Teddy Bear Friends

All human beings need good friends, that is why we need Teddy Bears. However,  Teddy Bears also need friends and as well as humans they need their own friends.  Quite often you will see a pair of Teddy Bears, especially Old Bears, that have met, told each other their stories and now they have become inseparable.  When you see this I would ask please that you never split them up, as it would break their old teddy hearts.

There are, of course, many other Teddy Bear friends and I suppose, one of the most popular of these friends is the doll.  The doll has always been a best friend to Teddy.  However, in this article we are looking at Teddy Bears soft toy friends and we will talk about Teddy Bears and Dolls in a future article.

Pandas -  The Panda is one of the rarest animals on the planet, but he is now thankfully protected.  In the 1930's, the first Panda arrived in our Zoo's,  and in 1938 London Zoo took in two adult Pandas together with a seven month old baby Panda which they called Ming.  Every visitor to the zoo fell immediately head-over-heels in love with the Pandas and it didn't take the soft toy manufacturers too long to pick up on this and start producing soft toy Pandas.

Dean's Rag Book Co. even went as far as producing their soft toy Panda, who they called "Handy Pandy" and had it photographed with Ming inside her cage at the zoo.

Pandas are still loved to this day and they continue to be best friends to Teddy Bears.  Often amongst a hug of Old Teddy Bears you will find at least one Panda sitting proudly amongst his Teddy friends.  Pandas have been made by most of the famous companies including Merrythought and Steiff, Schuco, Chad Valley and Chiltern and lots, lots more.

Teddy Bears also adore Old Stuffed Dogs and once again most soft toy manufacturers made and still make them.  Old Teddy Bears and Old Toy Dogs seem to have a certain charisma about them and they certainly form an invisible bond when put together.  If you do buy an Old Teddy Bear and an Old Stuffed Dog together, once again, I ask please, that you never separate them, as surely it would break their old stuffed hearts.

Another important friend to Teddy is the Golly.  I have spotted many handknitted Gollies especially taking up with Teddy Bear hugs.  The Golly is as popular now as the time it first appeared.  The Golly made his first appearance in a book called "The Adventures of the Two  Dutch Dolls" by Florence Upton, published in 1895.  Florence was born in the United States but whilst on a trip to England, Florence was given  a rag doll by her grandmother.  This rag doll inspired her in later years and when she returned to the United States she decided to create a black character rag doll, as a friend to her wooden Dutch dolls.  Her Mother, Bertha wrote a series of verses to go with the pictures and the finished work was published in 1895.  Sadly, poor Florence did not copyright her Golly and very soon, soft toy manufacturers everywhere started to produce the Golly.  The rest, as they always say, is history.

There is some wonderful Golly collectibles around and Teddy Bears adore Gollies. 

Some points to watch for when buying a Golly :

• Some of the very early  Gollies have large and often protruding noses that were stitched on ;
• Early Gollies had eyes that were made from linen buttons and they had very large red smiling mouths;
• Most later Gollies had large, flat faces, now with button eyes.

As previously mentioned, some of the most popular and loved Gollies are handknitted Gollies and there are some beautiful examples around, but you really have to look for them.

Steiff has made some wonder Teddy Bear friends over the years and these range from old dressed elephants to cats and lions. 

Most Teddy Bear collectors find that on buying an Old Teddy Bear friend, they immediately fall in love with it themselves and so begins another collection.