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wubbiebear Dec 18, 2011

When I was visiting Lenora, known as lovenshire here, she gave me the most gorgious antique teddy bear that she named Johan.  He's 12 inches tall.  His body is stuffed with woodwool and I think his head probably originally was, too, but someone did surgery on him and gave him a new nose and new plastic eyeballs.  I assume they were probably originally glass.  The head is now stuffed firm, but it feels like polyfill, just packed hard in there.  The thing that fascinates me is that he's got leather pawpads with cardboard lining.  It kind of feels like he has boots on.  I love the fact that he's been very loved.  He's got several bald spots where someone played with him.

Lenora, can you post the pic for me?  I know I'm horrible at posting pics.

dangerbears Dec 20, 2011

Lenora, can you post the pic for me?

Yes, please do - I'd love to see Johan!

Becky

lovenshire Dec 20, 2011

dangerbears Dec 20, 2011

Hi there, Johan! You look like an interesting fellow with some stories to tell.

Becky

desertmountainbear Dec 20, 2011

He is a really beautiful bear Jesse.  What a great gift. 

Joanne

wubbiebear Dec 21, 2011

Oh yes he is.  I absolutely adore him.  No glass cases for this ol' boy, just bear squuzzes.

wubbiebear Mar 8, 2012

I've been getting kind of curious about Johan's origins.  Does anybody have any suggestions about where this dude came from?  Here's some clues.  He has cardboard in his feet.  His paw and foot pads feel like leather, and Becky Chase thinks they are like an oil cloth, I can't remember what that other word is that she told me.  His body is stuffed with wood wool, but his arms, legs, and head seem to have polyfill, but it could be something else.  The head is four pieces rather than the usual three.  Becky thinks he was given a new head.  He definitely has a new nose and eyes because they're plastic.  I have no idea whether there were claws because that's hard to see.  There is a place for a label in his back that was taken off.

dangerbears Mar 8, 2012

I'd love to hear some theories on this guy! As you know, it's hard for Jessie to post more pics, but my first feeling was that he might be an English bear - partly based on the way his legs are jointed low so that he sits on them. (That other word was Rexine, a popular paw-pad material.)

Pretty much all of the English bears started using kapok stuffing early on, but I've learned that excelsior was used by Woolworth's and others in the 1950s. And then there are Austrian bears and many other possibilities.

I think that with his home-made face (and maybe even a replacement head?), we can only make guesses, but I'd love to hear more guesses!

Becky

desertmountainbear Mar 8, 2012

He also looks to me like maybe his head is newer than his body.  He is a very handsome bear.

Joanne