Teddy Bears All for Love Stamp
4 February 2002
With St. Valentine’s Day little more than a week away, more than one million 38c Teddy Bear stamps have been printed and An Post is advising customers to post their cards early on Wednesday next for St Valentine’s Day delivery across Ireland.
Renowned Teddy Bear expert at the Doll’s Hospital in Dublin, Melissa Nolan said that she was delighted to see a Teddy Bear featuring on the new Love Stamp.
"Teddy Bears have brought such joy and comfort into our lives over the past century, they certainly deserve to be honoured in this way," she said.
Several legends surround the origins of the Teddy Bear as a toy, the most popular of which involves the US President, Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt. In 1902 the President travelled to Mississippi for a round of tough political negotiations between that State and neighbouring Louisiana. A keen hunter, the President took time out from the meetings for a spot of bear hunting near Little Sunflower River.
In order to provide the President with an easy target, a bear cub was captured, stunned and tied to a tree. However when Roosevelt arrived on the scene he refused to shoot the captive animal and ordered that it be set free. The event was relayed to the world by the Washington Post newspaper, greatly enhancing the President’s reputation as a man who believed in fair play and had respect for nature.
Rose and Morris Michtom were Russian immigrants who ran a candy store in Brooklyn and inspired by the newspaper reports, they created a replica bear which they displayed in their shop window under the title ‘Teddy’s Bear’. Orders for replicas of the bear flooded in and within a year, the Michtoms founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company, a firm which was to become one of the world’s largest teddy bear manufacturers.
Designed by Passmore Design, the Teddy Bear stamp is also available in a handy booklet of ten colourful greeting stamps (€3.80) for special occasion cards and letters. As well as the Teddy Bear, other traditional toys featured include the Rocking Horse, Wooden Bricks, a Rag Doll and a Toy Train.
