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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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