HERMANN-Spielwaren GmbH
eMail D-96450 Coburg-Cortendorf / Germany


HERMANN Dekade Bears
New at the Toy Fair in Nurembrg, Birmingham and New York 2002

Up until the present day the phenomenon of the "Teddy Bear" radiates an almost mystical fascination to people of every age and walk of life. During the last 100 years of its existence, the Teddy Bear has become old but remained young for ever. The Teddy Bear's secret is hard to understand. The Teddy Bear, a real survival artist, has many faces. Like no other toy, the Teddy Bear has the personality and ability to re-invent itself to the spirit of every new age with all its challenges. Perhaps this is one explanation for its great success.
2002 the Teddy Bear celebrates its 100th birthday. Happy Birthday Teddy Bear!

The Dekade Bears will be given to the Retailers as a complete set von 10 bears.
They are a  limited Edition of 100 sets worldwide. Each bear is a typical represenative of his time-period.

A list of retailers who have this special Centennial Bear Serie in stock will be publishe mid mach 2002
Because of the small limited edition, we please you to reserve your set of  the decade bears asap.
Each retailer will only receive a restricted quantity of sets.

Retailer information: Please contact

USA
Columbus Internatinal
www.columbusintl.com
UK / England
Please mail our UK -Distributor
TCM - Terry Cordy Marketing
Rest of the World
Please mail direct to
HERMANN-Spielwaren GmbH - Coburg/Germany

1902 - 2002
Teddy Bear's Centennial
The Teddy Bear on the Path of Time

On November 16th, 1902 a cartoon is published in the Washington Post, which shows the US-president Theodore - called Teddy - Roosevelt together with a little helpless black bear. The idea of a "Teddy Bear" is born. At the time it was unable to foresee, that this event will create the greatest cult figurine of all times in the history of toys.

1910

More and more toy manufacturers start with the production of Teddy Bears. The Teddy Bear itself is made of valuable mohair plush and mostly stuffed with excelsior. Some Bears already have a growler voice. The Teddy Bears of the first few hours have black shoe button eyes, and the top of the nose is formed by black sealing-wax. The plush hair around the nose is shaved to emphasize the muzzle. The design of the Bear is powerful. The main features, like long snout and long arms, are identical to that of a natural wild bear. In 1913 the brothers and sister Arthur, Adelheid and Max Hermann also start to make Teddy Bears in Neufang, a small mountain village in Thuringia, close the toy capital of the world Sonneberg. Here is born their first HERMANN Teddy Bear.

1920

Inflation time - during the First World War Teddy Bears could only be made of fabric substitute, because of the shortage of mohair material. Now, after the war, mohair is available again, but it is still rare and expensive. To save valuable fabric the Teddy Bear get now a slight design. The price of a Teddy Bear is first determined by its size, which is measured from the bottom of the feet to the top of the head. Because snout and arms have no influence on the measured size, snout and arms of the Teddy Bear become shorter. By this method material can be saved without changing the actual height. In addition the legs are jointed low down on the body to stretch the length of the Bear. The Teddy Bear gets glass eyes. The muzzle is embroidered by hand. It is in the midst of these hard years, shortly after the First World War, that Max Hermann establishes his own little Teddy Bear factory at the birthplace of the first HERMANN Teddy Bears in Neufang.

1930

Black Friday and World Economic Crisis deepen - the fight to win customers begins. The manufacturers take pains to develop new designs to increase sales. There is one especially popular Teddy Bear design that becomes famous - the Teddy Bear with a sewn-in snout made of short hair mohair. A new technique to color mohair is developed and makes it possible, to die only the top of the hairs with a dark color. The so-called "tipped" mohair is born.

1940

Second World War - mohair plush fabric for making Teddy Bears is no longer available. Teddy Bears can only be made of so-called "customers material". Now Teddy Bears are made of almost any fabrics available - like old woollen blankets, upholstery covering or old coats. Each fabric must be sent by the end customer direct to the manufacturer for the assembly of one individual Teddy Bear.

1950

After the dark years of war, people become addicted to entertainment and simple amusement. The Teddy Bear becomes popular at local fairs and festivals. The first synthetically made plush, which was developed in the 1930's, becomes mass-produced. Old, traditional excelsior stuffed Bears are now made of cheep artificial silk using bright colors.

1960

Time of Economic Wonder - Quality is sought again. The good old mohair Bear returns to the toyshops. Especially the Baby Bear models with open mouths are now made of a new mohair plush, where the top of the hairs is lightly blanched. This so-called "light tipped" mohair becomes very popular.

1970

New soft and washable synthetic plush appears together with new soft and washable filling material. The Teddy Bear gets a new soft round form and evolves into a soft-soap Bear. The old traditional glass eyes are replaced by security eyes made of plastic material, which can be riveted into the plush fabric.

1980

Modern comic characters conquer the market. The traditional Teddy Bear design almost disappears completely from toy cupboards. Soft toy Bears change into comic characters and get a comic like face. To save expensive working time, the muzzles are no longer embroidered by hand. The noses are mostly made of plastic material riveted into the snout or of fabric material sewn into the plush. Rice or polyester granulated materials are tested for filling material.

1990

Gradually, through time, tastes change, and individuals begin to acquire a taste for the former designs of Teddy Bears. These new buyers are adult Teddy Bear collectors. Old Teddy Bears, replica-models and the traditional made excelsior stuffed mohair Bear are asked for again. The growing renaissance of the Teddy Bear lends wings to the creativity of the Teddy Bear makers. The first limited editions appear, to counteract the inflationary mass production.

2000

The Teddy Bear appears in so many different forms, shapes and designs, like no other time in history. Newly discovered filling materials and new fantastic mohair fabrics gives birth to a variety of models and styles. Alongside the old traditional and experienced Teddy Bear manufacturers, an increasing amount of young artists and designers become devoted to the "Teddy Bear" theme. New styles and brave designs characterize the Teddy Bears of the new generation.

Comment
The Teddy Bears, which are introduced for each individual decade, have to be judged as classical representatives of their time. The work was to show some typical features for Teddy Bears made during their individual time epochs - like style and material - and to include them into the design of the "Decades Bears". The Teddy Bears have not compellingly to be seen as replicas. The represented dates of the year have to be understood as chronological approximate classifications and contain also the years around about the individual decade. The chronology and the Bear design, which is classed with the individual decade, based on more than 80 years old experience in manufacturing Teddy Bears from one of the oldest Teddy Bear manufacturers of Germany, the HERMANN-Spielwaren GmbH Coburg.

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