The German company, Steiff, changed the design of their Teddy Bears over the years. My previous post shows what I believe to be a very early example of their wonderful bears. From 1905-1948, Steiff used what is known as the “FF” button. It is a small metal button with the name STEIFF in capital letters. The last “F” has a long tale which underscores back to between the E and the I. The fully jointed bears with this button have long, curved arms compared to the legs. They have very defined ankles and have a rather small head (with glass eyes) compared to the body. (The 1950′s bears have shorter, straight arms and legs and a larger, round head). They also have a very defined hump on the back. Bears came in many sizes from 3″ to very large 28″. The very small are popular among collectors and generally the value increases the larger the bear. Of course, condition is always very important. The nicer the bear, the more expensive he will be. My bear has the “FF” button and is 12″ tall. He is a light gold mohair bear with black horizontal stitched nose and four black claws. He is stuffed with excelsior which you can see in the hole in his pad. Even though the Teddy Bear was produced in large numbers during the first half of the twentieth century, I have found it very hard to find a nice Steiff Teddy with the “FF” button.

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.