Originally, stuffed bears were referred to as simply browns or just bears.

In November of 1902, the President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt (who’s nickname was „Teddy“ for good friends), an avid hunter, went on a bear-hunting trip while he was in Mississippi to give an opinion over a border dispute between Mississippi and louisiana. The trip was covered with much interest by the nation (well, at least by the nation’s newspapers, as he had a large amount of reporters following him).

  President Theodore „Teddy“ Roosevelt.

Theodore „Teddy“ Roosevelt.

During the trip, guides clubbed a bear and tied it to a tree then invited the president to shoot it ! Roosevelt, an candid outdoors man and hunter, declined, saying it would be unsportsmanlike to kill a defenseless animal that way.
This scene was immortalized the next day by illustrator Clifford Berryman in a Washington Post political cartoon, which was quickly re-printed across the country.

  The hunting party, a later artist impression.

But here’s the twist in the whole endeavor. That cartoon by Berryman? NOT actually the cartoon he drew in the Washington Post originally! Despite it being referred to as such by many different sources, here is the ACTUAL cartoon Berryman originally drew. As you can see, it is the same basic concept, but it was a quick, very rough drawing, NOT the detailed piece that is shown everywhere and all the time. And it was a big, man size bear.

              Left, original drawing by Berryman, Library of Congress. The same, later hand colored, on the right.

Clearly, when there appeared to be interest in his original from other newspapers, Berryman decided to completely re-draw the entire cartoon, including coming up with an entirely different look for the bear, going from a normal looking bear to a cute, cuddly bear. And it is that re-drawn cartoon that became syndicated all over the country. And it was that re-drawn cartoon that inspired the “teddy bear.”

  Re-draw of the same view by Berryman.

So if you ever see the “cute little bear” (now a baby size bear) cartoon passed off as the original (and you’ll see it often if you look for it), you now know better!

  Morris Michtom with his wife Rose, making „Teddy’s Bear“.

The first Teddy Bear.

Morris Michtom, a Russian emigrant and owner of a candy store in Brooklyn, saw the drawing of Roosevelt and the bear cub and was inspired to create a new toy, because after hours of the candy store he made stuffed animal toys like little plush pony’s etc.
He created a little stuffed bear cub, made by his wife Rose, and put it in his shop window with a sign that read „Teddy’s bear,“ after sending another bear to Roosevelt he was receiving permission to use his name Teddy. The toys were an immediate success and Michtom founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co.

  The Michtom Bear, which was a gift to Teddy Roosevelt family, found his way to the Smithsonian Institute Museum. He lives now in a vitrine behind bulletproof glass.

Although Steiff and Michtom were both making teddy bears at around the same time, neither would have known of the others creation due to poor transatlantic communication.
Roosevelt also used the bear as a successful political mascot when on the campaign trail.

        Two examples, here on postcards, how the „Teddy Bear“ was used in political campaigns.
Click on pics to supersize.

There had been toy bears before this incident, but the majority of them had portrayed the animals in a more realistic manner. Since the 1880s European manufacturers had created bears that moved with clockwork mechanisms or that could be pushed along on wheels, but their popularity had never been widespread.

Teddy Roosevelt photographed with the early Michtom bear. He didn’t like it (as he didn’t like the nickname Teddy) very much – but – what don’t  you do for success in politics.

Early teddy bears were made to look like real bears, with extended snouts and beady eyes. Modern teddy bears tend to have larger eyes and foreheads and smaller noses, baby like features that enhance the toy’s cuteness. Teddy bears are also manufactured to represent different species of bear, such as polar bears and grizzly bears, as well as pandas.

    The first book, of Seymour Eaton’s newspaper series, 1905.

North American educator Seymour Eaton (a pen name for Paul Piper) created Teddy B and Teddy G (The Roosevelt Bears) in a newspaper series which grew into huge commercial success. While composer John Walter Bratton wrote an instrumental „The Teddy Bears Picnic“, a „characteristic two-step“, in 1907, which later had words written to it by lyricist Jimmy Kennedy in 1932.

  The first music sheet, of John W. Bratton, 1907.

According to historians, the most enduring and oldest juvenile bear story is „The Three Bears“. It’s definite origin is unknown. However, the oldest manuscript is Eleanor Mure’s, from 1831, found in Toronto’s Public Library. The Toronto Public Library offered a photographic reproduction of the original manuscrpt in 1967 as a limited edition. This reprint (almost 50 years ago) is already an extremely rare and sought after collectors item.

          The first bear story, very scarce reprint from 1967. Left the front of the little booklet, right the inner page. The book measures 15cm by 12cm, has 16pages and 13 multicolored full page illustrations plus a multicolored picture on the dust wrapper as you can see above. Click on pictures to supersize the view.

Steiff.

In 1902 the German toy company Steiff had developed a toy bear with jointed arms and legs and covered in a soft fiber called Plush. It was the brainchild of Richard Steiff, nephew of the company’s founder Margarete Steiff, a heavily handicapped but strong women, and was first displayed at the Leipzig Toy Fair in 1903.

  Steiff products displayed at a Toy Fair 1902 – no bear.

The company was established by seamstress Margarete Steiff in the 19th Century. In 1880, needing a present for a nephew, she found a pattern for a toy elephant and made it from soft felt. Drawn to how soft and cuddly they were, children in the neighborhood were soon asking for elephants too.

  Steiff bears from the 1890’s and right a first 1903 bear.

She started to make the elephants alongside her dressmaking business but it was her nephew Richard Steiff who came up with the idea of a toy bear.
As a student at art college in Stuttgart he used to visit the zoo and sketch the bears. At the zoo they had cross-bred brown bears with polar bears and these became the inspiration for his first life-like toy bear.

  Margarete Steiff (in wheelchair) with her first employees.

Before the bear, children were playing with porcelain dolls, soldiers, tin toys etc.. They were hard and cold and Richard Steiff wanted to give children a companion that they could hold and cuddle.
Steiff’s first bear was called 55 PB. The 55 stood for its height in centimeters, P stood for plush and B for beweglich, German for moveable.

  The very first Steiff Teddy Bear, extremely rare, 55 PB.

55 PB was introduced to the German public at the Leipzig Toy Fair in spring 1903. But there was not much interest. There’s a wonderful story how Richard Steiff just putting all the bears back in the boxes and he’s sealing everything up when Hermann Berg came around, a buyer for Borgfeldt in New York.

  Margarete Steiff with one of her very first Teddy Bears, c.1904.

„Berg is desperately miserable as he’s been trudging around the trade fair all week and he hasn’t found anything to take back to New York, because he’s under instruction, to bring something new back. He spies on Richard Steiff’s stand as he’s nailing down almost the last box and he asks Richard what’s in there? He pulls out 55 PB and Hermann Berg is captivated by him. Apparently on the spot he orders 3,000 bears – a massive order at that time.“

   The most expensive Teddy Bear collection would be with, like here shown, original Steiff bears from 1907 to about 1915. Ten’s of Thousand’s of Dollars worth. Extreme difficult to find and almost impossible to get one today.

Popularity.

Between 1903 and 1908 the number of teddy bears produced shot up from 12,000 to 975,000 per year. Their further popularity was increased by the introduction of two popular bear characters: Rupert Bear in 1920 and Winnie the Pooh in 1926.
Some of the best-known manufacturers during this period were Steiff, Hermann, Farnell and Merrythought. Ideal in New York went still very slow.

During the Second World War the production of teddy bears slowed down as toy manufacturers had to turn their attention to producing essential war supplies.
Steiff resumed production in 1947, and by 1948 had a workforce of almost 1000 people. By 1953 this figure had doubled as the company released a series of new models to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the teddy bear.

            
During the 1960s the traditional manufacturers lost ground to companies in China and Indonesia, as cheaper mass-produced bears took over the market. But these mass produced toys could never take over the serious bear lover and bear collector, because of bad craftsmanship and cheap quality.

  Rare collection of „large“ artist bears.

Collecting.

Teddy Bear collectors are known as ‘arctophiles’.
A revival in high quality collectible bears started in 1969 when the popular British character actor Peter Bull  wrote a book entitled „Bear With Me“ (later re-titled „The Teddy Bear Book“) about his collection and affection for the toy.

       Both Peter Bull books.

The idea of collecting Teddy Bears was placed back into the public consciousness, and collectors began to hunt for older models made by the traditional manufacturers.
As this practice developed, the cottage industry of „bear artists“ producing individual, hand made bears began to grow and the market for collectible bears was born.
In 1985 the Teddy Bear Artists Guild was formed in America, and Christie’s held its first auction dedicated to the sale of antique bears.

  Wonderful miniature bear collection.

The market for collectible bears is currently booming worldwide,  and especially „mini bears“ are widely collected, used as individual and personal gifts, as love tokens and as unique gifts for special occasions like Valentines, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Christmas and many more. And the best is – artist bears are rare, collectible but still affordable.

  Superb artist bear collection.

Teddy Bears are not just children’s toys nor just highly valuable collectable items. They are much loved, very important characters which have inhabited the childhood of most children in the world and are now firmly entrenched in our folklore.

  Nice collection of artist’s miniature bears.

Teddy Bears are as simple as human emotions. Teddy Bear books with all their fantasies, tales and stories reflect this emotional significance. Read a Teddy Bear book or take a Teddy Bear into your arms – you will start smiling – it creates automatically a positive and relaxing mind. Look, how Teddy Bear collectors feel about holding one, down here.

      Happy TEDDY collectors.

Since „Teddy’s“ introduction in 1903 and „Teddy’s Books“ in 1905, the world has embraced this cuddly, furry, lovable, durable and dependable friend and confidant. Today and in future, they are still and will be a predominant choice of friendly toys all over the world. Hope you enjoyed this post, stay tuned for more about „OUR CUDDLY FRIEND“.