Where do teddy bears come from? Well, teddy bears were born over a century ago now, in the year 1902 in a small town called Giengen (close to Stuttgart) in Germany. The teddy bears’ inventor was a german man called Richard Steiff, nephew of the very famous Margarete Steiff of the Steiff Company.
Richard Steuff originally created the teddy bear as a comforter to children as, previous to Richard Steiff’s invention, the only toy bears that children had were carved from wood or made from metal, hardly a toy for hugging! Soon after his birth, the teddy bears popularity spread very quickly across the western world. He became an icon in the toy world practically overnight! Everyone loved him.
Such was the teddy bears gentleness and charm that very soon many adults as well as children were the proud owners of the teddy bear. He became so popular that the Steiff Company had problems keeping up with his demand.
By the time the First World War had begun many soft toy companies on both sides of the Atlantic were producing their very own versions of the teddy bear. In 1913, German toy output was six times that of Great Britain but, following the outbreak of war, the importation of German goods (which sadly included German teddy bears) was banned, infact, according to a 1914 British Trade Journal, to import German goods into Great Britain was deemed to be an “act of treason”.
Toy companies such as J K Farnell and W J Terry seized the opportunity and from 1919 France too had developed it’s own teddy bear industry with companies such as Pintel and Thiennot forming.
Many soldiers carried teddy bears with them when they were sent abroad to fight, often these teddy bears were given to them by a loved one who they were leaving behind, but many also carried their childhood teddy bear. Sadly many of these teddy bears were killed in action along with their soldiers but some did survive and they do occasionally come up for sale, however, these old bears do wear a rather large price tag. However, what price is a bear with such history?
The 1920’s – 1930’s was indeed a boom time for teddy bears – the teddy bear craze was well under way! British companies like Chad Valley, Chiltern, Dean’s Rag Book Company and Merrythought becoming some of the world’s leading teddy bear producers.
During the Second World War, many of the great British companies such as Merrythought had to stop production as both the factory premises and it’s staff were needed for important war work. However, it was during this time that the teddy bear was desperately needed by adults and, in particular children who were suffering the ravages of war. Not only was the toy factories closed due to war work, but there was also a great shortage of materials. It was then that Mothers, Aunties and Sisters came to the rescue, using old and often recycled materials and yarns to produce their own teddy bears for children. The impact of these teddy bears was so great that many people kept these bears way into old age. Sometimes these old handmade teddy bears do come up for sale, although they are not, as you can imagine, in very good condition, but their history is great. Many people love old handknitted teddy bears and it is often quite true that children choose a handknitted teddy bear to keep with them throughout their life. Maybe it has something to do with the love that has been put into every stitch?
At www.ginosbears.co.uk we love the story of the teddy bears history and we also love the many great stories we hear from people who own teddy bears. These stories have, without a doubt, fuelled our adoration of the teddy bear and encouraged us to specialise in supplying old, antique and collectible teddy bears to collectors everywhere. We like to think that the teddy bears that we stock, whether old, or new are adorable and we strive to only stock very special teddy bears. We also stock some rather unusual, unique and very often quite wacky bear ephemera such as our lovely Elsie Bear Brooches and our Champagne Charlie Bears, which are hand carved from used champagne corks (we will even have a teddy bear carved for you from champagne corks which you have kept from a special occasion – please contact us for details of this service), together with some old Winnie the Pooh books, old teddy bear postcards, etc. We also have in stock some teddy bears which have been signed by some interesting or famous people, which gives great provenance to your teddy bear to begin his life of adventures.
Interested! Why not visit our site at www.ginosbears.co.uk where you will find everything teddy bear you can think of. We think you may just find that teddy bear of your dreams too. Take a look. We look forward very much to welcoming all teddy bear lovers there.
Visit Us At www.ginosbears.co.uk
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