History adds to price bears fetch at auction

Provenance such as a photograph of the original owner enhances the value of teddy bears, as two highlights in an auction next Thursday reveal. Last year, a black Steiff teddy bear sold for £91,000 sterling (#146,300).

The auction of fine dolls, dolls' houses, decorative toys and teddy bears at Christie's, London, next Thursday includes "Pat and Nora", complete with photographs and a child's diary. The second highlight comprises two Steiff teddy bears with photographs of the two boys in Canada who first owned them.

Pat and Nora are "both little girl bears", according to Mr Daniel Agnew, specialist in the toy department at Christie's.

Pat is a black Steiff, which is very rare. Perhaps only 600 were made, of which few survive.

Despite Nora being "fairly worn", the pair are a highlight because they come with plenty of family photographs and "a wonderful diary that the original owner wrote during one of her holidays". The photographs include the owner when she was two years old and when she was four years old, holding one of the bears, and a family photograph.

Estimated between £10,000 and £15,000, that is "probably what the black bear is worth on its own", says Mr Agnew. "So what it makes at the end of the day, who knows?"

Despite the girl's first name being Kathleen (who died in 1989), and the bears named Pat and Nora, Mr Agnew was not aware of any Irish connection.

The other star lot (554) comprises two Steiff bears with original photographs of two boys in Canada who owned them. Estimated at £10,000 to £15,000, that too is "probably about the value of the bears", says Mr Agnew.

"But with this provenance again - this is what it's all about really. This is where you get high prices, when you've got something a bit interesting, with a bit of history. They're a very sentimental lot, bear collectors."

Mr Agnew offers the following advice on valuing teddy bears: Pre-1950s teddy bears are "generally worth something", while the most expensive ones tend to be pre1930s. In most cases, they have to be fully jointed. Their head has to move round and their arms have to swivel.

"In the 1960s and 1970s you just get floppy arms. And that's not desirable. They also have to be, in most cases, a natural fibre, natural material. Most of the ones we sell are mohair. "They mustn't be more modern plushes like draylon or synthetic plushes, which are all a bit shiny and sparkly.

"If it follows that criteria and it's in fairly good condition, it's got to be worth £100 basically. Often lower-value bears are worth a bit more than they should be, perhaps because there's a lot of people who only have that sort of money in their pockets to spend. Whereas if you've got £400 to £500 to spend on a bear you can find something a little bit more interesting and rarer."

Other items in the auction include a rare Merrythought Bingie Grenadier Guardsman bear (lot 450), estimated at £1,200 to £1,800. A very rare Bing clockwork bear (lot 547A) is estimated between £1,000 and £1,200.

"We do have some Irish teddy bears but they're not very valuable, I'm afraid," says Mr Agnew.

A 1950s Irish teddy bear, 171/2 inches in height (lot 528) with golden mohair, which has a smaller bear included in the lot, is estimated at £200 to £300. Another large 1950s Irish teddy bear carries the same estimate.

A Dublin toy and train fair takes place in the Rochestown Lodge Hotel, Rochestown Avenue, Dun Laoghaire next Sunday, May 13th, between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

jmarms@irish-times.ie

Investor will return next week