Antique Teddy Bear Crossing

KITTIES HAVE THEIR OWN ANTIQUE FAINTING COUCH

2011-07-25T20:24:00.006-04:00

Ohhh, those bad kitties. They just can't leave my antiques alone. They cuddle with the bears and play with the toys, thankfully, they're very gentle. Recently I was getting ready to attend an antique show, taking the antiques off the shelves, deciding what to take. The doll fainting couch never made it to the show and quite frankly, I don't think it ever will. I thought it would be a novelty for them and they'd never look at it after the first day. Never think you know your cat. Both kitties have totally taken over the couch, using it every day. I couldn't think of selling it now (unless they give it up). You must admit...it fits them perfect. They also love the raggedys, and the rocking horse, and the checkerboard, and... pretty much anything they shouldn't be in to.

ANTQUE TEDDY BEARS HAVE A NEW CHECKERBOARD

2011-06-20T18:49:00.003-04:00

While down in Florida this past winter, I came across this wonderful antique child's checkerboard table and chairs. I just knew the teddy bears would love it. I even found some old wood checkers for them. Made in Germany, I'm thinking early 20th century. All wood, and the chairs are covered in velvet. Too cute!

ANTIQUE TEDDY BEARS LOVE THEIR KITTIES

2011-05-15T20:54:00.004-04:00

The antique teddy bears have two new friends. After losing our best buddy of 19 years, Calvin the cat, we recently rescued two new kitties. I know, they don't look like kitties, but Ollie and Otto are 10 month old brothers and best buds. Watching their crazy antics, tearing all around the house and getting into everything, I was a bit worried about the teddy bears. As it turns out, the kitties are so gentle with the bears. Of course, there's an occasional mishap of knocking one off his rocking horse, but luckily they don't view them as their toys. Instead, they like to cuddle up with them. My house has bears everywhere, not in glass cases where I know they should be. But this is my bear family...that's just the way I roll. Guess the kitties know that (they're so smart!).

VINTAGE SOCK MONKIES

2011-03-02T19:00:00.008-05:00

My collecting habits are ever changing and after I acquire a new item, it seems like it starts a new collection. So be it with the vintage sock monkeys. I see them in an all new light as I realize that the vintage ones are all different. Being homemade by mothers, every one is different and so charming in their own right. Even though they're made of basically the same sock, they all have different expressions... fat, skinny, long tail, short tail, hats, clothes... on and on. The little green girl is a little differnt, made of men's dress socks and dressed in a vintage dress. The bears like to snuggle in with them as well as the cats. I'm sure there will be more to come.

ANTIQUE SHOOFLY ROCKING HORSE

2011-03-02T18:11:00.009-05:00

I always have a hard time buying in Florida, but I always find a few fun things. At Mt. Dora, selling was good, buying was challenging, but persistence found me a couple of great things. My favorite was an antique shoofly rocking horse, early one. I love these rockers and I do already have a few, but this one I particularly liked due to its smaller size. It also has wonderful stenciling and remains of red paint. I guess I just can't resist these wonderful little rockers, and the bears just love it. This same dealer had some wonderful primitives and I also purchased (among other things) an early abacus. I've never seen one quite like this...I'm wondering if it's a homemade one. This will look great on the bears old school desk along with their bear books.

ANTIQUE TEDDY BEARS TRAVEL TO FLORIDA

2011-02-07T21:48:00.004-05:00

After the holidays it's time to leave the Michigan cold and snow behind and head down to sunny Florida. Life just seems simpler and carefree on the beach. The bears are wondering who will be chosen to accompany me to the beach. Last years chosen, Beach Bum Murphy, has traveled to a new beach in Hawaii, I know he's a happy camper in his new home. The bears have already attended Florida antique shows in Mt. Dora and Arcadia. A couple of bears found new homes, and primitives were hot, but picking wasn't as good and I came home with some nice early lighting, but no early teddy bears. They're so hard to find in Florida (or anywhere). I did find tiny Teddy B and Teddy G, those lovable Roosevelt Bears, complete with their own travel trunk. Not old, but just too cute. I can never resist a Roosevelt Bear! More Florida adventures to come.

Antique Bing Teddy Bears and Toys

2010-11-16T02:49:00.010-05:00

I have to share some more teddy bears from the Chelsea Teddy Bear Museum. Ken Yenke, museum curator, is a big fan of Bing bears and toys, so many are featured in the museum. I too have a special fondness for Bing bears. The first one here is an early bell toy featuring a bear pulling the wheeled bells. This early Bing toy is from 1900. Also in this picture is the Roosevelt Stock Farm, a wood barn with great lithographs. The second one is hard to tell the size, but it's the largest bear that Bing ever made, at a whopping 34". This one dates to 1919. Also pictured is an 1880 German bear and baby. The third picture is Bing's windup jalopy bear from 1908. I just love these little guys. Also pictured is Schuco's Trippel Trappel dog, circa 1914. Bing also made one of these Trippel Trappel dogs which rolls along on little wheels on its feet.

Chelsea Teddy Bear & Toy Museum

2010-11-16T02:37:00.004-05:00

I finally visited the Chelsea Teddy Bear & Toy Museum in Chelsea, Michigan. The museum curator, Ken Yenke, is a noted antique teddy bear authority, and shares his wonderful antique teddy bear collection in this excellent museum. I can't even pick my favorites, but I have to share a few here. I have a special love for the circus, and clown bears, so this first one just cracked me up. This is a Strunz clown bear from 1908. Love his chubby body. Next is a real oldie, German made from 1880, this Mom and baby bear are made of paper mache and worsted wool. Love these 1800's bears, reminds me of an old German nodder I have with the same worsted wool. In 1907 Columbia made their laughing Roosevelt bear. Certainly none other like it, smiling with glass teeth. Cute touch here with a pipe added. Can't wait to visit the museum again. I'm sure they'll have a nice Christmas display soon.

Antique Goldilocks and the Three Bears

2010-05-17T22:27:00.003-04:00

The classic story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears has been around a long time. It evolved over many years, with the earliest having many different names for Goldilocks...Silverhair, Goldenhair and Silverlocks were some of the names before Goldilocks. In 1888 the first book was published which named the characters, Goldilocks and the three bears. At this time, bears were bears...not the cuddly teddy bears we all love today. Most experts agree that there were no known teddy bears before 1903, the first teddy bears being manufactured in 1904. What is so interesting...in the 1888 Goldilocks book, there are clear pictures of baby bear with his little teddy bear friend, propped up in bed, being pulled by baby bear in his wagon, sitting on the kitchen floor, etc. This was 15 years before the production of the teddy bear.
Over the years Goldilocks and the Three Bears has become a classic. Books abound, and all sorts of soft stuffed toys have been produced. My first set of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears were soft stuffed dolls from the 1920's. These dolls were Kellogg's cereal premiums. Wonderfully detailed fabric would be offered for mothers to sew and stuff for their children. My most recent acquisition is a set of the three bears made by Dean's Rag Book. When I first purchased it I fell in love with them, but had never seen them before. I was thrilled to find a label which identified them as Dean's Rag Book. The green label I believe dates it to the 1930's, which seems to fit looking at the clothes. Baby bear is a tad different, with shorter fur and I'm wondering if he's a later version. Could there have been a Goldilocks with this set as well? If anyone has any other info, I'd love to hear from you.
AntiqueTeddyBearCrossing.com

Antique Dollhouses AKA Teddy Bear Houses

2010-04-19T01:27:00.003-04:00

Gottschalk, Bliss, two of my favorite early dollhouse manufacturers. Of course, to me, the dollhouses are teddy bear houses. The antique business for me is ever changing, and the little houses and miniatures are my new favorite things, well...next to teddy bears. When I saw this Gottschalk dollhouse, circa late19 th century, I fell in love with it and knew it was coming home with me. Seems like my collecting/buying/selling habits are getting smaller and smaller. I started out in the antique world selling large primitive furniture. My hubby quickly tired of my antique business and the 20' trailer was traded for a van. My large furniture changed to child and doll size furniture for the bears. Now I'm enjoying the miniatures. Funny how you just fall into things. The antique teddy bears will always be my passion, but I wonder what else will come next. I'm sure it'll be something that compliments the bears, antique of course. The larger dollhouse pictured here is a Moritz Gottschalk house, the smaller one's maker is unknown, but is in the detailed tradition of the early Bliss and Gottschalk dollhouses.

Antique Bing Teddy Bears

2010-04-06T23:41:00.013-04:00

Any bear is a good bear...that's my motto. But oh my...the early Bings in my opinion, are just way special. The Gebruder Bing Company of Nuremburg, Germany, was founded in 1865 and quickly became one of the premium toy manufacturers of the world. Lucky for us bear people, they began making bears in 1906 and continued until their factories closed in 1932. These early bears have characteristics only seen on Bing bears. I stand in awe when I look at these artistically made bears, with their endearing expressions, beautifully detailed bodies and wonderfully detailed noses. There are many characteristics unique to Bing, such as their sentry style bears that appear to stand on tip toes. Their beautifully detailed noses are a work of art in themselves. As with early Steiffs, they have long arms, big feet and big humps. Pictured here are two early Bing teddy bears along with a 'Bing Pigmyphone', a little clockwork phonograph within a wonderful lithographed tin, made by Bing at the turn of the century. Love these antique teddy bears and toys.

Antique Teddy Bears, Alligators and the Everglades

2010-03-10T01:55:00.010-05:00

Murphy got to go on another Florida outing. I'm not sure why he always ends up in the car. Maybe because he's just traveled all the way from Germany and I think he needs to see America. This outing took him alligator hunting (looking) in the Florida Everglades. Driving through the Everglades, you don't really need to search for them. We saw at least 50 of them on the side of the road, just basking in the sun. Murphy wasn't afraid, even though they were just on the other bank (hard to see in the picture, just to the right of his shoulder). He's quite the brave bear!

Antique Bing Teddy Bear Goes to the Seashore

2010-03-10T00:43:00.012-05:00

Ahhhh...sunny Florida. Life is good. I'm probably the biggest beach bum wanna be that you'll ever meet. Sun, beach, ocean waves and breezes, life doesn't get much better. But now, back to business. Oh, wait...Can I take the business to the beach? Sure...teddy bears love the ocean too. They're not quite the sun worshiper that I am, you know, it fades their mohair. They do love to be photographed in new places. So I grabbed the newest member of my family, a wonderful early Bing teddy bear I named Murphy, and some antique beach toys, and off to the beach. Now I'll be on a new mission...I need to find antique beach toys for the bears. Antique sand pails and shovels, how about an antique boat? Antique child beach chairs are hard to come by, but hey, I'm in Florida, I need to look for different things. I may look a little strange to the average beach goer - carrying teddy and his toys down to the beach. But bear people understand and they smile as they watch me and my antique teddy bear crossing the sand.

Antique Teddy Bear Hunt

2010-03-09T23:15:00.007-05:00

Heading south for the winter has become a yearly tradition for me for several years now. There's lots of quality antique shows to sell at, buy buying has always been challenging for me. And of course, that's the fun part of my business...finding new bear friends and their toys and accessories. There just aren't many primitives around down here, and antique teddy bears are just plain hard to find anywhere. I'm accustomed to weekly auctions and estate sales back in Michigan, but antique auctions down here are few and far between. And estate sales are basically unheard of...which is something I truly don't get, with all the seniors down here...go figure. But I keep plugging along, searching all the time. I was shopping at a weekly flea market on the way home from a 3 day antique show, actually getting some good prims. I was toodling down the aisle, when I spotted him. OMG...He sat there looking at me, begging me to take him home. I happened upon a handsome teddy bear that I quickly grabbed. Of course, the dealer was sure he was an early Steiff and didn't hesitate at guaranteeing me that. I gave him my opinion, but didn't argue with him when he still insisted it was Steiff. German, English, American...they're all endearing to me. He was cute as a button, so into my cart he went. Now I'm toodling along with teddy sitting there, a happy camper, as I push him along. Okay, antique teddy bears are here, but you sure have to be on a bear hunt, which I always am.

Antique Teddy Bears Love Their Ducks

2010-02-14T11:51:00.009-05:00

Antique teddy bears love their toys. I've devoted a bathroom for antique duck toys and the teddy bears love to play in there too. The wind up toys and pull toys are great, but one of my favorites is the homemade ducky rocker. Have you ever seen such a cutie...and one of a kind...that's what makes him special. The teddy bears takes turns riding on him. Mr. Petelhoffer is pulling his duck filled with little teddy bear friends and Toots is riding ducky...at least today. Someone new will be in the bathroom tomorrow.

The Roosevelt Bears Childrens Books by Seymour Eaton

2009-09-30T01:26:00.005-04:00

It wasn't until I started collecting antique teddy bears that I came across these wonderful children's books. U.S. author Seymour Eaton created the Roosevelt Bears, Teddy B and Teddy G in 1905. There are four books in the series and each one as delightful as the first. These big huge teddy bears had all kinds of adventures, brought to the readers in rhyming form. The illustrations are just fantastic, some in full color. These have become my all time favorite books and now I'm enjoying them with my grandbabies as well. Take a peek at The Roosevelt Bears, Their Travels and Adventures, available at Antique Teddy Bear Crossing.

Steiff Teddy Bears-Antique to Modern

2009-09-19T00:13:00.005-04:00

The Internationally famous Steiff company has been making teddy bears since 1902 and still going strong. Founded by Margarite Steiff in Germany in 1877, Margarite was crippled with polio and confined to a wheelchair when she started making stuffed toys with leftover fabric from her uncles fabric factory. Teddy bears were introduced in 1902 and were in full production by 1904. These wonderful early bears had realistically long arms and curved paws which enabled them to stand on all fours, a long muzzle and pronounced hump. Steiff continued into the 1920's with long arms and big feet, but bodies were plumper than earlier designs. By the 1950's teddy had much shorter limbs, rounder face with shorter muzzle and a fatter body. Steiff's are most certainly the most sought after bears, not only because of their quality, but their endearing expressions and tilted heads are just too irresistible. The early antique teddy bears are particularly sought after. 'Wallace' here is a 1906-07 Steiff teddy bear, available at Antique Teddy Bear Crossing.

Detroit Zoo Polar Bear Exhibit

2009-09-07T01:18:00.008-04:00

Went to the Detroit zoo the other day, first time in awhile. They have an amazing new polar bear exhibit that was just awesome. Hard to describe, but they had a plexiglass tunnel that you could see the bears just 2 feet above your head or swimming all around you. This one bear was just sitting on top of the tunnel, playing around, you just wanted to hug him like a big teddy bear, of course, we all know they're not really huggable, but we can dream. On the downside, what the hell happened to the Detroit zoo? Big empty enclosures, where are all the animals? They're spending tons of money on all these new exhibits, but where are all the animals? The elephants are gone, can you believe that??? Cheetahs, monkeys, snow leopards, mountain lions, white tigers, to name a few, they're all gone. Did we really need an amusement park ride at the zoo? Thank God for the polar bear exhibit, I'll focus my memories on that instead of the negative and hopefully next time we'll see more animals instead of less.

The Golliwog

2009-09-02T23:50:00.017-04:00

Just love those Golliwogs. A few years ago, I didn't have a clue what a Golliwogg was. When I started collecting antique teddy bears, I didn't realize all the things I'd end up collecting to compliment my bears. One of those collectibles that I stumbled upon was the Golliwogg. Those funny little black dolls with the big fuzzy hair, whoever thought it up? Golly's roots date back to 1894 when Florence Upton's imagination created the Golliwogg, and in 1895 her book was published featuring Dutch dolls and a Golliwog. Although that first book was mostly about the dolls, the Golliwogg was the hit of children, and the history of the Golliwog began. Golliwogs are still being made today, but I love the old ones and the unusual homemade ones. I just recently acquired a Merrythought Golli, circa 1940's, available at Antique Teddy Bear Crossing.

Antique Teddy Bear Crossing in the Beginning

2009-07-26T23:32:00.003-04:00

Antique Teddy Bear Crossing, where old bears find new homes. I have to remember that every time one of my teddy bears goes to a new home. It always makes me smile to see one of my bears travel to a new life. But it wasn't always like that. At first I just talked about selling them, when I was actually collecting them. Secretly I couldn't bear to let them go. I started off selling them at select antique shows, alongside my other antiques, mainly primitives and early lighting. Slowly more and more bears would attend my shows, along with all the bear necessities. Not only would I search for antique teddys, but I was on a mission to find them antique toys, teddy bear books, rocking horses, raggedy anns and golliwogs, antique furniture and all kinds of fun props. Soon they were the stars of the show and I loved it. I realized how much I loved talking to teddy bear people, sharing their stories, looking at their finds, and when I saw their happy faces at taking home one of my bears, it wasn't so hard to let them go. That's when I started thinking about the website. Although I love meeting teddy bear people face to face, the internet opens up a whole new world of crazy teddy bear people. Crazy about what they love, crazy about their bears and willing to share it all. So Antique Teddy Bear Crossing was born...where old bears find new homes.