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May 18th 2010
Members
Newsletter
 Hi Bear Club Members,
Due to Mothers day falling early this month we had a special doll collectors event as well as our regular monthly Teddies on Parade Event which will be held next Tuesday the 18th May.
This event is our annual Hermann Coburg Sale and is an extremely popular event with our members who have a love of high quality German made teddy bears.
With us importing directly from Germany and our Australian dollar performing well against the Euro at the moment we have some fantastic new bears for you at prices lower than we have seen in the past 10 years.
As our last newsletter was only two weeks ago we do not have a lot of new general news this time so instead will concentrate on Hermann Coburg and their wonderful bears.
I have included later in this newsletter a lot of interesting information on Hermann’s history and some of the traditional methods they have used for almost a century to make their delightful hand made teddy bears in the fashion that only craftsman trained in the old ways handed down through the generations can create.
QUICK LINKS:
 Teddies on Parade Special Event featuring Hermann Collectable Bears
This Months Super Specials
This Months Prizes
Click this direct link to the Hermann Coburg Bears catalogue section
 LOCAL & GLOBAL TEDDY NEWS
The good, the bad and the cuddly!
EXCLUSIVE WORLD CUP SOCCER BEARS
2010 World Cup Fan Bear
a Special Edition to mark the occasion of the FIFA World Cup 2010 to be held in South Africa (June 11 - July 11, 2010)
Hermann are releasing these Limited Edition 35cm mohair bears in the colours of Australia, Germany and England as a special commemorative collectable for football fans and teddy bear collectors alike.
Only 111 pieces for each country will be released and at the special price of only $349 they will certainly sell out quickly.
We have an order in for some of the Australian bears and we can order the German and English bears at this stage however demand will be high so you would be well advised not to wait too long if you wanted to secure any of these editions.
EXCITING OPPORTUNITY!
dOLL aUCTION DELAYED
Due to a technical hitch we have had to postpone our special auction event until later this month, details will be sent to all members when it is ready to start.
 mark Jones is also the designer of the Florence Collection of Limited Edition Porcelain Dolls and over the years has collected all the #1 editions from each design.
We are able to offer a few of these beautiful dolls to our members in a special auction sale to be held online through our website in the next few weeks. The reserve prices will be very low, in fact they will be starting at their original selling prices from the year of their first release.
The first 6 designs we will be auctioning are from the 2003 and 2004 Florence Collections.
This is a rare opportunity for you to get your hands on a #1 edition doll that until now have never been offered for sale.
All these #1 dolls are still in their original boxes and have their certificates of authenticity.
Full details and starting dates of the auction event will be emailed to members late in May so if you have a passion for beautiful dolls this is an opportunity not to be missed.
CHERISHED TEDDIES UPDATE
 This update is for the benefit of our club members who are also membears of the Cherished Teddies Club which is based in England.
We have been informed by the Cherished Teddies Club in England that there is a delay in processing
CHERISHED TEDDIE MEMBERSHIP KITS for 2010 renewals.
The kits are not expected to arrive until May/June so the club is unable to process membership renewals until the kits arrive.
 They have assured us that membearships will not expire and that they will send out renewals when they are able to process them, in the meantime you will still receive your Town Tattler newsletters from the club.
If you have any concerns or do not get a renewal in the next month or so you can contact the Cherished Teddies Club in the UK directly by e-mailing enquiries.cherishedteddies@enesco.co.uk
 CHERISHED TEDDIES EVENT
COMING SOON!
Nana’s Teddies are planning to have a huge Cherished Teddies Adoption Weekend Event next month so keep an eye on your e-mails for notification of this big sale event where you will be able to take advantage of some really super bargains on a huge selection of now retired and hard to find designs.
We are just waiting on the arrival of the new 2010 designs to be able to set the dates for this special adoption Event where we will be featuring the new range as well as having all the great specials you have come to expect from our Cherished Teddies Events.
HERmann coburg history
and some interesting info on hand making their bears
I have collated some very interesting reading for bear lovers and those interested in the history behind their bears in a special feature on Hermann Coburg.
As there is a lot of info I have placed it below this months Event information, here is a quick anchor link or you just continue reading the news and you will come to it. HERMANN INFO LINK
THIS MONTHS
SUPER SPECIALS
A SUPER DEAL ON THE LAST FEW BEIJING OLYMPIC BEARS
Normally $599 we are offering the last of these very collectable bears at the special price of only $399 but you will need to be quick as there are only a few left of the 46 that were made as an Australian Edition exclusively available through Nana’s Teddies & Toys.
THIS MONTHS
SPECIAL EVENT
VERY COLLECTABLE
GERMAN MOHAIR
TEDDY BEARS
 From leading
German bear makers
HERMANN COBURG
Teddies on Parade Event
7 pm Tuesday 18th May 2010.
RSVP by 3 pm Tuesday the 18th for catering and gift allocation
Internet & Phone orders can be placed until 5pm
on Monday the 24th May
We will be showcasing all the latest designs from this famous German bear maker and will have a few selected surprises for members who are able to attend this exciting collectors event.
 HUGE DISCOUNTS
& SPECIALS
20%
OFF ALL HERMANN COBURG BEARS
As a member you can get 20% off all Hermann Coburg designs that we have in stock when you attend this months TEDDIES on PARADE event or by using the enquiry cart and typing HERMANN SALE in the general comments box when you submit your internet enquiry placed before 5pm on the 24th May.
Click this direct link to the Hermann Coburg Bears catalogue section
Over 200 beautiful Hermann Bears to choose from that you can save 20% on right now!
Some of the fabulous new releases you can see in our online catalogue include the very pretty Hermann Flower Series which features some amazing flowers hand made from felt which adorn these bears and bring the flower series to life.
Wild Tulip shown on the right is the 12th edition in the flower series.
Plus a Free Gift with purchase
and great Prizes to be Won!
We have reserved a special FREE Gift for all members either purchasing at this
months TEDDIES on PARADE event or ordering online or by phone any
Hermann Coburg Collectable Bears before 5pm on Monday the 24th May.
Free Gift with purchase
You will receive 2
retired edition Hermann collectors catalogues
These retailers master catalogues are from the past 10 years and are quite rare and were selling to shops
for around $20 each when they were available.
They are full of beautiful teddy bear pictures along with lots of information about the bears and the series they represented in the year that they were released.
Some of these older designs are still available in very small quantities whilst others have had their editions sold out and closed, if you see any bears you would like please ask me and I will check if the edition is still open
* Please note editions you receive will be selected at random
INTERNET OR PHONE ORDER MEMBERS
If you live too far away to attend the TEDDIES on PARADE night you can see all
our beautiful Hermann Coburg Teddy Bears in our on-line catalogue click here
and still get the 20% discount off all prices shown if you order by using the
enquiry cart and typing HERMANN SALE in the general comments box when
you submit your internet enquiry before 5pm on Monday 24th May.
All Members either attending our
TEDDIES on PARADE event
or ordering online or by phone
will get an entry in the draws
to win these great prizes.
THIS MONTHS PRIZES
1 of each will be drawn at the TEDDIES on PARADE event
1 of each will be reserved for an internet or phone orders draw
1st prizes
A $100 Gift Certificate to spend on your next purchase at Nana’s Teddies & Toys
2nd prizes
A $50 Gift Certificate to spend on your next purchase at Nana’s Teddies & Toys
3rd prizes
A $25 Gift Certificate to spend on your next purchase at Nana’s Teddies & Toys
 WINNERS ARE GRINNERS
May’s Special Doll Sale
Teddies on Parade Event
lucky prize winners
Congratulations to our Doll Event winners
1st Prizes - A Marie Osmond Sabrina Fairy Tot doll - valued at $99.95
Fiona Miller of Blaxland NSW won the “Teddies on Parade” door prize.
2nd Prizes - A Kewpie Spa Day doll - valued at $69.95
Melinda Burton of Harrington Park NSW won the “Teddies on Parade” door prize.
3rd Prizes - A Florence Riley doll - valued at $24.95
Gail Miller of South Penrith NSW won the “Teddies on Parade” door prize.
$100 Members Super Draw
This prize is yet to be drawn on the 1st of June, you still have until the 31st May to enter this months Members Draw by answering the question below.
 Will you be this month’s $100 Gift Certificate Winner?
You have to be in it to win it!!!!
Enter this months draw for a $100 gift voucher now by answering this simple question,
The Florence Collection is owned and designed by?
You can find the answer in the May 2010 doll event newsletter.
E-mail your answer now and don’t forget your membership number.
HERmann coburg history
and some interesting info on hand making their bears
The following information has in the main been collated from the Hermann Coburg web site, I have had it translated into English so my apologies if some sentences dont make perfect sense.
I found this information quite interesting and I hope you will enjoy finding out a bit more about this wonderful traditional German Teddy Bear manufacturer.
 The old original Stuffing Tools
When you look to those places in the workshops of the HERMANN-Coburg factory, where today's Teddy Bears are still stuffed by hand with excelsior, it seems that time has not moved for decades.
Still today the original tools from the 1930’s are still used for the stuffing work, these tools are already more than 60 years old.
These old stuffing tools are guarded in the HERMANN factory like no others, because it is not possible to buy these old original stuffing funnels, stuffing woods or iron bars any more today.
The tradition of using excelsior stuffing
 While in former times all Sonneberg Teddy Bears were stuffed with excelsior, today the knowledge about this old work has almost been lost.
It goes without saying, that the Hermann family is proud that the knowledge about this old handcraftmanship could be preserved in the hands of their family by handing down from generation to generation.
It is one of the most important unwritten laws in the family since three generations of Hermannn, that each member of the family first has to learn how to make a good Teddy Bear in the old traditional way that was made by Max Hermann’s own hands.
When The Teddy Bear became popular at the beginning of last century, many Thuringian toy makers set out to make Teddy Bears.
Till this point of time the folks of Germany's most famous toy area earned their money by making dolls and wood toys.
It was a poor region and the people had nothing beside their hands to work and the wealth of wood in the no end of the Thuringian Forest.
So it was, not that wood was only used for making wood toys, but also for stuffing the arms, the legs, the body and the heads of a Teddy Bear.
For the Thuringian Teddy Bear makers wood wool, later called excelsior , was at that point of time the cheapest stuffing material, which they could source.
 But soon the old Teddy Bear makers discovered, that a very fine kind of wood wool, called excelsior, is not only a cheap material but that is the most ideal material for
stuffing a Teddy Bear.
It makes it possible to form the sewn parts like no other material in a perfect kind
and it conserves well the material like no other figure of a teddy bear.
For many years now this knowledge, which Hermann ancestors have acquired long before today's time, has still today unchangeable validity, and still today most of their wonderful Teddy Bears are hand stuffed with Excelsior.
In contrast to the past, today it is very expensive to stuff Teddy Bears with excelsior, because it requires much time in the working.
Therefore in the Sixties and Seventies modern stuffing machines were built.
New stuffing materials like polyester was discovered and the Teddy Bears became more and more soft.
Suddenly nobody needed any more the work of the excelsior stuffers.
The old stuffers died and their knowledge got lost more and more.
So it comes, that still today only some few men and women are living, who still know something about the excelsior stuffing methods of the old days.
Although some bears in the HERMANN-Coburg factory are filled using stuffing machines introduced in the beginning of the Sixties, nevertheless the knowledge about the higher quality of the hand stuffed Excelsior Bear is always present.
Today these machines are only used in stuffing the HERMANN-Coburg factory for the special stuffing of some New Generation Artist or Bears.
The HERMANN COBURG History Timeline
 The pictures are of the historical Max Hermann and HERMANN-Coburg Teddy Bears.
The old Max Hermann Teddy Bears - the Bears today's HERMANN Coburg - belong to those Teddy Bears, with which Thousands of little boys and girls have grown up.
Today HERMANN Coburg is one of the oldest, still existing Teddy Bear factories of the world.
October 24th, 1913
In Neufang, a small mountain village in Thuringia, close to sun mountain at that time Toy Capital of the World Arthur, Adelheid and Max Hermann start under the name of their father, Johann Hermann - Johann Hermann toy factory, specialty Better Genre Teddy Bear "- the production of their first Teddy Bear HERMANN
1920
After World War I, and the death of Johann Hermann in 1919, the brothers and sisters separate and Max Hermann found in Neufang, in the birth house of the first Hermann Teddy Bears, Teddy Bear his own little company.
Shortly after, he moves his company to Sonneberg where, he develops his company into a wellknown brand name.
His Teddy Bears are shipped all over the world.
 1933
In order to mark and identify his Teddy Bears Hermann Max develops the famous logo "The Green Triangle" and the "The Bear with the Running Dog".
From that day forward all the Max Hermann Teddy Bears are identified with this logo.
1945
After World War II, Germany is separated into East and West. The state of Thuringia with its city of Sonneberg becomes a part of East Germany.
1953
Max Hermann leaves with his family from the hometown of his Teddy Bears and from East to West to the nearby city of Coburg in Bavaria.
Here he rebuilds, together with his son, Rolf Gerhard, his plush animal factory and continues the tradition of his HERMANN Teddy Bears.
On September 23 rd, 1955 Max Hermann died.
He never has seen his hometown again.
1990
German Unity. 40 years after the iron curtain separation, the HERMANN Teddy Bears are able to visit again the place of their genesis - "A Teddy Bear Comes Home".
 1993
Since 1993, all HERMANN Coburg Teddy Bears are marked with a special "neck mark", which is sealed tight on the bear's neck.
In this way, HERMANN Bears are easily identified.
Important characteristic of the "neck mark" is the "triangle shape" with the imprint of "the Bear with the Running Dog". These features have been used since the beginning of the 1930's.
This "neck mark" guarantees the identification of Teddy Bears manufactured by HERMANN Coburg for today and the future.
Rolf G. Hermann died on June 19 th, 1995.
He left behind a flourishing company for both his children Ulla and Martin.
1996
On August 1 st, 1996, HERMANN Coburg is online with its own home page.
With a website containing more than 200 pages and 400 pictures, all HERMANN Coburg Teddy Bear collectors from around the world can obtain at the web address www.hermann.de valuable information from the company HERMANN Coburg.
Today
 Today, in Coburg, the old Max Hermann Teddy Bears are produced in the third generation under the management of the founder's grandchildren, Martin and Dr. Ursula Hermann.
The collection contains more than 400 different teddy bears - all made in Germany and most in limited editions.
Several have won awards internationally recognized.
Replicas of old Max Hermann Teddy Bears, which are produced in the time honored tradition, belong to the collection along with HERMANN Coburg Teddy Bears from the new generation.
Through the experience, knowledge and talent of craftsmen and women from the region of toy Coburg Neustadt Sonneberg the tradition of Teddy Bears quality will be preserved in the house of Hermann Coburg today and for all times.
I hope you found this look into Hermann’s past interesting, if you want to see more about Hermann Coburg visit their web site at http://www.hermann.de
Event information for new members:
- Teddies nights start at 7pm sharp and generally run till around 9pm but this depends on how much fun our members are having.
- It is essential to RSVP so that we can organise catering and gifts.
- Our TEDDIES on PARADE nights are young children free events so that you and other members can relax and enjoy the bears and the company.
- Well behaved teenagers are most welcome to attend.
So why not mark your diary, RSVP now and come along and have a relaxing fun night out with a great bunch of people that share your passion for collecting Teddies.
That’s it for this months general news highlights but before I sign off for this issue I wish to remind you of the following dates:
TEDDIES on PARADE
Hermann Coburg Bears Event
7pm 18th May.
Hermann Collectable Bears Sale
until 5 pm Monday 24th of May
Regards and beary best wishes
Dave.
FOR THE BENEFIT OF OUR NEWER MEMBERS THAT HAVE JOINED
US RECENTLY I WILL CONTINUE TO REPEAT EACH MONTH THE
FOLLOWING INFORMATION ON MEMBERS DISCOUNTS AND BENEFITS
MEMBERS DISCOUNTS.
 For the benefit of members old and new I would like to clarify the importance of making it known to us when you are ordering that you are in fact a member, if you cant find your number we can look it up on our computer system for you.
As we have now over 25000 customers on our lists it is hard for us to keep track of every ones status so we ask your help in providing your membership number with all inquires and orders, this way we can ensure you get the discounts or specials you are entitled to as a member of our club.
MEMBERSHIP NUMBER IS DISPLAYED AT THE TOP OF EVERY NEWSLETTER, just above your name.
- Your membership entitles you to a minimum of 5% off all regularly priced products that are not already reduced.
- All prices in our on-line catalogue are our normal retail prices and members discounts will be deducted from these retail prices.
- Discounts are not available for lay-bys as we incur additional costs in providing lay-by services.
- Members discount also applies to Pre-orders placed with payment in full at the time of placing your orders.
- Discounts do not apply to postage costs.
- Special offers are made to members from time to time at up to 80% off retail, further discounts do not apply to these offers.
- We always strive to offer our members the best possible value on all our teddy bears and other products, as such we are always happy to match or better any genuine advertised competitors prices. As it is impossible for us to monitor all available offers please bring it to our attention and we will see what we can do.
 CHANGED E-MAIL ADDRESSES
Many members are changing their e-mail providers or going to broadband which changes their e-mail addresses.
It is imperative that you advise us of any change in your E-mail address if you wish to continue to receive your newsletters.
We would hate to lose contact with you.
I hope you enjoy this months news and all the additions to our on-line catalogue ranges, please check back frequently for new additions that will be uploaded as they arrive.
Regards and bear hugs from all of us,
Dave, Jan, Troy, Marilyn & the Bears.
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