How to Buy a Steiff Animal
Teddy Roosevelt's refusal to shoot a bear in 1902 coincided with the Steiff bear's arrival on U.S. shores. By 1907, nearly a million teddy bears were made by Steiff for buyers in many countries, and their popularity has continued. Here's how to enter the world of Steiff.
- Difficulty:
- Easy
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- Baby Brown Bear By Steiff
- Baby Polar Bear By Steiff
- Bernie St. Bernard By Steiff
- Classic 1920 Bear By Steiff
- Classic Toad By Steiff
- Panther By Steiff
- Robby Spotted Seal By Steiff
- Steiff Bears
- Susie Cat By Steiff
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1
Learn about the history of Steiff by visiting Web sites or going to the library. Pioneered by German seamstress Margarete Steiff in the 1890s, Steiff animals have a century-long history.
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2
Learn about what makes Steiff bears identifiable - the button in the ear, for example - and different.
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Know that each Steiff bear is handmade. Up to 30 small sections of fur fabric are sewn together for each product, and a teddy bear's nose can take 15 minutes to sew by hand.
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Learn about how Steiff bears are classified and valued by collectors. Values are determined by a complex combination of factors including animal number, year of introduction, introductory price and year retired. In most years since 1980, Steiff has offered a range of collector's items including miniatures, "Classic" products and replicas of former favorites (some in limited editions complete with numbered certificate and presentation box).
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Decide on a bear and allocate a budget - always an important step when dealing with collectibles.
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Tips & Warnings
Until 1900, Steiff used an elephant with an "s"-shaped trunk as a business logo (because an elephant was the first animal Margarete Steiff had made). Imitations inspired her to design a permanent and more recognizable trademark. The solution - a small black button in the left ear - was revised in 1904 to incorporate an embossed elephant. Because of a ruling of the German patent office, it's not the button itself that's registered; it's the words ("button in ear" or, in German, "knopf im ohr").
Teddy bears have been collected in the United States since the 1930s, but in the last 10 years interest in old teddy bears has developed in Britain as well, and prices have escalated. The first significant price was the 2,090 pounds paid at Sotheby's in May 1985 for a blond, 1905 Steiff bear. The world record price is the 110,000 pounds paid for a 1905 cinnamon-colored Steiff bear called Teddy Girl at Christie's in December 1994. Consider consulting a reliable source such as Peter Consalvi's "Collector Steiff Values, 2nd Edition" before you buy.
New Steiff animals range in price from $89 to $1,200.
