Collecting Teddy Bears

Teddy Bears almost always evoke a massive response from children, even very small children, they are immediately drawn to a teddy bear.  The Teddy Bear can be the 'first love' of a child's life and that special love between a child and his teddy bear can last a lifetime.  The Teddy Bear can bring immense joy and relief from loneliness to both adults and children, he also makes a really great mascot/companion and has done so for many years.  For example take the famous aviatrix, Amy Johnson, who flew solo from England to Australia in her aeroplane 'Jason', she took a teddy bear mascot with her and don't forget the famous Donald Campbell whose bear was called Mr Whoppit, after Campbell's fatal crash at Conniston Mr Whoppit survived, apparently he floated to the top of the water.  There are literally hundreds more famous and infamous people who have had a teddy bear as a mascot and some of their stories are truly amazing.

However, 'collecting' teddy bears is a relatively new collecting area, at first teddy bear collectors were often regarded as amiable eccentrics who just collected old and worthless toys because of some sort of nostalgic idea they may have had.  This idea, fortunately, has somewhat disappeared since the media reported teddy bears selling at auction for big prices (such as the famous Steiff Teddy Bear called 'Teddy Girl' who sold for £110,000 at Christies in South Kensington, London).  Today there are not many people who would joke about owning or collecting teddy bears.  Unlike many other collectibles where only 'old' items are worth considering in your collection, with teddy bears it is much different, as a serious collector often mixes very old bears with new teddy bears in his collection.  He might even add a substantial amount of teddy bear memorabilia too.  He can also collect teddy bears who wear 'big' labels such as the famous Steiff (button-in-ear) alongside old bears with no make at all and even some artist bears, infact such an array of teddy bears makes the hug look very appealing.

Alongside the Teddy Bear himself, many items relating to him have also become collectible,  take for example books.  Old teddy bear books are extremely desirable, especially where they concern famous teddy bears such as Winnie, Paddington or Rupert, take the lovely old Winnie the Pooh songbooks which seem magical or some of the old Rupert Annuals, they are still loved as much today as when they were first published.  Another very famous book which is very special, especially for teddy bear collectors, is the famous 'Bear With Me' written by the actor, peter Bull who, along with his friend, Colonel Robert Henderson, changed so many peoples attitudes towards teddy bear collecting.  Collecting old teddy bear books is a massive subject to start upon, so it is best left to specialist book sellers at this moment in time.

By the 1970's teddy bear collecting had grown in popularity, especially in the United States and by the time the 1980's had arrived, there was indeed a Teddy Bear boom.  The famous London Auctioneers, Christies hit the headlines bigtime when they started to hold special teddy bear auctions.  The interest in teddy bears just soared and as well as International Collectors Clubs starting up there were also a number of museums started in many countries across the world.

Today Teddy Bear Collecting is popular the entire world over and bears are collected by both men and women alike.  There no longer appears to be a stigma attached to it for at last, it is taken seriously.