I have quite a collection of bears.
Most are in a box in storage, given names I have long since forgotten. I
am wondering if we are ever too old to be an arctophile. Would I be
better to put them on an auction site and use the money for a treat?
A POTTED HISTORY OF THE BEAR
In
Switzerland and France the proof of bear worship can still be found. In
Berne (meaning Bear), the capital of Switzerland, there are still bear
pits where you can feed carrots to the bears. Many bones and skulls of
cave bears have been found at a site in Drachenloch in Switzerland. Why
Neanderthal man began hunting the Cave Bear is not certain. It was a
formidable animal, standing more than eight feet tall when reared in
anger, and must have been a dangerous foe.
Teddy bear collectors are known as arctophiles from the Greek words 'arcto' (bear) and 'philos' (lover).
Theodore
Roosevelt, the American President, was responsible for the first “teddy
bear”. On one of his Mississippi hunting trips it is believed that his
assistants cornered a black bear after a long chase and tied it to a
willow tree. Roosevelt refused to shoot it saying the immortal words,
“Spare the bear! I will not shoot a tethered animal.” Clifford Berryman
of the Washington Post drew a cartoon of the scene and eventually the
cartoon bear became smaller and cuter. In 1903, a new stuffed toy was
developed by Morris and Rose Michtom, owners of a store in Brooklyn and
when they put it in their shop window they used a sign saying “Teddy’s
bear” and it became a great success. Almost simultaneously in Germany
Margarete Steiff, a disabled seamstress, was making stuffed teddies and
selling them to the USA. The Steiff company went on to sell millions of
teddies before the First World War in Germany, as well as the UK and
USA.
