Jeanette Davies saw two antique teddy bears on a stall at a yard sale in South Wales while browsing with her son Kyle.
One might have called them insane to have forked out £130, or around $155 for both toys, but they would have been even more stunned to learn that one turned out to be a highly-collectible bear from Steiff dating to 1905 that has a listing price at a minimum of $5,100 at auction.
The other teddy is also a pre-World War II teddy from a company called Chad Valley worth between $92 and $142.
Jeanette was aware of what one of these rare teddy bears might look like, and felt so confident that she shelled out the largest sum she and her son had ever spent in the history of their hobby of frequenting yard sales.
“I just had a feeling—a gut feeling,” she said. “I thought he looked like a Steiff bear, a [brand] which can be valuable. Sometimes you just take a gamble and I’m glad we did.”
Jeanette and Kyle tweeted auctioneer Charles Hanson to ask him if the bears were valuable and they were stunned by his response.
“The teddy bears were being sold by a woman in her 70s,” Kyle recounted. “She told us she was clearing everything ahead of a move to Australia. Mum was convinced the bear might be special but I wasn’t too sure. In fact, I was reluctant to spend £130—she had to persuade me.”
Kyle then said they used social media to find out the collectible value of the bear.
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“I shared a photo of it on Facebook and started getting messages from people saying it was special,” he said. “My nan’s a big fan of Charles Hanson. She likes watching him on the TV antique shows and suggested we contact him.”
The bear has original button eyes, stitched smile, and cupped ears, one of which has been sewn back slightly awry. Steiff was a German brand that put serious attention to detail in their teddy bears.
The classic stuffed bear was invented and had its name coined after American President Theodore Roosevelt went hunting for bears with legendary African-American hunter Holt Collier.
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After Collier cornered and stunned a black bear in Louisiana, Roosevelt refused to shoot it, likely believing it to be unsportsmanlike. A toy maker took advantage of the situation in the press and created the first upright stuffed bears which he called “Teddy’s Bear.”
Just three years later, Steiff was making elegant collectible bears in Germany.
“He has a remarkably handsome face and shaven muzzle,” Janet Rawnsley, of Hansons Auctioneers. “I call him Mr. Cinnamon.”
Both bears go up for auction at Hansons later this year.
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