What a cute little Teddy Bear! And my gosh, what a cute amount of money it sold for! First of all, let's establish the fact that there is a lot of Teddy Bear collectors out there. There even are several musea around the world, like this one in Naples (USA) or this one in Stratford-upon-Avon (UK), or the famous Izu Teddy Bear musuem in Japan, which among others is home to the famous Teddy Girl, a Steiff bear that sold for 110,000 British pounds (yes, you read that right) in 1994.
Now that we mentioned Steiff, you might have guessed that the Teddy on the right is indeed a Steiff bear. It is a rare center seam, white Teddy Bear dating to approximately 1906. It has a blank button in its ear. The center seam in the Teddy Bear's head makes it rare, since only 1 in 8 production bears had this center seam. The 'button in ear' is characteristic and trademark of all Steiff bears, and since the button was changed several times over the years, it allows for more or less accurate determination of the production year of the Teddy Bear.
Steiff is one of the big names in Teddy Bear history - if not the name. Steiff was founded in 1880 in Germany, but the company, under leadership of its founder Margarete Steiff, did not start producing Teddy Bears until 1902, when Steiff created the first Teddy Bear. During its 125-year existence, Steiff became one of the most popular manufacturers of Teddy Bears, with world-wide appeal. Many of Steiffs vintage toys and stuffed animals, as well as many of their modern-day limited editions, are highly desirable collectibles and collectors 'fight' over unique pieces. The most ever paid for an antique Steiff Teddy, was about $195,000 (yes, you read that right again) for the 1906 Steiff Teddy 'Happy', sold at auction during the 2002 Steiff Festival, a yearly recurring event for Steiff enthusiasts.
There is an ongoing debate about who created the Teddy Bear, however, since at about the same time that Steiff produced its first Teddy Bear (1902), a man named Morris Michtom was selling home-sewn Teddy Bears out of his shop in New York. He was so successful with this, that his part-time Teddy selling storefront was transformed into the Ideal Toy Company.
Teddy collecting has become more and more popular in recent years. As such, the value of the vintage teddy bear has increased significantly. If you're not sure what you Teddy bear might be worth, get an appraisal. Christie's even has a yearly auction for just Teddy Bears. There's Teddy Bear related sites all over the place, Google for 'Teddy Bear history', and you'll find a great deal of them. There's also a lot of books about Teddy Bears, their history and collecting them, many of which are available online.
Now that we mentioned Steiff, you might have guessed that the Teddy on the right is indeed a Steiff bear. It is a rare center seam, white Teddy Bear dating to approximately 1906. It has a blank button in its ear. The center seam in the Teddy Bear's head makes it rare, since only 1 in 8 production bears had this center seam. The 'button in ear' is characteristic and trademark of all Steiff bears, and since the button was changed several times over the years, it allows for more or less accurate determination of the production year of the Teddy Bear.
Steiff is one of the big names in Teddy Bear history - if not the name. Steiff was founded in 1880 in Germany, but the company, under leadership of its founder Margarete Steiff, did not start producing Teddy Bears until 1902, when Steiff created the first Teddy Bear. During its 125-year existence, Steiff became one of the most popular manufacturers of Teddy Bears, with world-wide appeal. Many of Steiffs vintage toys and stuffed animals, as well as many of their modern-day limited editions, are highly desirable collectibles and collectors 'fight' over unique pieces. The most ever paid for an antique Steiff Teddy, was about $195,000 (yes, you read that right again) for the 1906 Steiff Teddy 'Happy', sold at auction during the 2002 Steiff Festival, a yearly recurring event for Steiff enthusiasts.There is an ongoing debate about who created the Teddy Bear, however, since at about the same time that Steiff produced its first Teddy Bear (1902), a man named Morris Michtom was selling home-sewn Teddy Bears out of his shop in New York. He was so successful with this, that his part-time Teddy selling storefront was transformed into the Ideal Toy Company.
Teddy collecting has become more and more popular in recent years. As such, the value of the vintage teddy bear has increased significantly. If you're not sure what you Teddy bear might be worth, get an appraisal. Christie's even has a yearly auction for just Teddy Bears. There's Teddy Bear related sites all over the place, Google for 'Teddy Bear history', and you'll find a great deal of them. There's also a lot of books about Teddy Bears, their history and collecting them, many of which are available online.
8 comments:
Since we sell stuffed animals, I just had to stop and read what you had to say about the Steiff bear. Very interesting and informative!
I think the most we've ever gotten at auction for a stuffed toy was something around $150, but we only paid $.79 for it, so we were excited to get that much!
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That is one expensive bear, and I'm broke.
What a cool and interesting post. I had no idea there were that many specifics. Great post and neat site.
That is just insane I would rather out a down payment on a car...
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Just wanted to say nice blog. Hey look even though i agree there probley better use of money, theses people who buy theses silly things at thos prices have a lot of money to spare.
i wouldnt swap for the world!
Lets all sell our bears!
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