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Nicholas
is a wonderful and extremely rare Moritz Pappe ' Baby-Bär ' , 11 inches tall
circa 1928, with pale blond,wonderfully soft mohair , amber and black glass eyes
set in grey felt , centre seam, clipped cut muzzle, black stitched nose and claws,
orange stitched mouth, swivel head, jointed limbs , light brown velvet pads and
card lined feet. Moritz Pappe Baby-Bärs are extremely
rare, much rarer than Steiff bears, and to find one such as Nicholas in such fine
condition was truly a cause for celebration ! | 
Click
to supersize
|  | Beautifully
designed, the Moritz Pappe Baby-Bär is truly a bear that would make any child,
or any adult collector, for that matter , smile once you meet him. It truly is
a cheerful looking bear, with many appealing features. Most unique are the
lower eyelids, made out of grey felt, and the smiling mouth with just a bit of
tongue formed from orange felt. 
| The
Moritz Pappe Baby-Bär also has a very unusual side profile, as you can see
. He has a larger head to body proportion ( as do real babies, in real life )
, and he has a straight back with no discernable hump at all . His foot pads are
lined with card, which gives him an ability to stand quite well on his own . His
centre seam design , unlike centre-seamed Steiffs, was a deliberate part of his
facial design , and gives him an extremely appealing look. | |
Lots
138 and 139 at the Christies South Kensington Auction on9th December 1996. Picture
from the catalogue. Click to Supersize
picture.
| On 9th December
1996, a pair of little bears caused quite a stir at the Christies South Kensington
Auction at Old Brompton Road in London. Up for bids was not one, but two extremely
fine Moritz Pappe Baby Bärs with the most adorable expressions. Nicholas,
the larger bear at 11 inch was first up on the auction block, and within minutes
had commanded a princely final bid. Happily, we had managed to bid successfully
for Nicholas. What happened next surprised everyone in the auction room. The sale
of Nicholas seemed to have triggered a frenzy for the second Moritz Pappe Baby
Bär . Considerable smaller than Nicholas at only 8 inches tall , the smaller
Baby Bär triggered frenzied bidding to close at a final auction price that
was more than double that fetched by Nicholas ! We had hoped to keep these two
beautiful Baby Bärs together ,but unfortunately, only Nicholas came to live
in My Teddy Bear Museum. |
In
2002 , Leyla Maniera , Senior Specialist Consultant to Margarete Steiff GmbH ,
published the authoritative book , Christie's Century of Teddy Bears , and we
were extremely delighted to discover that Nicholas, our Moritz Pappe Baby-Bär
, was featured prominently in the book. 
Page
101 of Christie's Century of Teddy Bears by Leyla Maniera . Published 2001 by
Watson-Guptill Publications, NY 
The
Liegnitz Doll Factory was founded in 1869 by Moritz Pappe . Little is known about
the early years of Moritz Pappe production. The earliest records show documents
from 1903 regarding the production of dolls. In 1907, they registered their Trade
Mark as a button embossed with a star. By 1928, their specialty became bears and
they were well known for being able to produce almost anything to order. In 1911
, they produced a somersaulting bear with the same mechanism as Steiff's Purzel
Bär . After World War 1, they registered their teddy bears for copyright. in 1921,
they registered special designs for moveable bears , but sadly, none of these
special bears have been found to date , only the registered designs exist . In
1926 , information shows that Moritz Pappe Bears adopted a colver button as their
Trade Mark. One
Catalogue remains from 1928 , illustrating the huge variety of bears produced
by Moritz Pappe. The main attraction of this 1928 catalogue was the Baby-Bär.
This was the same year that Steiff launched their Teddy-Baby. Steiff immediately
applied for the patent for all young bears but this was rejected. Moritz Pappe
also applied and their application was accepted in
December 1928. In
their hey-day, Moritz Pappe had offices throughout Europe concentrating
on the European market. |
Adapted
from theChristies South Kensington Auction Catalogue for Teddy Bear sales on 9th
December 1996 in London |
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