Expensive and elegant have always fancied you. But have you ever thought that a teddy bear can also make it to the ‘most expensive items’ club. Since the birth of teddy bear trend from a cartoon titled ‘Drawing the line of Missisippi’, caricatured by Clifford Berryman, the cute-looking plaything has progressed from having fitted with button eyes to jewel-embedded eyes now. That illustrious cartoon was published in 1902 which depicted US President Roosevelt refusing to shoot a baby bear. The cartoon inspired a Russian emigrant Morris Michtom to come up with a toy bear. Today, teddy bears come in very innovative designs with, of course, expensive prices. Let’s check out few most expensive teddy bears ever sold. Read on.
1. Steiff’s Louis Vuitton Bear
Price : $2.1 Million
This is the world’s most expensive teddy bear ever sold at any auction. This was manufactured by a well-known German toy company Steiff. The company claims to have made the world’s first teddy bear. The company has made this bear with the brand name of the famous fashion house Louis Vuitton. This teddy bear was sold at the Monaco auction in the year 2000 at the most hefty price ever bet for a toy, which was $21, 00,000. Jessie Kim of Korea bought this Steiff bear, and now this bear is housed at Teddy Bear Museum in Jeju, Korea.
2. Louis Vuitton Monogram Bear
Price: $182,000
This is one bear that has been made completely by the brand Louis Vuitton in its 150 year fashion history. The bear is amongst the most favorite for the brand lovers and only 500 teddies were made. This one is named as DouDou. A foot-and-a-half tall, the bear comes with a logo of LV and was sold at an auction at Christie’s, Monaco for the price of $182,550.
3. Steiff’s diamond eyes teddy bear
Price: $84,000
The next most expensive bear that we have in list is again from the German teddy bear making company Steiff. This bear has a mouth of pure gold and its fur is made of golden threads. This golden bear was made to commemorate the company’s 125th anniversary. The best feature of the bear is the eyes that have been crafted from sapphires and diamonds. These bears are limited in numbers as only 125 of the collectables have been produced and each retails at $84,000.
4.Harlequin teddy bear
Price: $ 75,826
Harlequin teddy bear is also manufactured by Steiff manufactured. Created in 1925 with other 1,300 toys made by the German company that year, this is one of the most expensive bears available today. This bear was a part of the asset financier Paul Greenwood, who was held responsible for fraud last year. The bear has red and grey strips on its body with yellow paws and was expected to fetch around $80,000 to $130,000 but could fetch $75, 826 only.
5. Steiff teddy bear with hot water bottle
Price: $ 30,000
Another asset from the Paul Greenwood collection is this Steiff teddy that was expected to fetch around $50,000 at Christie’s International in London but got around $30,000. The bear was produced in 1910 and wore a brown fur jacket with a lace to tie both the ends.
6. Daniel Swarovski’s Teddy bear
Price: $ 10,566
Daniel Swarovski was an Austrian glass cutter and jeweler born in Bohemia and his father had a small glass factory that later started the production of crystal glass jewelry. This was how Swarovski, the famous brand, was born. The company made a teddy bear sponsored by the Daniel’s Swarovski. So, the shirt of the teddy was kept adorned with thousands of tawny crystals. The bear costs whopping $10,566 and is still available at selected Swarovski outlets.
7. Gund Snuffles teddy bear
Price: $ 10,000
Gund, a manufacturer of plush stuffed toys, made this expensive teddy bear. This teddy bear was in the ‘most sought after’ list at the Gund booth at the American International Toy Fair in New York, on last Valentines. This cute bear wears a 10-carat diamond necklace with a white gold chain and its eyes are made of black Tahitian pearls that make it very expensive.
8. Karl Lagerfeld Steiff Teddy Bear
Price: $2,080
Few years back, the iconic Karl Lagerfeld collaborated with the well-known toy making company Steiff to make a Karl Lagerfeld Steiff Teddy Bear for the latter’s 125th anniversary. The collaboration came up with a limited number of teddy bear i.e. only 2500 pieces. This teddy bear was wearing the famous black suit and sunglasses, quiet similar to what the star himself wears. The teddy also adorned the famous ear stud that is Karl’s patent style and also studded beld with the initials of the starts name “KL”. The toy was released at Colette with a price tag of $2,080.
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