Very very old teddy bear

by Sybil Pretious
(Bishop Auckland; County Durham; U.K. )

This bear belonged to my mother-in-law., Audrey Scollic . She was living with her family in Kenya at the time though her parents were from U.K. In 1908 when Audrey was four, her sister died.She was inconsolable and couldn’t understand where her sister had gone. Her parents gave her this teddy bear as a consolation. I have no idea where the bear was bought and he has no tag or other identification on him. I have never seen a bear this shape anywhere and have had no luck in identifying his maker. The bear is in sitting position with prominent knees folded in front in a fixed position.He has a ‘hump’ on his upper back. I believe he had a ‘growl’ and certainly the mechanism can be felt in his back. His fur is sparse as he was well loved remaining with my mother-in - law till her death in 2007. He has a small stubby tail and two small ears pointing forward on a flat- topped head. A portion of his tail has been used to patch the bridge of his nose and I have fixed the end of his nose with embroidered black stitches. He appears to be stuffed with a straw type material. He sits about 15” high and sits solidly on his base and front feet. He is pale straw coloured, has black button eyes ( though I am not sure if they are original). His paws have embroidered marking for the ‘digits’ but there are no markings on the feet.

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