Passed
Click image to enlarge
Description
43" (110 cm.) Curly brown-tipped mohair teddy,middle facial seam from his forehead to his
snout,well-developed back hump,large blue and black down-glancing eyes,brown stitched
nose,wire-framed "posable" attached ears,disc-jointed limbs,felt paw pads. Condition: very
good,excellent,few stray nose threads,right felt paw has hole at the inner wrist,few other tiny
moth holes in felt. Marks: Steiff (button in ear). Comments: Steiff,the "Petsy" bear was offered
by the firm for only a very few years,1928 to the early 1930s,and was advertised in ten
sizes,up to 75 cm. This grand 110 cm size is not mentioned in their advertising,although
three other 110 cm Steiff bear models from this era were so advertised. It is most likely that
the 110 cm Steiff Petsy was created as experimental or exhibition model,as no other examples
are known to exist. Provenance. The Petsy bear has lived with the Osgood family of
Buffalo,New York since the early 1930s. The family relates "our teddy was given to my
grandmother [Ruth Osgood] when she was a child; Grandma is now 91 years old. My great-
grandmother [Philomena Osgood] was shopping during the Great Depression when she saw
this huge Teddy Bear in a shopkeeper's display window. She wanted to buy it for my
grandmother who was her only child. She brought the Teddy Bear home on the bus. I guess it
was quite a struggle...My great grandmother lived way out in the country so it was a long
ride...". The bear has lived in the same family for four generations.