Steiff Usa

Steiff Usa

Steiff - A Potted History Of The Worlds Favourite Toymaker

Margarete Steiff was born in 1847 and died in 1909. As a child she suffered from polio and took up sewing as a hobby before later becoming a seamstress. Originally she began making animals for use as pincushions, taking inspiration from designs she found in a magazine with her brother Fritz. Only later, when she found out that children were using these as toys and playing with them, did she begin making toy animals.

The first toy animal she made was an elephant, not a bear as many people think. When Margarete Steiff offered this elephant for sale even she was amazed to recieve an order for 3000 of them. And so the legend began.

1880 Development of the first soft-filled fabric toy animal
1892 The first Steiff catalogue was published
1893 Steiff attended its first trade fair
1902 The Teddy bear was born - Steiff invented the first plush animal
1903 The legendary jointed Steiff "55PB" bear was presented and sold for the first time at the Leipzig Spring Fair.
1904 The "Button in Ear" was used to protect all products. The 'Button In Ear' was the idea of another of Margaretes nephews, Franz, who had already noticed copies of Steiffs most popular products had started to appear. At first the button had the companys symbol, an elephant, on them but this was replaced in later years by the word 'Steiff'.
1907 Steiff sold 974,000 Teddy bears, quite an achievement as they had only been producing bears for five years.

American President Theodore Roosevelt - nicknamed "Teddy" - played an important role in the success of the Steiff bear and in the choice of name. "Teddy" was a passionate bear hunter, but on one hunting trip in Mississippi he had failed to make any successful kills so his hosts presented him with a bera that they had caught and offered it to the president for the kill. He refused to shoot the poor animal, saying 'Spare the bear', and this moment was famously reproduced by the cartoonist of the Washington Post. Some New York shopowners heard about this and decided to make a toy bear, calling it Teddy's Bear. At the same time Steiff made 3000 bears for exporting to the USA and the Teddy's Bear, or Teddy Bear, name stuck.

The range of Steiff branded animals available now covers just about any animal you can think of - meerkats, dogs, cats, lions, rabbits, hippos, giraffes, badgers, pandas, kangaroos, and even some extinct dinosaurs and mythical creatures like unicorns and dragons!

Steiff produce the materials for their animals in their own mills in Germany. Plush cotton, mohair, cashmere, imitation fur, all made to the highest standards. Many of the animals have their faces and fur hand-painted, so no two are exactly identical.

About the Author

Collector of Steiff teddy bears and other soft animals. Our website is http://EddiesTeddies.co.uk

Great American Toy Auction: Episode 1