Schreyer & Co, Germany "Schuco" Collectible Teddy Bears & Animals
Schreyer & Co / Schuco was founded in 1912 by a former Gebruder Bing employee & Heinrich Schreyer. The “Schuco” abbreviation of the company name was adopted as their official trademark in 1921. The Schuco factory operated as a war effort plant during WWII making telephone equipment and was bombed several times. Between 1946 to 1949 the factory operated at one quarter capacity making household hardware and toys on a small scale.
To the left, is a Schuco "Piccolo"
Mohair Monkey first introduced c1920's to 1930's. Mohair over a metal
body, felt hands and feet and painted metal face, fully jointed. In the
1950's the Piccolo line was relaunched as "Talisman" animals.
To the right is a Schuco "Yes-No" Piccolo Monkey. Constructed much like the brown monkey above, only covered in harder to find cinnamon mohair, and with a key mechanism in his tush that enables him to move his head (nod, or side to side) when manipulated.
Also available in the 1920's and 1930's were bears constructed similarly to these monkey's out of metal and mohair, only they contained a cosmetic bottle for perfume and the bear's head was removable as the lid, or a lipstick case that was accessible by opening teddy's chest.
Schuco Toy Co Inc was established in the US with import rights to all Schuco products for US & Canada markets in 1947.
Schuco specialty teddy bears were first made and sold under some of the following trademark names: “Trickey-Baren” (Tricky Bear) 1952 – also known as “Yes/No” animals with a mechanism in their tail to turn or nod their heads; patent from 1920’s. “Janus-bear” 1954 – twisting knob at base of the body turns their head to reveal another face.
Licensed by Disney, Schuco produced many characters from the studio. This is Lady and the Tramp! Both made from mohair plush with glass eyes, stitched claws and are unjointed. c1950's to 1960's.
The Schuco firm begins selling toys produced by their division Herta Girz & Co founded in 1949 with the trademark “Hegi” which operated within the Schuco factory premises in the 1960’s into the 1970’s. Herta Girz was the niece of the Schuco Company's founder Heinrich Muller and her husband was managing director of Schuco. Included in that line were the “Bigo-Bello” trademark bears, made with a unique patented bending construction, and “Parlo-Bello” bears who were talking bears.
Example of a Parlo-Bello Teddy Bear made from light brown dralon synthetic plush and felt pads. The bear would have a "magic" pull cord in order to make him speak several different phrases. In the case of this example, the metal hole in his side is all that remains and his cord is long gone. A 1962 catalogue showed they were available in German, French or Italian voices.
Parlo retains his seam label on the side of one leg. Views of each side of the label.
A "Hegi" production teddy bear, possibly Molly, made from long fluffy mohair, glass eyes, and she is fully jointed. c1970.
A collaboration between Hegi & Anker began in 1976, for their toys to be sold by Schuco but the Company was sold to Dunbee-Combex-Marx when they found they were unable to compete with Japanese imports.
The Schuco trademark was then sold to Georg Adam Mangold GmbH & Co KG which used it for replica model cars. An auction was held in 1977 and tools were acquired by Karl-Bar founded in 1967 to make replica Schuco miniature bears. They produced “Berlin” bears 1978 to 1992 that were sold in tourist shops in Germany under the “Heike”-Bears logo and they are not to be confused with the Original Schuco Berlin Bears of the 1950’s.
Schuco CEO Peter Brunner revived the Schuco Teddy Bear line after 40 years, in 1994. Certain historic designs are remade in limited quantities such as the “Tricky Bear” although molds and materials are different than the 1950’s old bears. The animal's paws are marked with special serial numbers.
Made from mohair, and fully jointed, he has a pull cord in his back, his paw has his handwritten edition number and it is embroidered "Schuco" right above that number. On his Hang Tag it repeats the number and shows he is #0324 of 1000 and made in Germany.
Bear designer Linda Mullins developed a jointed bear exclusively for Schuco in 1996, which was produced in a limited edition and bore her signature on the foot pad. The classic 1920’s miniature Perfume Bear was reissued in 1997. Between 1999 to 2000 Tricky Bears were produced in China, a decision made by the new management of Dickie-Schuco and quality and design differs from the original German-made bears. These new lines were launched during the Toy Fair of 2000.
Some of the bears and animals shown are available at MANDICRAFTS! Just click the link below to view my shop!
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