Good-Bye, Little Bear...

I know I said many times that I was indifferent to teddy bears. Who wants bears? They are big, clumsy, with silly faces and there is not much you can do with them. Small stuffed dogs and horses are much more interesting. So I did not even look for bears. We have sold two vintage bears at MulberryTerrace and are offering two more at the moment, but I was not touched with then in the least, even though they are quite nice.

This one was made in Germany. He is made from mohair, stuffed with straw and has glass eyes.

He is beautiful, stylish and lovely to the touch. More photos and information can be found here.

The second "high end" bear we are offering now was made in the USSR in 1970s. It is a charming little creature made from mohair, with movable arms and legs.

He is so small, he can travel with his owner everywhere. At the moment he lives at Mulberry Terrace.

I like these bears, and enjoyed taking photos of them, but was not tempted to keep them, and will be glad when they sell. I am not a teddy bear person at all.

And then my mother brought me another one.

She told her friend that I was looking for vintage toys, and Vladimir gave her this sad looking teddy. His son (now adult) used to sleep with this teddy since he was 1 year old and till 12 years old (mostly keeping him under the pillow at night). The boy loved the teddy, took him everywhere, fed him with a spoon - you know what children are like. Then at some point the bear was forgotten and abandoned and spent many years on a shelf in the bedroom (not in the closet as I thought initially).



Mother's friend was uncertain about giving the toy away, but then he said that maybe someone would want it. He doubted that that because this was such an old and worn toy, so simple and awkward, while there were hundreds of beautiful new toys available.

The bear is from perestroyka time - 1980s - when Soviet people lived in very difficult conditions and not many of them could afford expensive toys for their kids. He was quite cheap, and was brought to Tashkent from Leningrad, Russia, as a gift for the little boy.

He looks very touching, with his awkward little paws sticking out in the silly way. And this is the first bear ever that I would like to keep.  He is already sold, and will go to the US together with the pink horse from one of the previous posts, and... well, I am familiar with "buyer's regret", but this is the first time I am having "seller's regret" and was almost thinking of cancelling the sale. Of course I will not do that - it would be too unreasonable, so he will go tomorrow... Good luck to you, little bear; I am sure your maker could never imagine that you would travel that far. I hope your new owners will be kind to you.

...And I still do not understand what is so special about bears. Can anyone explain this?