by Deborah Stewart

Created on: April 10, 2011   Last Updated: April 15, 2011

2004 marked the 100th anniversary of the Teddy Bear. The origin of the first created Teddy Bear is a subject of controversy and is claimed by both the United States and Germany. Here in the United States, in November of 1902, President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt failed to find and kill a bear on a hunting trip in Mississippi. In fun, the President’s companions caught and tethered a bear and presented it to him “to kill”.

Refusing to kill the helpless animal, President Roosevelt spoke the famous words: “Spare the bear! I will not shoot a tethered animal!”. These words inspired Clifford Berryman to draw and publish a cartoon of the incident in the Washington Post.

Soon afterward, Brooklyn shopkeepers Morris and Rose Michtom created a soft toy bear and with President Roosevelt’s permission, named it “Teddy’s Bear” to commemorate the display of the soft heart of President Roosevelt and his refusal to shoot the tethered bear. The Michtoms’ display of the toy bear in their shop window beside the cartoon from the Washington Post generated an unprecedented “Teddy Bear” mania here in America.

The “birth” of the Teddy Bear in America was a twofold blessing: it brought a literal fortune to the Michtoms through their creation of the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company (1906-1938), which they then changed the name to the Ideal Toy Company in 1938. The plush Teddy Bears were the first toy in their production line, later producing such well-loved dolls as Shirley Temple, Judy Garland and Deanna Durbin. The other side of this twofold blessing of the creation of the Teddy Bear is that instantly became President Roosevelt’s political mascot, and Teddy Bear Tea Parties are alive and well today.

At about the same time, on the continent of Europe, there lived a disabled German seamstress, Margarete Steiff, who owned a soft toy factory in Giengen, Germany, founded in 1880. She was joined later by her brother, Fritz. Her nephew Richard joined her company in 1897. Richard claims to have created the first Teddy Bear in 1902, which curiously is the same year that President Roosevelt failed to kill a bear on his hunting trip and the Michdoms created their soft bear. Could both the Michdoms and Richard Steiff – living on separate continents-have been inspired to create the Teddy Bear independently of one another in the same year? The answer may never be known.

Margarete decided to add a soft bear to her line of soft toys after her nephew created it in 1902 and sold 3,000 of them to America in 1903.

In 1907, Steiff manufactured 974,000 Teddy Bears.   

Margarete Steiff sold millions of Teddy Bears to the United States, Germany and Britain between 1903 and WWI. Steiff claims to have made the world’s first Teddy Bear. A special anniversary edition of only 125 Steiff bears was created at a price tag of $84,000.00 each. These bears have a solid gold mouth, fur made from gold thread and sapphire and diamond eyes.

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