Hermann Bears With a New Lease of Life

I have a group of Hermann bears in my Etsy shop at the moment. Three of them are from around the 1950's.
The first one though is a more modern example that I would not have recognised as a Hermann bear, but I am told on good authorisation that he is.  He is definitely a German bear.
This cute chap is really cuddly with a good covering of mohair. 

 



SOLD

 The next is this cheerful open mouthed bear with his black dog.  He is not jointed, but sits quite happily if leaning on something.
I had to remove his head (sorry if you are squeamish, I hated doing it) and stitch it back on again as it was in danger of falling off.
He has a squeaker that works when it feels like it!


This grumpy looking growling Hermann bear stands very straight (with a bit of help from me) and looks very proud of his little bell.  He is a serious soul, but very cuddly with his beautiful long pile mohair.  I had to do some extensive repairs to his paws, practically having to replace the left one as can be seen if you look carefully at the photo.  He is probably my favourite of this group of Hermanns.  As with other damaged paws I tried to leave as much of the original fabric in place and just slip the new underneath and stitch in place with tiny invisible (I hope) stitches.

This is the last of the German bears to date.  I am not sure if this one is actually a Hermann bear, but he is definitely from that area of Germany, as there are many similarities in his design.  He is not mohair, but a soft plush which has cleaned and brushed up very well.

All of the above bears are available for sale in my Etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/PollysVintageBears

along with many other bears and vintage toys.

A bear with Piercing Eyes...

...literally.
An old bear I have acquired was next in line for restoration.  I thought he just needed a patch on one of his paws and a general clean up.
Then I noticed that his eyes were different sizes, so they had to be replaced.  I got out my scissors and started the process of finding the cotton to cut to release the glass eyes.
I found no cotton, but was amazed at how the eyes had been put in.  They were just pushed in and held in place with a bit of glue. 
However did those of us that were children in the 1940's and 1950's survive?

 

 

 Here he is with his new eyes.  He needs a clean, although the really dark patches on his bald nose may not come that clean.  I should be able to fluff up and clean his fur though.

 I tried to find out who his maker was, and on examining his paws to see what repairs were needed, I found little holes which led me to believe that he was a Merrythought bear with the webbed claws typical of some of their bears.

I looked through my Merrythought reference book, and lo and behold - here he is.  This one has darker paws, but the head, ears, nose shape and general body and limbs shape matches so I have decided that he is a Merrythought from the 1940's.
I have a bit of work to do on him and then he will be for sale in my Etsy shop.