I Love My Teddy Bear

Theodore Roosevelt: 1901-1909 ~ 26th U.S. President

A veritable titan of a president, Teddy Roosevelt inspires a good deal of love and hate, being the very embodiment of contradiction. After reading the following, you'll wonder why the man didn't implode. Here was a fellow who, during William McKinley's push for war and empire building in 1897, called anti-imperialists "unhung traitors and liars, slanderers, and scandalmongers." Then, Teddy turned around and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for negotiating a peace treaty between Russia and Japan.

"The story of a president who saved a bear cub's life has a special place in American folklore and inspired the creation of teddy bear plush toys."

"The teddy bear's story begins in November 1902 when President Theodore Roosevelt was hunting in Mississippi. After an unsuccessful day, the hunting party brought a small bear cub to the camp for the president to shoot. He refused because the animal did not have a chance to defend itself."

"Clifford K. Berryman, cartoonist for The Washington Post at the time, sketched the incident and captured the public's imagination as well as that of American toy makers. Soon the country was flooded with teddy bears."

"The original teddy bear, from 1903, was given to the Smithsonian by Teddy Roosevelt's grandson, Kermit. Today that bear is in the collections of our National Museum of American History."

Theodore Roosevelt: October 27, 1858 -- January 6, 1919
The contradictions are nearly endless. He was a weak asthmatic boy who, with determination, worked to become a man of great physical power. He loved to hunt and slaughter untold numbers of wild game, but pushed hard to conserve both those prey and their environments. He loved individualism, but fought mightily for governmental regulation and trust busting. In short, he was a conservative individual who worked hard to create a liberal state. If he ran for office today, he'd be a liberal denouncing the criminal acts of the Republican Party, reinvented by Ronald Reagan, but cheering the recent Supreme Court ruling that the 2nd amendment does indeed give Americans the right to own guns.

Teddy's Bear
In 1902 U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear cub offered to him following an unsuccessful hunting trip. When a cartoon showing Teddy's Bear" turned up in newspapers throughout the country, "Lollies store owner Morris Michtom came up with a design for a jointed toy bear. Teddy's Bear was such a hit that Michtom closed his Lollies store and started the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company, now one of the largest toy manufacturers in the world.
Michtom did not use a label for his jointed mohair plush bears, and this has made authenticating his bears much more difficult. The early Ideal bears are similar to Steiff Bears, but have larger ears set low on the head and feet that are slightly pointed.
Steiffs Bear
The second story, German toy designer Richard Steiff is believed to have viewed performing bears in a circus when he visited America, giving him the idea for a toy bear with jointed arms and legs that could turn its head like a doll. In 1903, he exhibited his new toy, Friend Petz, at the Leipzig Spring Toy Fair.
The Steiff Plush Bears, with long, curved limbs and spoon-shaped paws, are immediately identifiable by the company's trademark. The earliest buttons from 1903 to 1904 were embossed with an elephant; next followed a blank disc, from 1904 to 1905; and thereafter a stud stamped with the name "Steiff.''
As a fan of U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt has the honour that The Teddy Bear craze originated from him, especially as the incident with Teddy Roosevelt was in 1902. It is still a free world, so your choice is open to you. The Name Teddy Bear is here to stay.

Whatever the real story, both Michtom Bears and Steiff Bears are the most valuable because the early versions are extremely rare. There might not be any in existence. Start looking now; you never know your great Aunt Matilda might have one still stuck in her glory box. If you find one you may just become a millionaire. Those that do come onto the market are usually from 1904 or later. Probably those of later years are rare enough for you to become rich, but not in the millionaire class.

It didn't take long for teddy bears to catch on and by 1906 they were all the rage, coming out with a plethora of colours and styles. Some bears even had embellishments such as electric eyes. The term "teddy bear" (without the apostrophe "s") was first printed in Playthings Magazine's October 1906 issue.
The current wave of collecting started in the mid-1960s, when Toymaker Margaret Hutchings published Teddy Bears and How to make them, which included a brief history of the toy. In 1969, English actor Peter Bull published Bear with Me. The two books gave legitimacy to teddy bear collecting and brought closet arctophiles - 'Those who collect Bears' -- out into the open. Soon, the teddy bear became more than just a comforting toy for a child. It became a valuable collectable for adults.
There are thoughts that many parents buy their children Teddy Bears for presents, and in the back of their secret mind, they are hoping that this Teddy Bear will turn into a collectable item of the future. One lady bought five Teddy Bears from me. The name 'CareFlight Teddy Bears' is Australia's National Road Motorist Association and they have sponsored Teddy Bears for Many years and all the money goes to Our Largest Childrens Hospital Known as 'Westmead Childrens Hospital.' "CareFlight" sell a huge number of Teddy Bears every year. Each having a different Name: - Santa, Pilot, Nurse Doctor, Professor. patient

These are some facts garnered amidst the gathering of all this historical data
The teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. It is an enduring, traditional form of stuffed animal, often serving the purpose of comforting children. In recent times, some teddy bears have become expensive collector's items. Teddy bear collectors are known as "Arctophiles" from the Greek words 'arcto' (bear) and 'philos' (lover.

Teddy Bear Effect, the phenomenon where a passive listener appears to impart wisdom to a speaker without doing anything other than listening.
A "teddy bear" is also a shot of Vodka and Bailey's Irish Cream.
There are of course: -
Teddy Bears' Picnic, Michtom Bears.

The Teddy Bears of Driftwood Bears from the beautiful Whitsundays in tropical North Queensland - Australia's Gateway to the magnificent Great Barrier Reef. - welcome you to this website, featuring the collectable artist teddy bears of award-winning teddy bear artist Jaccy Thomas.

This website offers an extensive range of teddy bears for the discerning bear collector from this award-winning teddy bear artist - who has been honoured by having three of her teddy bears placed in the prestigious Dancing Bear Folk Center Teddy Bear Museum in the US...one of only two Australian artists so honoured.

The inventors of the teddy bear, Rose and Morris Michtom, two Russian Jewish immigrants who lived in Brooklyn.

The American Bear as a symbol of gentleness is filled with ironies. For generations, bears prompted fear, not affection. The teddy bear's namesake, Theodore Roosevelt, was a ferocious warrior and big game hunter - a man who killed for sport. However, an unlikely alliance between the rugged, native-born American Protestant President and the Inventive, Immigrant Jewish couple from Brooklyn created one of the most lovable and enduring American Icons.

The story begins in 1902. The states of Mississippi and Louisiana disagreed over the location of their common boundary, which bisected some of the least well-developed land in the United States. The Governors of both states invited President Roosevelt to arbitrate the dispute. Roosevelt decided to combine his tour of the disputed territory with a five-day black bear hunt.

That night, Rose cut and stuffed a piece of plush velvet into the shape of a bear, sewed on shoe button eyes and handed it to Morris to display in the shop window. He labeled it, "Teddy's bear." To his surprise, not only did someone enter the store asking to buy the bear, but twelve other potential customers also asked to purchase it. Aware that he might offend the president by using his name without permission, the Michtoms mailed the original bear to the White House, offering it as a gift to the president's children and asking Roosevelt for the use of his name. He told the Michtoms he doubted his name would help its sales but they were free to use it if they wanted.

American Jewish immigrant success story. The Michtoms sewed teddy bears and placed them in the window of their shop, demand was huge they couldn't keep up. The Michtoms saw there was more profit in teddy bears than in penny candy. Dedicated their time to producing them. Because of the doll's popularity, Roosevelt and the Republican Party adopted their symbol in the election of 1904, and Michtom bears were placed on display at every public White House function.

The Michtoms' labor grew into the Ideal Toy Company, which remained in family hands until the 1970s. Ideal Toys sold millions of teddies throughout the world.
While Ideal Toys could not secure a patent on the teddy bear and many imitators entered the market, the Michtoms created an American - and worldwide - icon. Their original teddy bear, treasured and saved by Teddy Roosevelt's grandchildren, is now displayed at the Smithsonian.

The Teddy Bear is now so much part of the teddy bear artists lives that it's hard to believe he was only invented in 1902, and is named after Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt, the famous hunting President of the USA. For years, the claim to have made the first Teddy Bear has been disputed between America and Germany - and in some ways, both countries made the first Teddy!

The second story begins in Germany, in late October 1902, where Richard Steiff, a toy designer working for the family firm in Giengen, went to a touring American circus in search of an idea for a popular new toy. Among the animals he saw there was a troupe of performing bears, and they sparked off the original idea. The following day, he put his thoughts down on paper for Margarete Steiff, his aunt, who had founded the firm in 1880.

Richard saw an opportunity to make a bear toy, standing upright, and jointed in a similar way to dolls. There had been bear toys before, of course - often made from real fur! - but these had all been copies of real bears on all fours. Richard's bear would be able to walk upright. Margarete Steiff liked the idea, and Richard set to work on visiting zoos to sketch the bears and come up with some proper designs.

Within a few years of their invention, Teddy Bear-mania had swept the world. Roosevelt adopted the bear cub as his mascot for a successful re-election campaign, and Steiff redesigned their bears to create a more appealing face which was to influence all other Teddy Bears for the next fifty years.
While American firms mainly supplied their home market, the German firms - at first Steiff, and later competitors such as Hermann and Bing, exported bears across Europe. Only with the First World War did the Teddy Bear industries of other countries start to make a mark.

Although some Teddies had been made in Britain from around 1910, large-scale bear manufacture only began around 1915. Among the first firms involved were J.K. Farnell, The Deans Rag Book Co, and H.G. Stone & Co (who sold their bears under the trade name 'Chiltern Toys'. English bears tended to be softer in look and feel than their German cousins, and were a major influence throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Farnell bears are generally acknowledged to be the English equivalent of Steiff, but many other companies, including Deans, Chiltern, Chad Valley Co. and Merrythought (founded in 1930), made beautiful Teddies.
One of the most influential of the new bears was designed by Wendy Boston. Seeing the rapid spread of washing machines, she created an unjointed, fully washable bear - a design which was soon copied by all the other manufacturers. The Wendy Boston design influenced most of the bears made throughout the 1960s and '70s - and its shape even affected the look of jointed bears.

From the mid-1970s onwards, more and more adults began collecting Teddy Bears. At first, they were happy with the modern designs, but as the illustrious history of the Teddy Bear became clear, some people began to look for older bears with traditional designs. As manufacturers realized the interest in old bears, they began to aim some of their new products at collectors, rather than children. Steiff produced their first limited edition replica bears in the early 1980s, and in 1984, we opened the world's first bear Museum in England.

A new craze of bear collecting swept the globe - full circle to the Teddy-mania of the early 1900s!

"Teddy Bear Artists" hope you enjoyed this little bit of history!

Black Bear
Ursus americanus
The American black bear is the smallest of the three bears species found in North America, and are found only in North America. Black Bears have short, non-retractable claws giving them an excellent tree-climbing ability.

Black bear fur is usually a uniform color except for a brown muzzle and light markings that sometimes appear on their chests.
Eastern populations are usually black in color while western populations often show brown, cinnamon, and blond coloration in addition to black. Black bears with white-bluish fur are known as Kermode (glacier) bears and these unique color phases are only found in coastal British Columbia, Canada.

Height 2-3 feet at shoulders
Length 4-7 feet from nose to tip of tail
Weight Males weigh an average of 150-300 lbs.
Have been known to weigh from 500-600 lbs.; females are smaller
Lifespan Can live 20-25 years in the wild, although there is increased mortality around 10 years of age.

Diet

Omnivorous: plants, fruits, nuts, insects, honey, salmon, small mammals and carrion. In northern regions, they eat spawning salmon.

Population

It is estimated that there are at least 600,000 black bears in North America. In the United States, there are estimated to be over 300,000 individuals. However, the Louisiana black bear (Ursus americanus luteolu) and Florida black bear floridanus) are threatened subspecies.

Range
The American black bear is distributed throughout North America, from Canada to Mexico. They historically occupied nearly all of the forested regions of North America, but in the U.S. they are now restricted to the forested areas less densely occupied by humans. In Canada, black bears still inhabit most of their historic range except for the intensively farmed areas of the central plains. In Mexico, black bears were thought to have inhabited the mountainous regions of the northern states but are now limited to a few remnant populations.

Behavior

Black bears are extremely adaptable and show a great variation in habitat types, though they are primarily found in forested areas with thick ground vegetation and an abundance of fruits, nuts, and vegetation. In the northern areas, they can be found in the tundra, and they will sometimes forage in fields or meadows.

Black bears tend to be solitary animals, with the exception of mothers and cubs. The bears usually forage alone, but will tolerate each other and forage in groups if there is an abundance of food in one area.

Most black bears hibernate depending on local weather conditions and availability of food during the winter months. In regions where there is a consistent food supply and warmer weather throughout the winter, bears may not hibernate at all or do so for a very brief time. Females give birth and usually remain denned throughout the winter, but males and females without young