Facebook. November 02 2014, 7 Comments

I'm a novice on Facebook with mixed feelings about it. It is a huge force to be reckoned with and a powerful tool. There seem to be 3 bear sorts of people.

OLD BEAR SORT

If you are in the “old bear” category like me then you may like the bears from the first half of the twentieth century particularly. I don’t know what it is about them but we would like to help to preserve them for future generations. We also would love to track down all those old bears in people’s homes in order to have a photo of them in a central place for posterity. Our type of bear occupies quite a small market, but as the bears get older it is a vital and increasingly valuable market. Hence the teddybear-museum.

ARTIST BEAR SORT

The artist bear market is huge and rightly so. The bears are exquisite and in all designs, shapes, sizes and materials. My only knowledge of it is the artists I meet at fairs and the emails I have had from small home bear makers without a website or access to selling their bears without huge extra overheads. I wonder how old the oldest artist bears that still exist are? They have been made for children and grandchildren since time began. There should be a record of these wonderful bears in the museum too. If the old artist bears themselves no longer exist then there must be some photos to testify to their being. Have you got any? Who were the first people recognised as artist bears?

REPLICA AND COLLECTIBLE BEAR SORT

The replica and collectible market is buoyant too. I don’t know anything about this market other than what I see at auction. It is an active market with the bears of the past beautifully made to factory standard in limited or mass numbers. Some are very affordable and all are increasingly collectable. Perfect to look at as we try to identify our old bears.

I'll put this post on Facebook and see what happens!