Teddy Bear Auction Could Be A Record Breaker

Dorset’s Teddy Bear Museum will be watching with bated breath the auction of a unique collection of Steiff Teddy Bears and animals being held at Christies, 13th October.

The collection that is expected to fetch in the region of 1.3 million pounds contains many rarities including an amazing Steiff Harlequin Bear, thought to be a prototype that was never manufactured. This wonderful coloured bear, created from red and blue mohair is expected to fetch between 50 and 80 thousand pounds.

Jackie Ridley, the Curator of The Dorset Teddy Bear Museum in Dorchester said, “It’s very exciting for such a wonderful collection of bears to come on the market. Apart from the sheer quality of the bears being offered for sale, the chance that a new record may be set is going to attract the attention of many museums and collectors from all over the world”.

She continued, “At the Teddy Bear Museum in Dorchester we have in our collections a group of teddy bear record breakers. These unique, meticulously accurate hand crafted replicas, were specially made for the Museum. They tell the story of teddy bear record breakers from the first record in 1985, of “King Arthur” a 1905 Steiff that was sold for £3,740. This was followed in 1989 by “Alfonso” a 1908 Steiff that sold for £12,100 and the magnificent “Happy” a 1926 Steiff that fetched £55,000. “Happy” was sold to Paul Volp, an American collector who bought it as a 42nd wedding anniversary present for his wife Rosemary. “

“But all these records were put to shame in 1994 when “Teddy Girl”, a 1904 cinnamon Steiff was sold at auction for a staggering £110,000 to Yoshihiro Sekiguchi who bought it for the Izu Teddy Bear Museum in Japan. Two years later he bought “Teddy Edward” another record breaking teddy for £345,000.

The Teddy Bear Record Breakers are on Show at The Teddy Bear Museum in Dorchester that is open seven days a week all the year round.

The Dorset Teddy Bear Museum is Dorchester's family museum, with Edward Bear and his family of people-sized bears living in the Teddy Bear House. One of the established toy museums in Great Britain.

The Dorset Teddy Bear Museum
Eastgate
Dorchester
Dorset
DT1 1EW
United Kingdom

http://www.teddybearmuseum.co.uk

This release was published on openPR.