$21,000
Sold
sold
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Description
17" (43 cm.) Very-firmly excelsior-stuffed teddy
with brown wool plush "fur",internal metal rod
armature (see accompanying X-Ray) with swivel
head,elongated nose,black sealing wax
nose-tip,black shoe-button eyes,twine-thread
jointing of arms and legs through cardboard
discs,elongated arms and oversized
feet,embroidered claws,felt paw pads,stitched
ears,hand-stitched seam across the top of the
head. Condition: there is wear to the the wool
plush on several small parts of the face and
limbs,back of the left arm is worn through to
excelsior in one 1" x 1/2" spot,paws are dusty.
The bear is originally preserved with no
restorations. Comments: Steiff,circa 190,the
earliest period model; this wool plush teddy just
preceded the mohair "Barle" introduced at the 1904
Leipzeig Spring Fair. See CieslikÞs Button in
Ear,page 32. Value Points: extremely rare early
model bear of which very few models are known to
exist. Beulah Blanch Staats,born 1907 to the
South Bound Brook Farm family of Somerville,New
Jersey,received the bear in the early years of the
20th century from a relative who had emigrated
from Europe to work on her fatherÞs farm. The
bear was later given to her nephew,James A.
Staats,born 1922,and then to James A. Staats,Jr.
from whom it is now being sold.