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How Old Is My Jakas Teddy Bear?

'BIg Ted'

  The Jakas company began producing teddy bears in the late 1950s, in Melbourne. 1950s-The earliest teddies were distinctively different to those made from the 1960s onwards. Fully jointed, and with brown glass eyes, they were made from a wool/synthetic fabric, with woven fabric for the pads (possibly being reversed pieces of the body material). The label was machine-stitched on beige fabric, reading ‘JAKAS TOYS/ WASH IN LUX’. Teddies produced from the 1960s to the 1980s have a distinctive look, and can more easily ...

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Joy Toys-A 1970s Catalogue

In the early 1970s, Joy Toys was competing in a changed market. The removal of tariffs meant that toys produced more cheaply in Asia were able to flood the market, and this led to the closure of a large proportion of what had previously been very successful Australian toy companies. This catalogue, produced in about 1971-3, illustrates the changing production that Joy Toys undertook, to try and remain in business. It was a time of transition, from the more expensive and labour-intensive quality of the 1920s-60s, to cheaper, synthetic (and more competitive) toy production. The range of teddies shows that  the company ...

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Schuco (Schreyer) Toy Company

The Schreyer Toy Company, more commonly known as Schuco, flourished during the first half of the twentieth century. It was founded in 1912 by Heinrich Muller who, after an apprenticeship with Gebruder Bing (toymakers), began his toy company with Heinrich Schreyer. In 1913 Schreyer introduced it's first range of soft toys, which were wheeled animals, one of which was a bear. It was very successful however the two owners were conscripted into the military after the outbreak of WW1, which closed the factory in 1914. After the war, Muller recommenced the business, with a textile merchant, Adolf Kahn, in 1919. In 1921, the ...

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Merrythought Teddy Bears

The Merrythought toy factory was opened in 1930 in Shropshire, England by two business partners in a spinning mill,  H.  Lawton and W. Holmes.  The mill produced mohair yarn and so the toy factory was established to produce toys from this yarn. Florence Attwood (from the Chad Valley factory) became the head designer until her death in 1949. Merrythought was a very successful company from its inception, moving to larger premises on 1931, and is still in operation today from this factory! The word 'Merrythought' is an old English word for 'wishbone'. The first teddy bears were produced in 1930, from mohair, and ...

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Gollies

Florence Upton first published her book 'The Adventures of the Two Dutch Dolls' in 1895, which told the story of her two wooden dolls and their friend, a black rag doll, given to her by her Nana. (These black dolls were popular toys for Egyptian children at that time, and were brought back to England by British troops stationed in Eygpt in the latter part of the 19th Century). Florence painted all the artwork for her book, and her mother, Bertha, wrote the verses. It was very successful, and inspired the two women to publish a further 12 books. Her name for her black ...

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Barton Waugh Teddy Bears

The Barton Waugh company produced a range of soft toys in Hurstville, Sydney, from the late 1940s till the late 1960s. Predominately a teddy bear company, it also made a small range of dogs and other plush toys. The Barton Waugh 'Bruno' was the most distinctive pattern. Created in many sizes, from 30cm to 182cm, Bruno is now almost never labelled, as each was only identified, when leaving the factory, with a cardboard swing tag. Consequently, many remain unidentified. There are, though, several distinguishing features. Bruno had a chubby head, with a long rather than round head. The ears were cut in ...

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Wendy Boston-Innovations In Teddy Bear Design

Reflecting changes in social views of child safety and of household modernisation, the Wendy Boston soft toy company developed the modern washable teddy bear. Wendy and her husband, Ken Williams, began the company soon after WW2 (1945), in South Wales. The factory then expanded in 1948. The Wendy Boston company was known for its unjointed teddy bears with their arms outstretched. The other distinctive feature was the invention of screw-locked plastic eyes, in 1948. These were amber-coloured plastic with a small black pupil, and fixed in place by a screw-locked nut on a bolt behind the pupil. This revolutionized the safety of teddy bears, ...

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