Please help identify my 14 year old white bear

Greetings, teddy bear experts and collectors,

I've had this teddy bear since Winter 2000. I bought him at Bart Smit in Alexandrium shopping center in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

He was on a half-price sale when I bought him, but for some reason I only bought one. I remember these white bears were displayed on top of a shelf. I think I've seen it on the shelf for another half year- full year before they were gone from the shelf.

It really is a cute looking bear, and I've always wondered who or what company made this such a marvelous masterpiece of a bear, and whether they still make them. It did not have any label to begin with so only clue I have is that he's from Bart Smit.

As for the description of the bear, he is about 50cm tall, but is a sitting bear. It felt pretty big at the time I got it, but now it's a size of an average baby. He's very cuddly, and has this unique fur that I've never been able to find in other bears. I don't remember if the bear started as complete white or with a tint of ivory color. It may have turned slightly ivory over the years of cuddling. Now I could say it's totally off-white, but I think I remembered it as a snow-white bear. Apart from the slight color change, the bear is in near-perfect condition. Because he's a sitting bear, it has a big large butt. The nose is slightly off-center, but somehow it looks right. And he wears a plaid bow-tie.

The tail feels rather flimsy. I remember when I was extremely cautious about holding the bear by the tail, or anyone who'd do that. It feels like it would come off when you raise him up by the tail, but through my careful testing, the tail is attached pretty solid.

He also developed a small empty patch (little bit of fur loss, how do you fix it?) on his lower-right stomach and in the area between his eyes. My mom did some sewing to cover it up - the stomach was done with perfection, so you can't see it, but you could see the little stitch on the middle of the forhead (between his eyes, just above the snout). The pictures were taken before the stitches were done.

So that's that, and I'd really appreciate if someone knowledgeable would identify where he's from, who or what company made it, and if they're still making this wonderful bear.

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