Big Nosed Antique American Bear

My most recent antique teddy acquisition is this 14 inch 1908 American bear, maker unknown. He's got a fabulous face, with low set ears and a huge nose that give him a cute, comical appearance (even with a little bit of his nose missing).

 He came to me from one of my favorite dealers in England, dressed as shown. This is, of course, a generalization, but I've found that British teddy bear collectors seem to favor dressing and accessorizing their bears, while their American counterparts tend to prefer their teddies to be...well...bare. (Pun intended.) Almost every antique bear I've acquired from England has come dressed, often in clothes hand knit just for them. The difficult thing for me is deciding whether to leave them that way. I'm stumped with this one, because he looks rather charming in his little outfit, and it's clear that he's worn it for a long time. But his blond mohair is in great shape, and it seems a shame to hide it, and his spectacular, early American style conformation, underneath all those clothes...

1930s Converse Dollhouse

A recent find was this 1930s Converse dollhouse, made of lithographed wood (the design is printed directly onto the wood, not onto applied paper). It's missing its two front porch pillars, but it's still a lovely little cottage, I thought. It measures 12 inches square by 10 1/2 inches tall, and opens from the right side.

 Access to the single room inside is via the end wall which opens with a knob instead of the more frequently seen latch.

I've furnished it as a cottage for a little 3 inch dime store teddy bear of similar vintage, with pieces made by the Menasha Woodenware Corporation (fireplace excepted). Menasha was founded in 1849 in Wisconsin, and was originally a maker of wooden barrels, tubs, and related items. In the 1930s, they expanded their line to include wooden dollhouse furniture in the 1" to 1 foot scale. This toy furniture, trademarked "Tyke Toys," is hard to find now as it wasn't made for very long, but it kept the company in business through the Great Depression. Menasha pieces are often misidentified as Strombecker, as the two firm's products are rather similar.

A view of the inside from above, with the roof removed.

Two of my favorite Menasha pieces are the kitchen cupboard and the stove.

Looks like the little bear is getting ready to make a berry pie...

Odd Antique Teddy Bear

Last year I found this antique teddy like no bear I've ever seen. She's American and probably dates to the early 1920s, but other than that I'm stumped by her. She has the most unusual body construction:  her proportions are odd, with long, thick, perfectly straight arms and short, equally thick legs with very curved tops. Her torso is incredibly stout, and reminds me of a gorilla, or a wrestler. But her face is charming, with an inset cloth nose and a quirky smile, and I couldn't resist her.

Teddy Bear in a Tin

Antique toy collecting is, in many ways, a treasure hunt, and treasures can sometimes be hiding in the most unlikely of places...like this rusty five inch wide tin box. 

 Nasty looking, isn't it? I'm amazed it wasn't just 

thrown out long ago...

But I'm extremely grateful it wasn't, because inside, 

where she clearly has lived for a very long time, 

was this four inch tall c.1910 Steiff bear and her silver tea set, 

all nestled in an antique embroidered silk cloth:

 Her tea set is itty bitty: the tray is two and a half inches long, 

and the teapot is just an inch tall.

For a sense of the bear's smallness, here she is nestled in my hand:

I thought she might appreciate being out of her box after such a long time tucked away, so here she is all moved into my antique tin kitchen, where she can make as much tea as she likes:

Star Wars Day at My Library

We hosted a Star Wars Day at my library over the past weekend, featuring costumed characters from the 501st and Rebel Legions, who were amazing. (Check out their websites here and here.)

My favorite picture from the event is below. We found the perfect book for Darth Vader on our self-help shelves: Coping With Limb Loss: a Practical Guide to Living With Amputation for You and Your Family (this is, of course, only funny if you know that the character loses all of his limbs to lightsaber blows over the course of the films).