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George Sep 15, 2005

Morning,

During a discussion with friends last night I suddenly remembered that as a child I had a teddy bear.

It's a shame that it took 42 years to recall that I once owned a teddy bear.

It was in the early to mid 1960's. The grade school I attended had a carnival every summer and one year I had won a stuffed panda bear. It had the white body and black arms and legs. It was about 24 -36 inches in lenght, if I remember correctly.

The nose and mouth were either plastic or vinyl and the mouth was opened slightly showing a bit of red tongue. The eyes were a clear plastic which encased black disks to represent the pupils and would move when you moved the bear.

I was wonderg if anybody ever seen anything similar or had owned one. I was also hoping beyond hope that maybe someone may have a picture of one that they could post.

I hope someone can help.

Thanks,

George

Bumpkin Bears Sep 15, 2005

Hi George, I can understand how special our childhood teds are - My brother had a special panda when he was little, but it does not sound the same as yours.  I have looked through my Teddy Bear Encyclopedia for pictures of pandas that sound like your description without any luck.  I had a search on Ebay and came up with lots of old antique pandas - including this one that has a plastic nose and mouth all as one - not sure if the eyes are the same as you are looking for -

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Old-Panda-T … dZViewItem

It may be a start for your hunt...

All the best with the search, let us know if you find another panda :)

Catherine

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorSep 15, 2005

George, my understanding is that writer and collector Pauline Cockrill is considered expert in the field of identifying old teds.  She's the author of THE TEDDY BEAR ENCYCLOPEDIA, among other bear-related titles. 

From us.dk.com:

Pauline Cockrill
Pauline Cockrill is the internationally recognised expert on the history of the teddy bear. She specialised in the field while a curator at the National Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green and has been a regular contributor to Teddy Bear Times, the UK's acclaimed collector's magazine. Both DK's The Ultimate Teddy Bear Book (1991) and The Teddy Bear Encyclopedia (1993) are considered the bibles of arctophily (bear collecting) and are used by collectors, dealers and shop owners worldwide. Pauline now lives in Alice Springs, central Australia, where she is a freelance writer and a museum curator but still finds time to co-operate a teddy bear hospital.

Maybe there's a way to find her on the web and ask her your question? 

Without digging them out to double check, I know that at least one of the US mags also has a section every month on identifying teddies.  They usually have a short paragraph that describes and ID's a photo someone has submitted.  You probably wouldn't end up getting your question PUBLISHED absent a photo for the readership to consume, but it is possible you could write or email one of those columnists with your question, and they could have a ready answer for you outside the scope of their article writing.  Too lazy to run and check now, but the domestic mags I subscribe to are TEDDY BEAR & FRIENDS and TEDDY BEAR REVIEW.  One, or both, have this monthly feature on IDing vintage bears.

Both editors are exceptionally helpful and friendly.  And both magazines have websites.  Additionally, TB&F has a forum similar to this one; perhaps it would be a good place to post your question, as the editor, Mindy Kinsey, is a regular visitor herself.  TB&F's forum is at:  http://www.teddybearandfriends.com/forum/

TEDDY BEAR REVIEW editor Trina Laube-Oltmann:  editor@teddybearreview.com
TEDDY BEAR & FRIENDS editor Mindy Kinsey:  tbfedit@comcast.net

Hope this helps.