All About Old Toys

 

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Brown Bears

by Judith Lile and Jim Sneed

The Schoenhut Brown Bears
Bears are a large, intelligent animal, ideally suited to be a circus performer. The brown bear  has especially good balance - necessary for climbing trees, a skill the polar bear does not need. Schoenhut made both a polar and a brown bear. Only the brown bear can be found in a reduced size. The brown bears were first made in 1906.


Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Susan Turner

Brown bear, open mouth, glass eyes, ball neck

The early glass-eyes brown bear was made with a ball joint neck which gave the bear a good head position range. The ears are leather. Keller Style I - Scarce

 

Photo by Andy Ourant, courtesy of Noel Barrett Auctions

 

 


Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Susan Turner

Brown Bear, closed mouth, glass eyes, ball neck

This early bear differs from the previous one only in its head design - mainly a closed mouth. Keller Style II - Scarce

 


Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Susan Turner

 


Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Jim Sneed

Brown Bear, closed mouth, glass eyes, ball neck, green undercoat

This newly discovered brown Bear was made with a bluish-green undercoat. This sample is the only one we have seen.
Possibly unique

 


Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Jim Sneed

Brown bear, closed mouth, glass eyes, fixed neck

Later, the bear's head was redesigned to eliminate the ball neck joint. The mouth was simplified and closed.
Keller Style III - Scarce

 


Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Susan Turner

 

Brown bear, painted eyes, two-tone brown

This bear was painted in two brown tones - the lighter brown undercoat on the bear's feet and nose.
Keller Style IV - Uncommon

 


Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Susan Turner

Brown Bear, painted eyes

Brown bear, closed mouth, painted eyes

This bear's painted eyes face forward. Its eyes are hand painted. The decal eyes version of this bear is shown below.
Keller Style I - Uncommon


Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Susan Turner

Brown bear, decal eyes

Although this example's eyes are damaged, they are clearly the decal eyes of the latest regular sized bears.


Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Susan Turner

Brown bear, reduced size, decal eyes

The reduced size design is very similar to the last regular size bear. All have closed mouths and leather ears. This example has decal eyes.

 


Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Susan Turner