I recently attended a public auction featuring the entire collection of a lady who passed away several years ago.  Her collection consisted of over 600 bears including artist bears, Hermann, Steiff, Merrythought, Deans, VIBs and many, many more.  This collection was amassed during the 1980s and very early 1990s.  Some of the artist bears included some wonderful, very early examples of some of today's best-known artists.

For me, this auction turned out to be a bear collector's heaven!  Two things about this auction were every collector's dream:  Very low beginning bid prices and minimal bidder competition!  I was thrilled to be able to purchase several wonderful pieces for my own collection (many more than I should have!) ... and I truly regret not purchasing more!

Even as this auction turned into every collector junkie's dream, I am very concerned about two things as a result.  The fact that there was very little interest overall (a result of the bad economy?) and the fact that, with few exceptions, the artist bears did not sell (and some of them were wonderful!).  The bears that did sell were the Steiff - my estimate is that about 80-90% of them sold.  Contrast that with the fact that no more than 10% of the artist bears and other manufactured bears sold - what a difference! 

The lessons I take from this experience as I analyze them now, will be the subject of another entry.  Stay tuned!