The story of the Six Coloured Teddy Bears.
It was 1908 and Otto Steiff, along with the Steiff representative for England – Herbert Hughes, commissioned six coloured bears for presentation in London. Four were sent ahead, their colours … pink, yellow, black and green, they crossed the channel, but were never seen again … that is until now, with thanks to a Steiff Collector who recognised the importance of this ‘black’ 1908 bear.
The bear was given the name Bruno by his owner and is the only one of the missing four bears, ever to have been discovered. The Steiff archivist was able to confirm his date, due to his red stitched claws and fine overall sculpting. He was especially interested in his single mouth stitch, that marries with the original 1907 black prototype, designed by Richard Steiff, bringing all the evidence together and confirming his identity.
The ‘Bruno’ 1908 Replica is a 35 cm / 13.7″ fully jointed teddy bear, with a resonating, tip and tilt growler. He is sewn from the finest, luxuriously dense black mohair especially recreated by Steiff Schulte for this specific piece, with a lighter coloured cotton backing, just like the original. He has contrasting warm, wool felt paws and is lovingly stuffed with excelsior, whilst his glossy black wooden eyes, shine out above his expertly trimmed muzzle, which is the perfect platform for his hand stitched nose (the thread matches the hue of his paws) and pre-mentioned stitched mouth. In keeping with his being a replica, he proudly ‘bears’ a replica patinated steel ‘button in the ear’ and replicated ear tag of the time. He also wears the 2022 side seam tag and chest tag. His importance to Steiff’s teddy bear history is enormous!
Bruno is a Worldwide Limited Edition of just 1,908 bears and will come to you boxed, with his numbered certificate of authenticity.
Approx Size: 35 (cm)
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.