Teddy Bear Artist

Did you know?  If you collect Teddy bears you are termed an Arctophile.

An Arctophile is a person who collects bears, derived  from the greek words 'arcto' (bear) and 'philos' (lover). 

 Although Teddy Bears have been around for 100 years, this term wasn't coined until the mid 1980's. 

1902 - 2002 this marked the 100th birthday of the teddy bear. 

To many it may come as a real surprise that the Teddy Bear a major 20th century icon and childhood classic is younger than electric light, the telephone or the motor car.

So why should you collect Teddy Bears?

Well its really down to a matter of taste. It's possible to collect Teddy Bears on so many different levels. You could choose vintage teddy bears, artist teddy bears, limited-edition teddy bears, themed bears, miniature bears, anime bears, mohair bears, needlefelted bears, crochet Bears the list is impossibly endless.

Teddy bear collectors, collect because of the investment. They now have a multitude of venues to collect their Teddy bears from, shops , fairs, auctions, the online web. Countless fads have come and gone, but Teddy bear collecting continues to survive, perhaps because out of all the treasures you can collect the Teddy bear offers one priceless advantage, you can really hug a bear.

Collectors usually collect from the heart, an endearing face seals that bond, but be smart. Make sure your teddy bear is exactly what you want and what it is stated to be. Is that antique teddy bear authentic? Make sure you pay close attention to the teddy bear’s actual look and construction.

Good points to look out for when Teddy Bear collecting:

• The Teddy bears label: This won’t lie. Even if most of the label on a teddy bear has ripped or worn away, you can compare what remains to pictures in books in order to identify your bear.    

• The Teddy bears hump: Unlike most modern teddy bears, early teddy bears were designed to look like real bears, with a raised muscled hump between their shoulders. A bigger hump could indicate the bear is an older bear.    

• The Teddy bears limbs: Very early teddy bears can be distinguished by their long, thin elegantly curved arms. Their legs usually have quite narrow ankles ending in large feet. At the hips the Teddy bear is ussually wide.    

• Teddy bears nose: A bear with a long nose ussually indicates it is an earlier bear. This type of nose was meant to mimic the look of a real bear.     

• The Teddy bears eyes: A teddy bear with plastic eyes and synthetic footpads generally dates from the 1950s and 1960s. Early makers of bears used boot buttons or glass for eyes, and velvet or felt for the footpads.    

• The Teddy bears joints: Most teddy bears made from about 1905 on have wooden disc joints that allow their limbs to move. The limbs of earlier teddy bears may be connected to the body with metal rods, but usually, those rods are only seen in low-quality teddy bears. An upper-end bear will have two arm joints, two leg joints, and a head joint, while other teddy bears often skip the head joint.   
  

• The Teddy bears footpads: Older bear generally had footpads constructed of velvet of felt. The reason mohair was not used was simply to cut the cost.

• The Teddy bears seams : Traditionally, the body was the last part of a teddy bear to be stuffed, and it was usually sewn up by hand. Most often, the hand-sewn seam runs down the back of the bear, but Steiff, Bing and Farnell bears all have seams in the front. To identify hand sewing, look at the quality of the stitching. Puckers may also indicate that the seam was finished by hand.    

• The Teddy bears Fabric: Soft yet durable, mohair was the fabric of choice for most early bears. Made from goat hair, mohair feels like real hair. Bears made after 1930 may have silk plush fabric, while bears made in the 1950s are often made of synthetics.    

• The Teddy bears stuffing: The earliest bears are stuffed with wood shavings, called wood wool. In the 1920s, other fibers, such as kapok and wool waste, began to be used for the body and limbs, but the heads were still made of wood wool.      

• The Teddy bears paw pads: Felt pads are associated with high-quality bears. Lower-quality bears had pads made of brushed cotton.    

• The Teddy bears stitching: Although most bears featured straight claws, bears from Merrythought and Farnell usually have stitched “webbed” claws on the back of their paws.