Invicta Toys Ltd England - Collectible Teddy Bears

Invicta Toys Ltd England - Collectible Teddy Bears

Invicta was founded in North West London England in 1935 by G.E. Beer and T.B. Wright. Beer had been a Director and Designer and Wright a Sales Representative at Farnell. Many Invicta Teddy Bears are wrongly identified as Alpha Farnell due to similarities in design.

The Invicta name comes from the Latin word "Invicti" which means unconquerable and unbeaten. They employed about 300 staff and made a wide variety of soft toys including bears, cats, dogs, rabbits, monkeys and many animals on wheels. In 1936 Beer bought out Wright and prior to World War II was very successful in making fully jointed Teddy Bears with glass eyes, stuffed with kapok and wood wool and having distinctive bulbous, stitched noses.

Invicta Teddy Bear

Invicta Teddy Bear made from wool plush in the late 1940s to early 1950s. 

The "bulbous" nose was created by pinching the plush together and overstitching it tightly using a vertical stitch, usually in light coloured silk. 

Invicta Teddy Bears were made in mohair and wool plush before World War II, but after the war synthetic fabrics also became popular.

Paw pads were usually made of rexine but velvet was also used. Larger bears often had stitched claws. Early bears have long arms and very large oval feet.  Bears have a squeaker or tilt growler, were fully jointed and had clear or brown glass eyes. The designs did not vary much during the lifetime of the company, but later bears did seem to have shorter arms.

Golden Mohair Plush Invicta Teddy Bear

This dear little Invicta Teddy Bear was clearly very loved, showing mohair wear around the location of the non-working squeaker, but most of the velvet nap still survives on his paw pads. The bright golden mohair colour was a popular choice and this fellow shows very little fading.

Invicta stitched a woven label to the pad of one foot.  I could find no example to show of a woven label (very rare to find a bear with one intact!), but I was able to find a late hang tag example - likely dating to shortly before the company closed.

During World War II, the factory was turned over to the war effort to make armaments as were so many of the toy factories in England, and the majority of the workers left. A few workers were taken to a disused laundry to carry on a very limited production of toys during the war years. By 1948 Invicta was back in their factory with new employees and their export books were full of orders from department stores in the US, Canada, Switzerland and Australia. Many bears are found in these countries today. 

In 1954, as a result of strikes and the difficulties of running a business in an increasingly competitive market, Beer decided to retire and the Invicta company ceased business and closed its doors.

Please visit Mandicrafts to view collectible Teddy Bears and Animals available for "adoption"

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