Where do teddy bears come from? Well, teddy bears were born over a century ago (in the year 1902) in a small town in Germany called Giengen. The teddy bears inventor was Richard Steiff, nephew of Margarete Steiff of the famous Steiff Company.

The teddy bear was originally created as a comforter and a best friend to children, as prior to the teddy’s birth, the only toy bears that children had were made of metal or even carved wood, hardly a soft and comforting toy for a child to hold. However, very soon after his birth, the teddy bear became famous across the whole of the western world, his popularity became astonishing. Such was his gentleness and charm that soon many adults as well as children were proud to own him. He became so popular that soon 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 had started to produce their own versions of the teddy bear.

In 1913, German toy output was six times that of Great Britain but, following the outbreak of the war, the importation of german goods (including teddy bears) in Great Britain was banned, infact according to a 1914 British Trade Journal, to import german goods into Britain was deemed to be an “act of treason”.

Toy companies such as J.K. Farnell and W.J. Terry seized this opportunity and from 1919 France too developed it’s own teddy bear industry with companies such as Pintel and Thiennot forming.

Many soldiers who were sent abroad to fight were given small teddy bears by their loved ones to take with them as lucky mascots and many soldiers took a childhood teddy bear with them. We believe that these teddy bears brought the soldiers great comfort. Many bears remained with soldiers who lost their lives in battle, but some old bears did return, some with and some without their soldier friends. These lovely teddy bears who are brimming over with history do sometimes come up for sale or auction but, obviously, they fetch very high prices.

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, Dean’s Rag Book Co. 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 the staff were needed for war work. However, it was during this time that the teddy bear was desperately needed by both children and adults to help them come to terms with the ravages of war. Teddy bear production was also not helped by the shortage of materials. It was then that Mothers’ and Aunts’ came to the rescue and made teddy bears out of old or even recycled materials and knitting yarns, such was the impact of these teddy bears that they often remained with children throughout the war years and way into their old age. A few of these handmade teddy bears have survived to this day, but obviously their condition can be quite bad, but again, their history is amazing.

At www.ginosbears.co.uk we love stories about old teddy bears, both of their history and the stories told to us by old teddy bear owners. These stories fuelled our adoration of teddy bears and it is because of this love of teddy bears that we now specialise in supplying old, antique and collectible teddy bears to other teddy bear lovers and collectors everywhere. We also stock an amazing selection of teddy bear ephemera, some of these items being quite unique such as our lovely Elsie Bear Brooches or our Champagne Charlie Bears.

So, if you too love teddy bears or teddy bear ephemera then why not take a look at our site at www.ginosbears.co.uk where we think you might just find the teddy bear of your dreams. We look forward very much to meeting you there.

www.ginosbears.co.uk

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