Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 27, 1994 TAG: 9408290043
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Five of the six little buttons on his gold-braided coat are missing. The fur on his nose has worn away, and he has a bald spot on his head. The 12-inch bear has a forlorn face and looks as if one too many dogs have chewed on him.
Yet Kristopher is expected to fetch as much as $100,000 when Sotheby's of London puts him on the auction block Nov. 22. On Friday, no less than Tweed Roosevelt, the original Teddy Roosevelt's great-grandson, rushed to shake the tiny bear's hand as it arrived for America to see at Washington's first annual Doll and Bear Expo.
To the collectors, bear designers and appraisers, Kristopher's value is uncontested: He was made by the German manufacturer Steiff, the ``Ferrari of teddy bears,'' commissioned in 1912 by the Russian royal court and believed to have been the playmate of Czar Nicholas II's daughter, Anastasia.
But more importantly, his red coat, scruffy fur and mottled condition show he is a bear of the highest quality: the better loved, the higher the price.
Even the cool, professional Selena Isaacs, who arranges teddy bear auctions for Sotheby's and arrived by limo with Kristopher, melted when she recalled her own girlhood bear, Woowoo.
``I've still got him, though he's a bit tattier now,'' Isaacs blushed. ``He's brown, has bells in his ear and he's got a very squashed face because I used to sleep on him. I think we all like our security blankets.''
Standing behind ``Flash,'' a golden bear with military medals pinned on its chest, John Blackburn, founder of Canterbury Bears of England said: ``Most bears look better after 100 years.'' That's when they develop character.
Why people would be willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a threadbare bear - the record price for a teddy is $86,000 and expected to rise if the bear market continues to boom - is a matter of considerable psychological musing for serious bear collectors.
``It's like the childhood innocence of Christmas morning,'' said Randy Waller, 44, an oil company executive from Texas, his arms around a beribboned hairy brown bear. ``You can touch a bear and look at that loving face. That's better than any cigarette.''
About the only person at the doll and bear exposition not toting some furry bear was a Naval officer standing outside. He admitted he'd had a teddy as a child, but wouldn't think of carrying it now. ``Not in this uniform. The Navy has enough problems.''
sh: :wq!: not found STORY TeddyBear 8. TOPIC $100,000 for KEYWORDK AUTHOR:08/27/94 5
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