Where teddy bears were really born

The Washington Post|Published 1 year ago

A replica of the original Steiff teddy bear from 1902, called ‘Bear 55PB’, on display at the Steiff Museum in Giengen, Germany. The original may still be out there somewhere ‒ and worth a fortune. Picture: Louisa Marie Summer/ The Washington Post

Amanda Finnegan

If you own a stuffed animal with a yellow tag pinned in its ear, you have a descendant of one of the first teddy bears.

The stuffed bears were eventually named for President Theodore Roosevelt, but part of their origin story can be traced to Germany and a woman named Margarete Steiff. She founded her company in Giengen, Germany, in 1880.

Steiff, who contracted polio when she was 18 months old, was paralysed in her legs and had limited use of her right arm. But she became a master seamstress and ran a felt clothing business.

At the Steiff factory, teddy bears are assembled in parts ‒ legs, arms, body and heads ‒ and then are sewn inside-out and turned the right way through a specially designed tool. The factory has nearly 400 employees. Picture: Louisa Marie Summer/ The Washington Post

Her first animal creation was a small, felt elephant, which was intended to be a pin cushion. The Steiff catalogue expanded to include other animals such as monkeys, giraffes and rabbits. Then in 1902, Margarete’s nephew, Richard Steiff, designed a stuffed bear with arms and legs you could move, known as “Bear 55PB” ‒ plush, movable and 55cm tall. His original sketches date back to 1894.

The stuffed toy later got its “Teddy” name, thanks to cartoon in The Washington Post in 1902 depicting Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear. Around the same time, Brooklyn sweet shop owner and inventor Morris Michtom also began making and selling teddy bears in Roosevelt’s honour.

At the sewing machines, individual pattern pieces are assembled by hand. The attention of each seamstress makes the bears long-lasting family heirlooms. Picture: Louisa Marie Summer/ The Washington Post

The Steiff company said the cartoon played a major role in the toy’s success. Five years after Steiff made its first bear, the company produced nearly 980 000 bears and 1.7 million toys.

But check your stuffed toy collection because the company isn’t sure what happened to Bear 55PB.

“Someone may have it, and not even know it,” said Simone Pürckhauer, director of the Steiff Museum and public relations. That may be because the animals’ trademark buttons in their ears didn’t appear until 1904.

Visitors watch as older bears are repaired inside the Steiff Museum. Picture: Louisa Marie Summer/ The Washington Post

Collecting and giving Steiffs as gifts have become a tradition for people all over the world, and fans still make the pilgrimage to the factory, often bringing their own well-loved bears for repair or “to show them where they were born”, Pürckhauer said. Visitors are able to watch how the bears are made by hand and tour some of the company’s oldest and most storied stuffed animals.

One of Pürckhauer’s favourite pieces in the museum collection is a rabbit from a collector, Edith Grüner, who left the stuffed animal to Steiff after her death in 2010, along with a letter. The metre-tall rabbit was given to Grüner as a child during World War II, and when the family fled Germany, the rabbit went with her. Grüner and her husband never had children, but they always considered the rabbit to be like a child, Pürckhauer said. It was with her when she died.

An assortment of newly completed Steiff animals wait for transport on the factory floor. Picture: Louisa Marie Summer/ The Washington Post

Since 1997, Steiff has hosted a three-day festival for fans and collectors. This July, more than 30 000 people from around the world attended the festival in Giengen. The annual event includes an auction of rare stuffed Steiffs.

This year’s festival set a record for antique teddy bears ‒ the Steiff Titanic Bear Othello from 1912 sold for more than $196 000 (about R3.6m). Only a few hundred were made to honour those who died on the Titanic. - The Washington Post

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