My Mom's Old Bear

by Frank V
(Oak Hills, CA)

My Mom's old bear appears to be Mohair two-toned, it has five joints and felt paws. It has eyes that move and is hand stitched in the front. It has an unusual mouth that is stitched across upturned into a smile unlike most bears that are two stitches coming down from the nose and curving out. It has three straight claws stitched on each paw, a big round tummy and it has no tag or evidence one wore off or was removed. My mom was born in 1947, but my grandpa owned second-hand stores so it's hard to use that as a starting point.

Comment
Hi

I have checked through my books and cannot find an exact matching bear but I have found a few that share similar characteristics and which might suggest that he also came from the same company.

I have found several bears dating from between 1948 to 1952 that share the same type of eyes and one bear which also shares the same upturned smile. All bears were made by the Gund Company.

However it is quite possible that another company at the same time copied some of the design. I can't find a Gund bear with the three claws in my books, but as I say the movable eyes and upturned mouth does appear on several or their bears.

It’s a shame that so many bears loose their labels, as this is the only true way of identifying a bear. So many characteristics were shared among different companies that sometimes it can be very difficult to identify them.

Anyway this is my guess that if he is that old he may have well been made by Gund who were originally based in New York.

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