Boyds Bears

Boyds bears have been around since 1979 which makes them one of the more respected so called new comers to the world of modern teddy bear making.

They have a very distinctive look about their faces and it's quite easy to spot a Boyd's teddy without having to look at its label.

Boyds teddy bears and figurines are collected the world over due to their limited availability and quality. The plush bears are relatively low priced in the world of collectors bears but what makes them collectable is that every year a number of them are retired which makes them hard to come by for any collector.

The Boyd's Story

Mrs Mertz 1999

Boyd Collection Ltd was started in the town of Boyds, Maryland, USA in 1979 although at this time it was trading as an antique shop. The owners were a Gary Lowenthal and his wife Justina Unger.

Gary and his wife had become bored with their high pressured jobs and decided to take a leap of faith and follow their hearts and interests. Starting the small antique shop was the beginning of their love of all things of quality. So when their son came along Gary decided to make him a quality handmade teddy bear called "Matthew", this was the beginning of boyds teddy bears.

Gary Lowenthal had some very precise ideals about his bears and he insisted that all Boyds bears should be hand cut and hand sewn and quality checked before leaving their ever expanding company, making their teddy bears a very high quality product.

Mary Jane Mayberry

Carin Tenderheart 2011

He wanted to make sure that his bears were sold in small stores where he could get to know the owners and their stock. So Boyds bears are only sold via high quality gift stores and their own online store, you won't find them for sale in large discount toy stores or the like.

He also did not want to make them expensive as he wanted them to be accessible to children so that they could be played with if wished. However he wanted his bears to be collector's items and so rather than price them higher he decided to retire some of his bears every year, making them more collectable.

Although Boyds have now been bought by Enesco (a large giftware company), Gary Lowenthal has assured the fans of his bears that he would continue to keep an eye on the production of the bears to ensure their quality.

The Collections

Boyds have many different collection ranges within their plush bears. However due to the company's policy of retiring bears on a regular basis these collections are continuously changing.

See some of my personal favourites from the collections at the moment.