Steiff White Bear, ca. 1905
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GUEST:
It was given to my family approximately... eight years ago by an acquaintance of my mother who she took care of in the latter part of her years. And she had no children. So she adopted us as, like, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren, and she gave this to me so that I would enjoy it, and it's been in my curio cabinet for about eight to ten years.
APPRAISER:
Any background as to maybe when she got it as a child?
GUEST:
Well, she was 95 when she passed away, so I assume that she probably acquired it in the early 1900s, maybe 1910, 1915?
APPRAISER:
Somewhere around in there, but that's just a good guess. Well, it's a beautiful German bear. And it's actually made by Steiff.
GUEST:
(inhales) Okay.
APPRAISER:
The button is missing in the left ear.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
It looks like a very beigey color, doesn't it?
GUEST:
Yes, it does.
APPRAISER:
But it's not really beige.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
It's white.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
If you look at his nose, which is brown...
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
If you see a brown nose on a Steiff bear, even though the color looks beigey, originally this was bright, bright white, which is an unusual color to find. And this particular bear-- pretty excellent condition. A little wear here.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
The original felt pads. You can see felt coming through there.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
The clothing was probably made for him in the time. And he dates, oh... from 1905, 1910, in around that. He has what you call shoe button
eyes, so he's pre-World War I.
GUEST:
All right.
APPRAISER:
Not that they didn't use them afterwards, but usually they went into glass eyes.
GUEST:
All right.
APPRAISER:
It's a beautifully joined Steiff bear. So the head moves, the arms move, and the legs move.
GUEST:
Are the joints plastic, or are they...?
APPRAISER:
No, no, no, there'll be... There'll be cardboard in there, and then sewn in.
GUEST:
Okay, and that cardboard doesn't deteriorate over the years?
APPRAISER:
Uh, you don't want to mess around with it too much...
GUEST:
So just kind of let it sit still.
APPRAISER:
Let it sit, it's perfectly fine.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Probably on today's market, at a shop, oh, between $10,000 and $12,000.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
Yeah, really.
GUEST:
That's wonderful.
APPRAISER:
Back in the '80s, these were actually bringing more money.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
So back at that time, they were bringing between $15,000 and $20,000. So they've gone down a little bit.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
But they're still very collectible.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Keep him in your China closet.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Not a lot of sun on him.
GUEST:
All right.
APPRAISER:
And he'll remain perfectly fine.
GUEST:
Wonderful.
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