The Steiff Teddy Bear is one of the most beloved and sought after teddies among today’s collectors. Steiff, a century old German company, manufactures very high quality teddy bears and other animals. The Steiff Original Teddy, one of many teddy bear designs, has had various characteristics through the years. If Teddy is missing all identification (ear button, ear tag, and chest tag), certain characteristics can help to identify his age and also authenticate him as genuine Steiff. The 1950′s Original Teddy is one of my favorites. Teddy came in gold and caramel color and were available in sizes from 3″ to as large as approx. 25″ tall. Today one of these Teddy Bears in excellent condition can be very expensive. They were 5 way jointed and had glass eyes. The fifties teddy had shorter arms than his earlier cousins, four claws on his paws with felt pads. Steiff Teddies have rather large feet with very shapely ankles. The Original Teddy Bear usually had a neck ribbon and a paper chest tag. One is very lucky to find a bear with ear button (raised script design), ear tag, neck ribbon and chest tag all intact.