Teddy bear sale fetches £60,648 at Newbury auction house

The sale of the first 500 lots of antique and vintage teddy bears belonging to a single owner fetched £60,648 at Newbury's Special Auction Services today (Thursday).

The highest bid was for lot 445 – Northwood and Huntley, a Steiff and a German teddy bear, originally the childhood toys of a Mr Carmichael, with First World War connections – sold above estimate for £1,250.

The remainder of the collection of 4,000 bears – the largest ever to be sold at SAS – will go under the hammer through 2023.

The bears belonged to Susan Collard, a collector since 1994, and, following her sudden death earlier this year, in accordance with her wishes they are being sold, with all proceeds being donated to the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust.