bears, their colours can be equally stunning, perhaps even more so.

Most famous Teddy Bear makers produce miniature Teddy Bears, including Steiff and Merrythought and there are lots of old miniature Teddy Bears to collect from a whole host of makers, including the French Company Pintel.  Prices vary according to makers, condition, etc. just like bigger Teddy Bears. 

So, if you are short of space, don’t let it become a problem, you can still enjoy the wonderful world of Teddy Bear Collecting.