I never will forget the day when my mother chucked away my beloved Ba. I actually was about 10 when this happened, but it still was traumantic and if I had been in her place, it would not have occurred. He was one of those old-fashioned bears stuffed with sawdust and evidently the stuffing had become infested with some sort of small undesirable insect. I fought for his salvation tooth and nail but to no avail. If I had been the mother, I would have made a small opening in one of the seams and removed the offending stuffing, but M simply tossed him. No such tragic end ever was destined for Vicki's bear. I believe my Mum still has him.
Anyway, Ba, who at that point had only one eye, but again, could have been fitted up with another, disappeared from my life and still is mourned.... No one really took his place in the plush animal department, apart from my Eeyore, whom I adored, but who was kind of stiff and unapproachable, not the sort to be taken to bed...
It was much later, when I worked for a local doll shop, that I decided I fell head over heels in love with Merrythought bears. They were part of my psyche or 'collective unconscious' or whatever. I had seen them at Harrods in London and other upscale shops, but I did not have any.
At this point, I did not much like bears that were made in fantasy colours. I opted instead for a lovely grey bear, even though grey technically is not really a 'bear' colour' and then my darling, miniature Magnet bear. Later, when I had my own little business, I had a Merrythought account and was able to order the bears that attracted me most. By then, I had expanded my taste to include fantasy colours, and one of my dearest friends now is gorgeous lavender bear. You will see him in one of the photographs.
As this autumn marks the 85th Anniversary of this wonderful British firm, I thought it would be appropriate to include a little post about Merrythought on my site. If you are looking for a 'forever friend' for one of your own children, grandchildren or yourself, you could not do better than to buy a Merrythought. British-made, indeed, made with great care and love of the very best materials, they are a part of history as well as an art form that I hope will endure another century.
The photographs shown below are of Merrythoughts from my own little collection. The first is of a Classic Merrythought, a largish fellow who comes in many different colours. All my Merrythoughts, apart from an enormous vintage cat from the 1960s who was created as part of a group of animals intended to house jam-jams (pajamas), are made of mohair.
The second photograph includes a very special Wedding Bear made to celebrate the ultimately rather ill-fated nuptials between Charles and Di. The one on the far left is a reproduction of a very old and famous Merrythought and he wears a tiny Merrythought change purse round his neck (my own addition). On the far right is possibly my favourite bear in my favourite colour which is lavender. He vies for 'favourite' actually with the tiny Merrythought shown in the third photograph, a reproduction of the 'Magnet' bear, I seem to recall. Somewhere I do have a book on Merrythought. Need to find it and add more information to this post, because Merrythought deserves international recognition, although, outside the Commonwealth, they are not as famous as their German counterpart, Steiff.
