Reflecting on Days Gone By...

There is nothing quite like the look of a teddy bear that has seen much play and many years. Many bear artisans have tried to reproduce the look with varying degrees of success.

I bought these two bears together as a lot on an online auction several years ago. They obviously were well loved, and time finished the job of creating their distinctive characters.

The bear on the left was made by Bing, a German toy company that produced teddies between 1907-1932. This bear was probably produced between 1919-1932.

The bear on the right is one of the many cheaply produced American "stick" bears, named for their crude stick-like legs. Maker is unknown, since many short- lived companies didn't identify their creations with company logo tags. Mine was probably produced between the early 1920s and the 1930s. I cannot confirm it, but I'd would like to think that these two pals were originally bought by the same household and have been through all these many years together.