Christies Announce Auction of Steiff Bears

Aug. 20, 2010 - PRLog -- Christie’s in London have set the date of an auction of Steiff Bears for 13 October 2010. The sale of this collection of over 1300 Steiff Bears is expected to be subject of a great deal of interest. The bidding for some of the Steiff Bears in the auction is expected to reach as high as £80,000.

Of course not all of the Bears will be that valuable, the price for some of the smaller and less rare bears will be as low as £300-£500. However bidding for a unique Steiff Harlequin Teddy Bear with red and blue mohair is expected to reach £50,000 to £80,000.

So why are Steiff Bears so popular? The history of the teddy bear begins with a famous incident involving the 26th President of the USA, Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt. After the president failed to make a kill on a bear hunt in 1902 some of his companions caught and tethered a bear for the president to shoot. However the president refused with the words “Spare the bear!  I will not shoot a tethered animal.”

A cartoonist Clifford Berryman drew a sketch of the scene which was published in the Washington Post and the ‘Teddy Bear’ was born. One of the first to produce an actual teddy bear was a disabled German seamstress Margarete Steiff, who had been producing bear toys since the 1890’s and sold 3,000 ‘teddy bears’ to the American market in 1903 after the ‘Teddy Bear’ incident. Steiff Teddy Bears were born and have been the most popular collectable bears ever since.

The most valuable bear ever sold was named ‘Teddy Girl’ and was sold at auction in 1994 to Japanese toy company boss Yoshihiro Sekiguchi. That record looks likely to remain for some time even with the latest Christies auction however if you would like to purchase a more reasonably priced Steiff Bear then visit the Collectables section of Acorn Media’s UK website where some fantastic collectors Steiff Bears are on offer.

The prices start at £49.99 for the Steiff Cosy Year Bear and include the very special Paddington Collectors' Steiff Bear for £149.99. All are sure to become collector’s items in the future.

For more information visit http://www.acornmediauk.com/index.php/collectables/steiff...

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