Release Date: 2002|6|14
Number of Copies: 1 000 000
Printing Style: Photogravure
Design: Auguste Böcskör
Artist: -
Printed by: Österreichische Staatsdruckerei
Type: Special issue stamp

Today we can hardly imagine a world without our favorite toy, the teddy bear. But it was only a 100 years ago that this stuffed toy modeled on a bear set out to conquer the world. The great-grandfather of all teddies was born in 1902, when German toy makers Richard and Margarete Steiff started to experiment with stuffed toys featuring moveable joints made first of twine, but soon of metal rods. The first prototype was a light-brown bear, whose article name was "55Pb" (55 cm height when sitting). ... more

Today we can hardly imagine a world without our favorite toy, the teddy bear. But it was only a 100 years ago that this stuffed toy modeled on a bear set out to conquer the world. The great-grandfather of all teddies was born in 1902, when German toy makers Richard and Margarete Steiff started to experiment with stuffed toys featuring moveable joints made first of twine, but soon of metal rods. The first prototype was a light-brown bear, whose article name was "55Pb" (55 cm height when sitting). 3000 of these bears were exported to the USA as early as 1903. In 1901, Theodore Roosevelt had become president of the United States. According to a report published by the Washinton Post on 16 November 1902, the president had refused to shoot a bear captured especially for him during a hunting trip. However, no extent of research has ever truly revealed why the German toy bear was named after President Roosevelt’s nickname, Teddy. In 1903, Steiff alone produced 12,000 bears, a number which rose to an unbelievable 975,000 in 1908. Steiff filed a number of patents and branded their products with the famous "button in the ear". In spite of that fact, teddy bears were subsequently being produced all over the world.

The postage stamp featuring a pair of teddies was designed by Auguste Böcskör. For collectors, there’s a listing of the Steiff product definitions, with the little "28PB" being of particular interest because of the small number having been produced.
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