Theodore Society Blog

One of my favorite things to do is thrift shop scouting for bears.  Sometimes I find things to sell on eBay, sometimes I just find more things for my own collection!  I also love flea markets and estate sales, garage sales, any place that might yield a treasure or two!  Recently I found some great miniatures by World of Miniature Bears, mint in their plastic boxes, for 5.00 each.  I almost bought them all just because they were so cheap – but I have done that in the past and am trying to make better choices.  I LOVE a bargain, but sometimes buying a bear just because the price is right means I have money spent on bears I don’t really LOVE.  So to really make it a bargain, step back and think – am I buying this because the price is right, or do I really WANT and NEED this bear for my collection?  Do I have a place to display the bear?  Does it fit with the other bears in my collection?  Is it too much like other bears I have?

I have mentioned in the past that I am an eclectic collector, meaning I have everything from antique and vintage bears to artist bears to manufactured bears.  I am particularly fond of pandas, and Winnie the Pooh.  I have thrift store Pooh bears from the 1960′s and 1980′s, along with Steiff and Hermann mohair Pooh bears.  I have Gund pandas, Boyds pandas, mohair pandas, Steiff pandas; pandas in many color combinations.  So last week was really special for me, when I found a very old Chinese made panda, of rayon silk plush, well worn and loved but adorable.  The same store yielded a vintage Pooh bear, still with the paper hang tag, possibly a Japanese Disney Pooh.  I feel like a treasure hunter when I find something for my collection at a bargain price!

I have been a Boyds collector for many years.  I still love my Boyds bears, especially the older ones that look almost like folk art in their primitive design, like the old plush cats with flat faces and the old plush dogs with their little red felt tongues hanging out.  My friends think I can smell a Boyds from quite a distance – I have an uncanny knack for spotting them in unlikely places.  Recently I found an old plush Boyds bear in a bin.  I could tell from his crinkled fur that he had been given a bath and then, horror of horrors, dried in a dryer!  The shame!!  Never dry a bear in the dryer!!!  The poor guy had a very old white Boyds tush tag, tattered and frayed.  He bore only a slight resemblance to his original self, with his frizzled fried plush.  Definitely not worth anything to a collector.  That of course meant he had to come home with me!  I have such a soft spot in my heart for unwanted pets, so it comes as no surprise that I have the same soft spot for unwanted bears!

Every time I walk in the door of a new place I get that little twitch of excitement, wondering if I will find something special today.  One day I found a plush head of broccoli – with ruffled sleeves and sunglasses!  I had to do some research to learn it was a character from an Epcot animated show that closed many years ago.  I even found on YouTube a video of the old animatronic show from Epcot!  I am drawn to the quirky and unusual and the Internet helps me learn more about the things I discover.  It’s so much fun for very little money!

I would love to hear about unusual things you have found – drop me a line at bethy56@comcast.net or leave a comment here!

Wow – has it really been a month since I last posted?  The brain on menopause is truly a terrible thing!  It’s no wonder I love teddy bears, they don’t care how much I forget things as long as I remember to love them!

I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but here in Florida it is stinking miserable hot – much hotter than normal even for Florida.  When it gets like this, I tend to hole up in the air conditioning and read.  When I first started collecting, I was just a kid – I know I was BORN to collect, I have collected one thing or another as far back as I can remember, starting with horses, then pigs, and Depression glass and crystal when I was in high school!  I went to the library and checked out books on crystal and glassware, because I wanted to keep from making expensive mistakes.

I have made this a practice, no matter my area of interest.  When I started to fall in love with gemstones and jewelry, I studied them.  When I fell in love with Boyds Bears – starting with pigs because I was a pig collector too – I made it my mission to find out everything I could about Boyds.  Early on I made some costly errors because of misidentification. Educating myself has paid off in more ways than one!

No matter what you collect, likely there are books on the subject matter.  It will help you to do some reading and research.  Early on in the artist bear industry, there were a number of books on bear artistry.  Today that information would be difficult to find anywhere except in bear magazines – I have a large collection of those as well!  Help yourself become an informed collector by learning about the bears you love.

There are a number of wonderful books on antique and vintage bears by German, American and English bear makers, and of course there are many books on Steiff bears and animals.  While secondary market prices change quite often in today’s depressed market, these books will help you learn to identify characteristics of bear makers and what to look for in an old bear.  There are many old looking bears out there today that are not really old, but made to LOOK old, so before you spend a great deal of money on what looks like a great deal – do your homework!

It’s difficult to buy an old bear on eBay unless the seller has an impeccable reputation and good return policy.  Old bears should be looked at carefully up close for insect damage and dry rot, should be felt and smelled and examined for repairs, joint damage, and mohair loss.  While some of the great bear books out there are not up to date, they still supply much needed information about older bears that is accurate at any point in time.  Pauline Cockrill in particular has a couple of books out, large and small, with excellent detailed information on dating older bears by their shape, material, nose stitching, etc. 

Linda Mullins, Carol Smith, Patricia Schoonmaker, and of course Dee Hockenberry and Ken Yenke have penned terrific books on older bears that can still be found through Amazon and eBay.  The more you learn, the more you want to learn! Learning about the hobby you love will really pay off in the long run.

If you collect artist bears, learn about how artist bears are made and that will help you know if the bear you are interested in is well made.  Check the jointing, the stitching of seams; is the mohair pulled out nicely?  Are the paw pads even and symmetrical, and neatly stitched?  Are the ears matching in size and shape, and balanced on the head?  Reading about how bears are made will allow you to evaluate your purchases. It’s okay to be swayed by the emotional appeal of an inexpensive bear, but when you are spending hundreds of dollars, let your head help your heart make that choice.

There are different standards of quality and excellence with every price range.  Even with les expensive manufacctured bears, there are signs to look for.  Clothed bears should look good without the clothes.  The clothing should be well made; if you find glued or frayed hems, mismatched patterns, twisted seams, and cheap fabrics, then you can bet corners were cut in other areas of construction as well.  Check the paw pad stitching for puckers and wrinkles, see if the joints are tight enough to pose the bear without falling over in a heap.  Those little things can mean a lot once the bear is home! 

We all get caught up in the faces.  Look beyond the charm to the details – are the eyes straight and even?  Is the nose stitched tightly and evenly, or does it look like the hose reel beside your house, lumpy and uneven?  You can tell a lot about the quality of a bear by the nose and eyes!  Once you fall in love, remember that when the honeymoon is over, you will see things more clearly, so take the time to educate yourself about the kind of bears you collect, acquire a reference library of books or old magazines, and make smart decisions.