PollyKay and Sidders: restoration of a Vintage Bear

Thursday, 12 December 2013

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.