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| 5th September 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 XE.com Personal Currency Assistant ... Click here for Currency Exchange details  A popularity poll, commissioned during the early 1970s in the UK, produced results that were hardly surprising at the time. A random cross-section of the public were asked to consider which British manufacturer produced the broadest range and best quality toys available on the market. The clear winner, in the eyes of the British toy buyers, was Chad Valley, whose name had been synonymous with all manner of quality toys since the 1930s. Strange then, that a similar poll conducted along the same lines, some 25 years later in the late 1990s, also produced a clear winner. But this time the company concerned had been taken over in the late 1970s, only to disappear altogether for a few years, before being resurrected as a brand name for a major chain store. The chain store itself has now disappeared from the High Streets, but Woolworths has since returned to the Internet to trade. Oh yes ..... The winner of the poll in the 1990s? ...... Chad Valley yet again! It was quite obviously a household name that many still fondly remembered, and rightly so.  Millicent is a very cute Chad Valley bear from the late 1940s era of production. Her limb sizing of mid-length arms and legs carry the post WW2, pre 1950s shaping of almost drumstick, but not quite. Carrying her original coal shaped nose with small mouth and corresponding feltrum is another clear indication of her manufacturing period, and places her post 1945 and before the changes brought about in company design in 1953. This appealing lady arrived at the Hendry Hug in a state of some disrepair. She had sustained a rather nasty right leg injury at some point, that meant an immediate visit to the operating theatre, where careful surgery restored the limb to a state conducive to the remaining torso wear. At this somewhat traumatic time for the bear without a name, we happened to be discussing an old TV show in which the singer Millicent Martin was involved. Hey presto, the name Millicent fitted our brave friend perfectly .... And she rather likes it as well. Further restoration work followed the leg operation, and surrounded the paw pad areas. The original brown felt to the feet merely required patching in a similar material to strengthen it's condition, whilst the hands were too worn to receive this treatment, and therefore had to be completely recovered in vintage brown felt. Millicent carries original glass eyes and ears, the latter cupped high over the face seams in a partial flopping appearance. Internally, the filling is totally a soft material, more compacted in the head, with some excelsior to the pronounced muzzle area. The body itself has perhaps the softest feel to it, whilst supporting an inoperative squeaker. The mohair coverage is good with thinning in the leg area, as well as to the rear of the body and arms. Other areas show more loss with handling and love, but Millicent is such an adorable little bear, that these losses just add to her overall character and charm ....  In 1964 J.K. Farnell ceased making their toys products in London, moving all productions to Hastings in Sussex. The Acton site was immediately taken over by the Acton Toycraft Ltd subsidiary group, who changed the production name to Twyford. Maintaining many of the Farnell classic features and designs, Twyford were immediately viewed as being high quality producers, eventually filling a void left by one of the best known British Teddy producers of all time, when Farnell ceased to exist in 1968.  Pilbury is most certainly a bear with attitude. It is as if he has a very high self regard for the fact that he is all original, and has negligible wear to most of his features, even managing to retain his side label as proof of identity. He has all the characteristics of first production Twyford bears, which were modelled directly from stock design Farnells of the pre and post WW2 periods. His beautiful old gold coloured mohair has lost none of it's original hue and retains almost 100% of the volume, so well has this bear been looked after in his 45 years. The head shape is squarish with a somewhat flat profile and a slightly pronounced and blunt shaped muzzle. Well raised ears sit high on the head in typical Twyford fashion, and above a broad forehead, centrally positioned safety eyes and a vertically stitched nose. Pilbury's feltrum is minuscule and sits above the rather severe inverted mouth. Proportionally, the body is a good length against long arms, curved wrists and the spoon shaped, Farnell style paws. The legs are also a good length and carry the pre WW2 style defined drumstick shape and rounded feet. All four paw pads are devoid of their original rexine finish, but this is not unusual due to the instability of this vintage material finish. In this instance the cotton backings do show a little wear and slight holing. Internally, Pilbury contains excelsior to his head and kapok to the body and limbs. A growler is still in place and does emit a rather brief sound when the bear is tipped. This could be deemed as a little 'huff', in keeping with his appearance. But whatever the thinking on this, he is certainly a superb quality bear, and is from a period that is becoming more and more recognised for producing high market vintage bears.  Cocoa is another Knickerbocker production from the early WW2 era. This early 1940s primary design bear, was produced in a slightly coarser finish mohair than Sheema, the previous Knickerbocker from the same design and era of origin. Subtle differences in the styling create a slightly different appearance to the latter, but the overall high quality is still very much in evidence.  The dark brown mohair colouring that Cocoa carries, is one of the two colours and finishes that the company utilised at the time. There is only very slight wear to the volume of this covering, which is filled internally by kapok to the body and limbs, whilst the head contains a mixture of excelsior and soft fill. An inoperative growler lies near to Cocoa's spine, and the remains of the company material label can be seen between his chest seam. All velveteen paw pads and muzzle insert are original and show very little wear. A dark brown felt nose, typically used at this time in many of the Knickerbocker styles, is held down by a moderate feltrum adjoining a perceptibly smiling mouth. Cocoa's ears are the slightly smaller sized type, that still come cupped into the facial seams, and give, perhaps, a slightly cuter appearance than their larger counterparts. Finally, the eyes are the one feature that is not original. The two glass stem type that the bear arrived on our doorstep with, were very much the worse for wear. Their replacements, although not glass stem equivalents, are still glass from this period, and give Cocoa a very appealing, gentle expression. A must for any chocolate lovers, Cocoa is a strong candidate for yummy bear of the month. We feel, however, that no matter how good to eat he may appear, he will give far greater pleasure by being displayed as part of your growing collection.  Identifying an old bear as being German in origins is most definitely the easy part of the equation. Continuing to the next stage and pinpointing the original manufacturer can prove to be extremely difficult indeed. With, in excess of two hundred and seventy known companies originally, there were also offshoot setups that were sometimes created through staff from the well established producers breaking away to form their own, and what they hoped to be, successful ventures. This 'spread' of teddy producers throughout Germany, leads to a sometimes painstaking process of attempting to associate the various features and styles with known companies. This process, very often, cannot be concluded with a definite identification, and therefore the only alternative is to label the bear's origins with it's native country only.  Hickory is a wonderful, high quality German bear. He is solidly filled with excelsior throughout, and supports a growler that intermittently emanates it's original sound. His blonde, wavy mohair has maintained much of it's creation volume, with just some thinning and loss to minor areas. Unusually, the paw pads are all made from clipped and separate pieces of the same mohair type as the body makeup. The only recognised German company to utilise this feature was Diem, one of the top bear producers of the country. Unfortunately, this is where the comparison begins and ends. Hickory's arms are long and curved, and his legs straight with small, defined feet. These features indicate that production would have been during the 1940s, and possibly, just possibly, slightly earlier. The ears come small in size and positioned cupped to the side of the facial seam, totally unlike Diem designs. There is a somewhat upturned appearance to the inset, clipped and pronounced muzzle, which carries the original horizontal 'eye' shaped nose stitching, with good sized feltrum and perceptibly smiling mouth. Above these features sit two rather small amber and black glass eyes, which appear to be the originals, but we cannot be totally certain. Despite what might be deemed as his aloof appearance, due to the upturned muzzle, Hickory is, in fact, a very appealing bear who might well prove to be a wonderful 'starter' for a new collector. He might well appeal to other collectors as well, who are seeking a good quality German addition to their hug. Whatever the reasons, you will never regret purchasing such a beautiful old bear. |
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