June 24-26 2016 Premier Toys, Dolls, Marbles & Figural Cast Iron
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/25/2016
This award was made by Steiff to honor the sales achievements of their North American division, represented by the marketing group Reeves International. Only a handful of these were produced, and they were not available to the general public. The bears are in like new condition with all IDs. According to the consignor…“Steiff made the small jointed 10cm bears up to 1965 when they were replaced with the 10cm bear with bendable wire in the arms. This was an economical move to be able to maintain a low price on the smallest Teddy bear. Later, even the bendable version was dropped. In 1980, Steiff collecting became very popular with the introduction of the first Limited Edition Teddy Bear for their 100th anniversary.As such, values on the older Steiff products began to soar. The small 10cm jointed bears became extremely popular with collectors and the 1950's versions were selling for $200-$300, and older vintage for even more. Their popularity was so strong that I suggested to Jurg Junginger, Head of Design for Steiff, that they again manufacture the jointed 10cm teddy bears. He told me that these small bears couldn't be produced because the people who made them were no longer working, they no longer had the technique. This was a big disappointment. In 1983 Reeves International, the exclusive US importer for Steiff, had an incentive contest. There were six winners who won a trip to Europe. One of the highlights was a trip to Steiff. While we were there, all six of us were presented with this wonderful award which had two miniature fully jointed Steiff bears on it - a 14cm and a 10cm version. These were the first small jointed bears made by Steiff in 18 years! They are very unique since they were the first made and their technique had not been perfected. I was elated and I knew it would be a huge hit with our collectors. The 14cm was put into production the next year and the 10cm a couple years after that. These 6 commemorative statues were the first prototypes of the very successful miniature bear series since 1983.”Provenance: From the collection of long-time Steiff archivist Dick Franz.