The Bear Facts
Opinion is divided over the origins of the first Teddy Bear. Margarete Steiff was, without a doubt making Teddy Bears in 1902, at about the same time that the U.S. also told their own Teddy Bear story.
In November 1902 the U.S.President, Theodore Roosevelt, went on a hunting trip to Mississippi and whilst there he refused to kill a young bear, he spoke the famous words ''Spare the Bear''. Newspapers reported this incident and one paper in particular, the Washington Post, added a cartoon which was drawn by the cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman, in which the bear was portrayed as an enchanting bear cub with round eyes and large ears. The cartoon was given the caption title ''Drawing the Line in Mississippi''. The bear cub in the drawing had a masked face and hence this is mirrored on this very rare Teddy Bear.
DID YOU KNOW :
In 1940 - 1945, magazines published knitting patterns for making teddy bears, using unravelled wool.
