Collecting Antique Teddy Bears

teddybearAre you wondering why you might want to go into collecting antique teddy bears? It really is a matter of taste when it comes to collecting antique teddy bears. It is quite possible for you to collect these bears on a wide variety of different levels. You can collect all kinds of different antique teddy bears including limited edition types, vintage types, artistic types, themed bears, bears that hail from a specific region and miniature antique teddy bears as well.

Some collectors of antique teddy bears come online looking for antique teddy bears because of the unique variety that is available. Make sure that you are both collecting with your heart and being intelligent about it at the same time. Make sure that you are only buying authentic antique teddy bears, for example. Here are some ways that you can tell how old antique teddy bears are, or what their origins are.

Label – The label for antique teddy bears is not going to lie. Even if a lot of the label has been worn away, you can still compare the label with identification books to identify the antique teddy bear that you have collected.

Hump - Unlike today’s modern teddies, antique teddy bears were created in a way that was meant to resemble true bears, and so they had a muscled hump in between their shoulders. Larger humps generally indicate that you have an older bear on your hands.

Limbs - Early antique teddy bears are going to be capable of being distinguished based on their long, curved and thin arms. Their legs were typically featuring narrow ankles with large feet at the ends, and the hips were usually quite wide as well.

Nose - Long noses tend to indicate earlier antique teddy bears. The long nose was designed to mimic the appearance of a real bear.

Eyes and Footpads – A teddy bear that has synthetic footpads and plastic eyes is generally going to date back to around the 1950s or the 1960s. Early bear makers made use of boot buttons or of glass eyes, and the foot pads were made out of either felt or velvet.

Joints – Many of the teddy bears originated from 1905 have joints that are made from wooden disks, allowing their limbs to be adjusted. The limbs from even earlier teddy bears could be made from metal rods, but those rods were generally only seen in lower quality bears. Upper end bears would have arm joints, leg joints and head joints, while many other antique teddy bears skipped out on the head joint.

Fabric – Mohair was the chosen fabric for most antique teddy bears because it was soft as well as durable and made out of goat hair to feel just like real hair. Antique teddy bears from after the 1930s may have silk or plush fabric instead, and later teddy bears were made from synthetic materials.

Photo Credits: Paul Keleher

Originally posted 2009-09-26 03:29:07. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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