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Animal
House Folly
Farm Blog
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Teddy bears, those cuddly symbols of a nostalgic childhood so beloved of children and adults alike, have now also become highly collectible and valuable works of craft. Perhaps one of the most sought after of these toys is the Steiff teddy bear that now fetches enormous prices in auction houses around the world. Little do the buyers realize that the woman who first developed the toy was a German seamstress facing seemingly insurmountable odds. Margarete Steiff was born in Giengen in Southern Germany in 1847. At two years of age she contracted polio and later was confined to a wheelchair. However despite this she attended school with other children of her age and later took sewing and needlework classes. She also enjoyed music and learnt to play the zither; in fact she became proficient enough to teach the instrument. With the money she earned from giving lessons she bought her first sewing machine which was also the first one ever seen in Giengen. Margarete began work as a seamstress in 1879. At first she worked from her clients' homes but later branched out into selling felt clothing by mail order. From the left over material she began making elephant pincushions from a pattern she had found in a magazine and these proved so popular that she also began making other toy animals adding a poodle, donkey and bear to her range. Soon she didn't need to sew clothes in order to earn her living and in recognition of this in1893 she changed the name of her business from "The Felt Mail Order Company" to "The Felt Toy Company". By this time Margarete had four employees as well as 10 outworkers but by 1897 the company would expand to 10 employees and 30 outworkers with an annual turnover of 90,000 marks or £38,000. The first Steiff catalogue was produced in 1892 and included the first version of her bears. These were soft-filled with straw, made of mohair plush or fur and either stood rigidly on their hind legs or on all fours. The first bears were representations of their wild cousins and did not have the "sweet" expression that we have now come to associate with the teddy bear. Their classic features were a protruding shaved muzzle with a stitched snout, a hump bank, long arms with spoon shaped paws, and narrow ankles with long feet. All early Steiff bears had boot buttons for eyes however glass ones were substituted for bears sold to the English market prior to 1914. The company also supplied pull-along bears, revolving bears, rideable bears, and even sets of bear skittles! At the end of 1902 (around the same time as Teddy Roosevelt's name was given to a new toy bear designed by Rose Michtom in the US) Margarete's nephew, Richard Steiff, designed a stuffed plush bear with movable joints. This bear was first seen in the 1903-4 Steiff catalogue where it was known as 55PB. Unfortunately there are no remaining examples in existence. This bear proved to be a failure in the company's New York showrooms as it was thought to be overly expensive, too large and heavy, as well as unappealing to children. The samples were returned to Germany and were instead taken to the Leipzig Toy Fair in March 1902 where again, they did not generate much interest. However, as the fair was closing and the bears were being packed away Herman Berg (a buyer from the George Bergfeldt department store in New York) happened to walk by. He was looking for a novelty toy for the Christmas season and, intrigued by this unusual bear, immediately ordered 3000 on the spot. Richard Steiff was a perfectionist and realizing that the bear could be greatly improved he went to the Stuttgart Zoo where he spent many hours observing bear cubs interacting. From his observations he designed a younger looking version of the original toy and named it "Brle". In this version the straw stuffing was replaced with a wood wool/kapok mixture and the bear had the more realistic appearance that marked all Steiff's products up to 1914. The limbs of these first bears were primitively attached to their body by string or wire although these would often work loose. There was some experimentation with metal rods but it wasn't until 1905 that Richard first thought of disc jointing. Heavy cardboard discs were placed within the four corners of the body and inside each of the bear's limbs. A pin passing through both discs then attached them to the body. So efficient was this method that it is still used today. The company began to enjoy great success. In 1904 Richard attended the World Fair in St Louis where he gained substantial orders. Both Margarete and he were awarded gold medals and the Steiff Company also won the Grand Prix Award. In 1907 Steiff had sold 974,000 bears to the United States alone. However with great success came imitation and by this time many companies were making inferior versions of the Steiff bear. The company by now had dropped the name "Brle" in favor of "teddy bear"; they even tried and failed to patent the name. Later they tried to patent a growler that said "Teddy" but this idea also failed. Instead they came up with a unique way to identify their work. Franz Steiff, another of Margarete's nephews, thought of sewing a button in the left ear of every Steiff toy. By the end of 1904 the phrase "Button in Ear" or Knopf im Ohr was patented. Today these buttons are useful in dating when a toy was made as different logos were used at different times. Originally the buttons were stamped with the elephant logo with the trunk being in the shape of an S (1904-5). Later they were left blank or simply had the Steiff name stamped on them. Today the Steiff Company still manufacture teddy bears along with penquins, gorillas, lions, cows and many other animals. It isn't necessary to be a rich collector buying a rare piece from an auction house to own one of these wonderful toys. Steiff even have their own club with a magazine filled with news about upcoming auctions, exhibitions, and special events. Published four times a year this publication is sent to a membership numbering over 50,000 people from countries all over the world. It is interesting to speculate what Margarete would have thought of all the interest her little toys have created. It is even more remarkable to think how one woman in overcoming such overwhelming difficulties could have produced something that would have become a treasured possession and friend to so many generations of children and the young at heart. This article was first printed on Suite101. ©Jen Longshaw
2001-2006
Please do not copy in any manner, print or electronic,
without permission from the author.
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