Steiff Teddy Bears

Steiff Bear from 1949-1953?

        Steiff is a German-based plush toy company. It was founded in 1880 by Margarete Steiff, a seamstress. The toys began as elephants, and were originally a design Steiff found in a magazine and sold as pincushions to her customers. However, children began playing with them, and in the years following she went on to design many other animal-themed toys for children, such as dogs, cats and pigs. She designed and made most of the prototypes herself. Steiff's nephew Richard joined in 1897 and gave the company an enormous boost by creating stuffed animals from drawings made at the zoo. A 3000 piece order was placed in 1903 by a buyer in America after the "Teddy" bear craze began showing a cartoon with President Roosevelt and a young cub. By 1907, Steiff manufactured 974,000 bears, and has been increasing its output ever since. 

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The history of Steiff toy company and the first teddy bears.

 

 

Our Yesterdays When Teddy Bears Won Name From the Late "Teddy" Roosevelt

 

       "A happy child with his teddy bear; right, "Teddy" Roosevelt. Few men in history have left behind them more mementoes to remind the world of their accomplishments than Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt. former president of the United States, and noted hunter. One which recalls "Teddy" to the children is the teddy bear, which received its name from "Teddy" Roosevelt. The toy bear was invented in Germany by Margarete Steiff, a crippled dress-maker. She made the first one about 1888 for a neighbor's child, from some leftover material. Soon afterward her brother, Richard Steiff, saw the commercial possibilities of the toy bears and began to put them on the market, Within a few years they were being sold in many parts of the world, but until 1902 they did not bear the name of teddy bears. In that year Roosevelt went on a hunting trip in Mississippi, and a story was circulated that while there he refused to shoot a bear cub. The story was received popularly, and soon the new toy bears were being called teddy bears." Daily Dispatch, 1935