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

Teddy Bear of the Month
August 2004

We will introduce on this page each month a new and special Teddy Bear of the HERMANN Collection.

HERMANN Max and Foxl Bear

Introduced first to the public at QVC UK - The Shopping Channel item# 734343 Wednesday, August 4th, 2004 HERMANN Show on QVC (UK) with TSV 0.00 - 2.00 am  (2 hours) 10.00 - 11.00 am (1 hour) 4.00 - 5.00 pm (1 hour) 8.00 - 9.00 pm (1 hour) Bear: longhair-mohair, 5-times jointed, 15 3/4 inch, embroidering on the paw in gold (bear with running dog+number) green bow, shaved nose, Foxl-dog: short hair mohair, exceslior filling, air-brush on face and body, 6 inch, head jointed, green belt around the neck, with metal chain connected to the bear with informationsheet about the trademark, Limited Edition 1500 pieces Available at QVC UK at www.qvcuk.com item# 734343

The history of Hermann Spielwaren and the Trademark
"The Bear With The Running Dog"

The HERMANN Teddy Bears originate from ancestor Johann Hermann who used to be a toy maker in the Thuringian Forest in Germany, an area famous for wooden toys.

On 24.October, 1913 Johann's 3 children Arthur, Adelheid and Max created their very first Hermann Teddy Bear.

After World War I and the death of Johann in 1919, the Hermann brothers and sisters started their own sepearte business and in 1920 Max Hermann founded his own company in Neufang/Germany.

In 1923 Max Hermann and his wife Hilde moved to the World Toy Captial Sonneberg/Germany.

At the beginning of the 1930's Max Hermann decided to expand his line with other nice animals besides Teddy Bears. He created a little Fox Terrier named "Foxl". To underline that from now on the company was making Teddy Bears and other animals he created a very new special Trademark - the picture of a Teddy Bear together with his little dog "Foxl". This new Trademark became famous around the World as "The Bear With The Running Dog", and since that day all bears and animals carried this trademark. It is still used today by Max Hermann's grandchildren Ulla and Martin Hermann.

After World War II, in 1953 when Germany was devided into East and West Germany Max and his family had to escape from Sonneberg in East Germany to West Germany and they settled in Coburg.

When Max Hermann died in 1955 his son Rolf G. contiuned the business.

When they came to Coburg the family had brought with them some old catalogs and business papers with black and white pictures of the Trademark but they did not bring the hang tags. Since they could not return to Sonneberg they thought that the hang tags were lost.

Only after the Unfication of Germany in 1990 it was possible for the family to return. In 1991 Max's son Rolf G. Hermann and his daughter Ulla went to Sonneberg. At the Sonneberg Toy Museum they found in an old box some of the old Teddy Bears Max Hermann had given to the museum in 1933. And one of them wore the old Max Hermann hang tag. This old hang tag is still in the posession of the Sonnerberg Toy Museum. It is the most important coloured document of the first appearance of the old Max Hermann Trademark - The Bear With The Running Dog.

The sillhouette of the Bear and the Dog in the Trademark has changed througout the years, however the Dog and the Bear has remained from the 1930's until today.

In recognition of this first union of the old Max Hermann Teddy Bears with the new little dog Foxl more than 70 years ago, Ulla and Martin Hermann created "Max and Foxl" for QVC England.

UK / England
Please mail our UK -Distributor TCM - Terry Cordy Marketing

Looking for a retailer in your area ? - Please check our Database for the USA/CANADA
or our VIP Retailer Page with worldwide retailers