Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Well the dear chap is here now,
originally white, he is stuffed with wood wool, joined hard limbs,
short arms, slightly curved inwards hands/paws, no claws
round feet/paws...no claws...
head & body are not jointed, which is something I have seen in smaller bears, but not one this size,
he has a long shaved muzzle, plastic nose, felt law pads a broad face.
The sash is quite loosely attached from arm pit to leg joint. eyes are plastic.

Thanks guys! he'll be a sweet addition to my hug ! I thought he must be some sort of souviner bear, I'll know more when he arrives I'm sure... I'd only seen the tiny ones previously, which do crop up ocassionally, I'll check him out and get some more pics when he arrives, oh i dont mind him being a bit grubby as its part of his history! but I have indeed cl,eaned up the odd bear & will decide once hes here!.... I never judge a bear by his plastic nose (I remember my mum buying those when they first were obtainable to her and she replaced all my bears noses with them!) but I do think in his case its probably right for his approximate age...I thought he looked vaguely 60's.
xxx

Hi there can any one help me id this poor old Berlin Bear ? Hes an ebay buy and is approx 40cm and filthy, which is about all I know about him! ...he didnt cost much but I would love to find out what I can about him, he looks abt 1960's to me, any ideas anyone? ...love to hear from you :¬)

Hehe Thomas I must search and see if chad valley did indeed make a bear who opened and closed his mouth via such levers! ...sometimes a nudge in the right direction is all it takes!.... of course once he has arrived and is settled in and ready for his close up, I shall take more photo's myself...all my bears have their portrait photo taken !
Angela

thank you both for the intel!
US bears , you are quite right that he will suggest all when he gets here!... I wouldn't seek to undertake any repairing unless necessary, for the good of his health!...all my bears have lived long lives, with various owners and now in their retirement do not have to fear going under the needle for the sake of 'cosmetic' purposes!...they are free to be the bear they are!

Thank you Thomas for your suggestion too!... it is difficult to tell really!... the main extent of my knowledge is what I have learned as each bear has come along!... I did however buy  Pauline cockrills encyclopedia (which seems to be favoured by all) and I looked through that and two other books about bears, but really didnt find a likeness anywhere!...I shall look again at the chad valley bears!

for some reason I am fascinated by the open bears with the bold red mouths!...finding one that used be movable is amazing!...
Angela

Hello everyone!

I hope you will forgive me for posting this also on another 'bear board' but I would love to hear what you think of  my newest bear, who I think is quite an intruiging chap!...and hopefully, given the description someone may help me put a name to him!...as usual, he is one of the many who have suffered of the years of either being 'very well loved' or terribly neglected and uncared for...the like of whom I especially enjoy adopting.

I have just bought him off of ebay in the uk this evening...I live in London... he was a little more expensive than I would generally pay, but he looked like he 'needed me' so very much and I had watched him all week, winning him in the last ten seconds with out any competetion at all!... therefore as far as I am concerned he was destined to be mine!!!! I think the only other bear I have ever been so 'stressed' out bidding on was my 'Hans' bear...who is in another thread on this web site!

Back to my new boy, he is about 20" tall, and according to the listing had been given to the sellers mother as a child about 60 years ago, making him circa 1940's...though I do appreciate sometimes sellers do embelish their listings a little, I have no reason to doubt this!

As you can see, he was originally golden in colour and has a red felt mouth, the listing says

'he is fully jointed, his mouth used to move with the aid of wooden pinchers on the back of his head'.

On to the pictures,

Does he ring a bell with anyone?...he shall be loved regardless of course!

Angela xxx

I shall now go and look at the thread about 'The hugglets' bear festival last month as it was the first such thing I have been too and thought it was fantastic!

Also Pete is one of the only ones I have seen with the contrasting muzzle fur used as the inner ear. he has the turned down paws as well.

Here is my little Zotty called oscar, who I think could be a Fechter bear he is 11" tall, has a red felt tongue and is extremely solidly stuffed!

...and also, introducing Pete the bear, I have no ideas on him at all, if you look at the set of his mouth it is quite different to the more well known zotty makers, perhaps a clue of origin to someone out there in bear land! he has frosted tipped fur and his eyes are glass and painted on the back with an odd shade of brown (not the amber we usually find)...he seems stuffed part wood wool and part something softer, he has a blue piece of thread in his chest where a tag may have been....he is 15 inches tall & probably more modern than the others, he has broad hips and large steiff style feet, but I doubt he is one of those as doesnt have the peach bib. I hope someone has a clue because I am also awaiting his adopted brother who is smaller and mohair but has that same odd set mouth!

I would really love to read the artical too clarebear!

Hello everyone!
Well I'm pleased to say that although he has lost the majority of his fur, the fabric is actually seems very strong and not disintegrating as you may think, I cant find any evidence of insects & I have had a good look in his stuffing!

I'm waiting for some suitable fabric at the moment to strengthen the fabric behind the metal discs, I don't want to make a shoddy repair on him for the sake of haste, as tempting as it is to just want to get him in one piece!...I will post pictures when i do though!!

I'm really intrigued to see the Alpha Farnell now & will keep looking around to!

I've bought a couple of 'bear encyclopedias' now, one arrived so far, so hopefully I wont have to keep pestering you guys every time I find a new bear! (which seems to be ever more increasing!)

I dont think he is home made, as i said, his discs are very heavy aluminimum... you cant tell from the pics but he has that early mouse-like look to him, he has a pointy turned up nose... i will leave hi eyes as is, stitched, they may not be authentic but they were obviously there prior to being covered. the covered fur was hand stitched round him, the original bear has been machined

I would agree!
its a nice thought too!

He looks so sad in those pictures doesnt he... He's currently awaiting some surgery including a restitched nose!... I will post another photo of him when he's feeling more up to it!

Hi sorry for not returning sooner I should have 'watched' this thread!
I have the pics to show you!

you've all heard of a 'wolf dressed in sheeps clothing' right?...well I have an odd tale of a bear dressed in...erm...bears clothing!

As some of you know I was awaiting a parcel from ebay containg two badly photographed bears, one a pedigree white bear, and a more intruiging dark brown bear, unlabelled, joints stitched up, button eyes ...I was actually more interested in the Dark brown bear, as he had button eyes and was jointed, proffered to be from the 40's or 50's, in that vague ebay-esque way so common!

Well, they arrived today, the first thing I noticed was that around the tops of the leg joints, there seemed to be protruding some light colour mohair (blondish)...I checked, it wasnt but stuffing, but I thought no more of it, he was sweet enough, a bit oddly shaped, in his tummy was a defunct squeaker protruding out, which I decided to I would fix later.

When later came I thought I would pop open a convienant side or tummy seam ad either sink the seaker further inside or failing that, remove it....how ever there was no back, side or tummy seam....but, along near the bottom of the bear near the top of his legs, there was a very odd seam that ran horizontally across.... I unpicked it way to easily and suddenly realised that this dark brown facade was hiding something EVEN more interesting!

I called my partner over and we both stared in amazement as I began carefully unpicking more and more of the dark fur, the leg skins came off like a pair of boots revealing a very bald blond bear leg!....same with the arms, the body !

Gradually one after the other ears appeared, then the back of the head. The finally uwrapping was a bit like in the films when someone is taking the bandage off of someone who has had plastic surgery, an exciting moment of unveiling a new face for the first time! At last dear little sewn on black eyes on top of some brown stitching peeped back at us!

I shall post pics soon as I was so excited that I took pics a long the way...it really was one of those 'kodak moments!'

Anyway, on to describe him!...There is hardly any of his fur left, but he was a beige-ish colour.

His stuffing is wood wool, which has been topped up at some point with what looks like cotton waste in his body & scraps of odd bits of fabric in his arms.

He has had three sets of paw pads, the original are very pale blue faded brushed cotton pads.

No signs of any claws

Sewn woollen eyes (poss not original)

he has back and tummy seam, was hand closed when finished at back.

He has very long arms, down to his knees, they are tapered to pointy hands that point slightly upwards.

He has very fat chunky legs, slightly pointed feet....an interesting point is he has teardrop shape paw pads, with the point to the front.

His shape of head is almost mouselike, he has quite large ears that stand well, they are set into the seam across his head AND the external edge of ear is set in to the face seam.

The ears are close together

The face seams are wide apart. there are irregular seams in the back of his head and only one side of his head has a side seam.

He has a high, humped back.

The squeak box had a very strong spring in it and appeared to be made from wood and a kind of waxed paper.

arm and head discs are heavey alluminimum.

the nose stitching had been gone over so many times it was imposible to find which was the original, upon taking that off we were able to find a small patch of fur under all the stitching condusive with him having a very small nose on the end of his snout.

We'll be giving all his joints some attention, adding a tad more stuffing and a new nose.

Do any of his features sound specific to any age/type of bear????...if anyone has any ideas please share!

I am so delighted with this unique little fellow & had to tell you all !....he was just happy to be himself once more, he said

' It was very hot in there!...I never thought I was ever coming out!'

I think I have solved the Piggerlet bear mystery, the likeness is uncanny to this Lefray English bear!


Lefray

Lefray produced good quality mohair bears and plush toys during the 1950s and 60s. Their lovely, expressive faces are enhanced by their, typically British, big floppy ears. They were founded in 1958 in London but moved to St Albans in 1960 and to Gwent, Wales in 1969.   Although still going modern production focuses on modern 'child friendly soft toys.

So thank you for all who helped me with him!
Angie

I found a really good time line page, its at tp://www.luckybears.com/encyclopaedia_pedigree.asp

Hehe!... BUT after 1966 they started to label their bears 'made in england' again as they shifted to cantonbury in kent!....lol how am i doing!... I spent a long night doing lots of online reading!

Hi everyone, nice to meet you Daphne, I found out quite a bit about Fetcher bears & their history on this site,
I think most of their bears were of the open mouth variety! as it is the closed mouth bears of theirs that are rare.
http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:S8 … en&ct=clnk

Thank you again for your info Becky, old Monty does seem consistant with some of the other polish bears I have come across online, I have posted my little friends on another forum too, hopefully the more their out there, the more chance there is that someone will recognise something about them!

I currently am awaiting the new little one I initially posted here about, he has been sent out today!

I also bought two more bears from ebay yesterday, more pot luck than anything and I won them for 99p!
One is a white un joinnted Pedigree labeled 'made in England' the other is a bit of a mystery, but sounded like he needs a bit of attention,

Terrible picture I know...the listing reads
Two old teddies for sale.

Labelled PEDIGREE England cream plush fur teddy, 1950s. He has a soft filled upright unjointed body, blue plastic eyes and black stitched nose. 31cm tall and in  very good condition.
Chocolate coloured plush fur teddy,1940s ? Sweet face with black metal button eyes and stiched nose. Jointed body but some of the jointed are stitched up ? He is filled with straw or wood wool and as a squeaker in his chest but this isn't working. No manufacturers labels. Height 33cm and has been abit more cuddled !
...I dont always believe all I read, the cream bear may go up for resale as he looks a bit modern to me and not really my thing, though I will reserve judgment on him!....it was the brown bear with metal eyes that caught my attention, he sure sounds interesting & unusual with his blue looking paws! I'll take some pics of them when they arrive!

I look forward to hearing any other thoughts on my bears!

I've learned so much today too! It would seem to be the 'style' of bear, I'm glad people have been kind enough to clear some things up! ...  I have learned something from you as well regarding the Zotty mohair !

After a lot of reading there were bears with open mouths called 'feed me' bears....any info on these anyone?... I am going to look into these they may have something to do with Fred and Fritz!
 

Hi becky, thanks so much for the help ...JJ is very hard to photograph, I dont think his nose has been replaced, I am just taking osme extra pics to show you! He's my 2nd biggest bear at 21 inches tall...his snout is a velvety darker brown than the rest of him, his fur is very coarse,,he has a growler that works....when he feels ike it!...he has always had two odd eyes since i had him!

I was begining to wonder if Monty was polish!...his feet pads are the reverse of his fur i believe, as are bailey's and little titch's....
Piggerlett bear, is stuffed with lots of very odd reminants and off cuts, I know this because when I got him , he had a non functioning growler which seemed to be ready to poke through his tummy, so I opened a side seam and took it out, I replaced the gap with some more stuffing, I didnt replace any of his stuffing, just replaced where the box came out... his head is wood wool packed... I dont know if he has had his nose redone, it looks like its always been that way though it is hard to tell !....he's very squidgey!

I'm really impressed with what you have told me, you do know your bears!

heres also ann updated hans pic too... I think his shape very distinctive!

maybe you can tell more from these? ...he is 19" tall, more than I thought!...doesnt he melt your heart looking in to the camera like that!
I have to say I still havent come across much that would seem to match fritz and fred with their bright red mouths!

I realy appreciate you taking the time to be so helpful!
Angela

Not to worry at all! as you can see I have updated with lots of pics! greatful for any intel at all really! I will have to take a nice group pic of them all, Freds away with my partner at the moment and will return on Thursday!

I hope the pics have come out alright, I'm looking at a lot of pages online trying to see if I can sort any info for myself!

Thankyou and Becky for all your interesting info and thoughts!

I just took some more pictures of my other bears there is one especially that I would love to know about , I call him 'Gruff' he is a blue/grey colour, has larger eyes and has just come out of moth balls a few weeks ago, I bought him at a second hand market in camden london, when i was 14, 1985. Gruff is about 17" tall and growls deeply....the last lot of picsi put up look huge, i hope you can see these better.....


Bailey has been with me all my life he belonged to my brother who had him in the 1950's, I dont know if he was new then!...he is unusual in that he has blue glass eyes he is about 12" tall and has a humped back & wood wool stuffing

Little titch was rescued at a car boot sale about 2 years ago, he has grey glass eyes, though they dont show up very well here! he's only about 9" and stuffed with wood wool also has humped back.

This is Monty he has been with me about 4 weeks, I am waiting for suitable fabric to make him ears, he is a massive 24" tall and heavey as he's stuffed with wood wool, he has a humped back, he's fully jointed & squeaks when tipped backwards...its a funny squeak as he looks like he should have a far deeper growl, like gruff!

I would be glad of any information anyone can provide as to maker or age...and NONE of them are for sale!!!

Here is my Hermann Zotty, Alfie, in playful pose, he's 11" tall and was bought from the same seller on ebay that I got Hans and Fred from, I love that I have been able to keep their little family together, even if I had to rename them, even though I got Alfie about 9 months after!

Hi there , thank you here are a couple more of my bears !


Hans had to have an arm made for him, he only had one when I rescued him...his joints are different, they were on rods and hooked through the one arm he had when I got him, my friend made a disc and I made the arm

They are all special to me and I dont know much about any of them all the ones shown apart from piggerlett bear, have wood wool stuffing
any info would be great!