>
A widower is selling his late wife’s beloved collection of 4,000 teddy bears for £100,000 which he will donate to charity.
Les Collard, 84, and Susan ‘Sue’ Collard built the fluffy collection over 30 years and filled their four-bedroom home with vintage bears.
They spent almost every day of their retirement traveling to specialty stores, fairs and sales to buy second-hand stuffed animals that Sue, a seamstress, would repair.
Each bear was displayed on specially designed shelves in their home in Hereford.
Les Collard, 84, and his late wife Susan ‘Sue’ Collard built the stuffed animal collection over 30 years and filled their four-bedroom home with vintage, vintage bears. Each bear was displayed on specially designed shelves in the Hereford house.
Each of the teddy bears was individually named and numbered by Sue and the complete records in four files and two ledgers were collated. She named the bears after the places where she acquired them.
Les, who worked in management at a metal factory, said Sue started collecting teddy bears after he bought her one for her 50th birthday. He said: ‘We have a four-bedroom house and almost every room has bears on the shelves You can see each bear, they are staggered like a football stadium.
Sue, who died in February at age 76, spent almost every day of her retirement traveling to specialty stores, fairs and sales to buy second-hand stuffed animals with her husband.
Each was named and numbered by Sue and the complete records in four files and two ledgers were checked.
He named the bears after the places he got them.
Sadly, Sue died in February at the age of 76.
She and Les, her husband of 58 years, agreed that the surviving spouse would sell the collection and donate the proceeds to the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust.
It is so big that it has to be divided up and sold in three different auctions.
He told them it’s been emotional sorting through the collection, but he knows it’s what his wife would have wanted.
He said: “We had agreed years ago that we would eventually sell them and donate the proceeds to a wildlife charity whenever we could afford to.”
I get by just fine and every penny will go to charity.
Two bears, named Northwood and Huntley (pictured), which were made in Germany before the First World War, come as a pair worth £1,200 and will be auctioned for charity.
Bear brands include Steiff, Farnell, Schuco, Chiltern and Merrythought and estimates range from just £30 to over £1,000 (pictured two 1930s Chiltern Skaters with an estimate of £300 each)
The widower told Les that it has been emotional sorting through the collection, but he knows that it is what his wife would have wanted. He added: “We had agreed years ago that we would eventually sell them and donate the proceeds to a wildlife charity whenever we could afford to.” It’s been a lot of effort and it’s been emotional, but I know it’s what Sue wanted to do’ (pictured left is a rare blue mohair miniature Schuco teddy bear from the 1920s with an estimated value of £ 200)
It’s been a lot of effort and it’s been emotional, but I know that’s what Sue wanted to do.
‘I thought when Sue died, I had to move on in case something happened to me.
“I would have hated for someone to walk into the house without knowing anything about the bears.”
Les, who worked in management at a metal factory, said Sue started collecting teddy bears after he bought her one for her 50th birthday.
He said: ‘She was a craftswoman and she had the idea of buying battered old bears, sewing them up and then selling them.
‘But Sue quickly decided she wasn’t going to sell them.
“We would go out five or six times a week to craft fairs and sales in Herefordshire to buy bears. He bought about 200 a year on average.
“There are bears he bought for 10 pence and some for over £1,000.”
‘They were all put in a deep freezer to kill any insects. But they were equally loved.
He told them, “She was an artisan and she came up with the idea of buying old battered bears, sewing them together, and then selling them.” But Sue quickly decided that she was not going to sell them. We would go out five or six times a week to craft fairs and sales in Herefordshire to buy bears. She bought about 200 a year on average’
Sue’s collection of teddy bears is so large that it has to be divided up and sold at three different auctions (pictured is Thurloe, a 1930s black mohair Knickerbocker teddy bear with an estimate of £300)
‘Each one was catalogued, named and numbered with its provenance.
‘We have a four-bedroom house and practically every room has bears on the shelves. You can see each bear, they are staggered like a football stadium.
Bear brands include Steiff, Farnell, Schuco, Chiltern and Merrythought and estimates range from just £30 to over £1,000.
Two bears, named Northwood and Huntley, which were made in Germany before World War I, come as a pair and are worth £1,200.
A Steiff bear, called the Brompton, which was made in 1910 and lived with its former owner in New Zealand, is valued at £1,000.
A rare ‘Pindar the Panda’ bear made by British toy firm Chiltern in the 1930s will sell for £800.
And there are a number of Paddington bears for sale, including two Paddington and Aunt Lucy bears made by Gabrielle Designs that are worth £120.
Daniel Agnew, a teddy bear expert at Special Auction Services in Newbury, Berkshire, which often hosts auctions of rare teddy bears, such as bears taken as good luck pets by World War I soldiers, said: ” We are delighted to sell the largest collection of vintage and antique bears.
“Susan’s collection represents a complete history of the bear market with examples dating from 1905 to the 1970s.”
Frances Weeks, Herefordshire Wildlife Trust marketing and communications manager, added: ‘It’s such a special collection.
“We are really touched that they chose to give us the money raised.”
The first sale takes place tomorrow, Thursday December 7th.
Daniel Agnew, a teddy bear expert with Special Auction Services of Newbury, Berks, said: “We are delighted to sell the largest collection of vintage and antique bears ever.” The first of three auctions takes place tomorrow, Thursday 7th December (pictured is Marshall and Snelgrove, one of the first British teddy bears and his friend with an estimated value of £400)