Dutch Bear's Collection, update 28 March

Thanks y’all.
I have no background info on the bear. The seller was not the most social type. He only told me he got them from a carnival museum. I don’t know where or when.
I hope to get to talk to an expert on wooden statues about restauration. First I need to clean it but I don’t want to go at it with water and soap or any harsh techniques. I also want to make sure the cracks and tears are not harmful for the structure. Maybe the largest cracks can be filled in and painted so they don’t show so much. Its tail was broken off and is now attached with a rusty nail. And there is a bit of paint loss and dents.
It has briefly crossed my mind to maybe design a metal frame to fit around/over the bear to support a glass plate to make a custom coffee table. And you would still be able to see the whole bear.

There is a carnival museum in Den Bosch. It might be worth checking with them, I don't imagine there are many carnival museums. As it is antique, I'd keep it as close to the original as possible. But it's yours, so of course you should make sure you enjoy it.

That is not about carnivals and fairgrounds with rides and stuff.
That museum is about the three day feast before lent.

That's all very interesting and the iconography of the bear look more like a spiritual than a Carnival thing. So, Roger's suggestion seems plausible considering it is a sort of religious themed museum.
Curiously, you can find a saddled bear on Freising heraldry. It is related to the legend of Saint Corbinian. (Bishop of Freising). You can also read about the Miracle of the Bear here.

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Wow! What an amazing find! You must be so happy! Biggest toy bear ever!

There is no other way then to name this giant "Rudolph"...
...you know why.

I was thinking that the museum might have owned it (perhaps someone gave it to them or they got it with other things) but because it didn't fit well in their collection, they sold it.

Wow what a find! That's a beautiful piece! I love carousel animals and this one is a spectacular old guy. It will be interesting to find out more about it, if you can someday. There is a carousel group on Facebook that is quite good at identifying individuals. I wonder if the paint is original. Huge congratulations on this addition to your collection, the perfect collection for it.

What a spectacular bear Sandor, and what a beautiful piece of art

This wonderful bear could find no better saviour and no better place to continue his life than in your home.

Meanwhile:
I might have found a previous owner. Or at least i have found online a picture with another animal that the seller of my bear also has for sale.

Picture of monkey found online, seen here together with another bear
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Seller of my bear
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So i am trying to get in touch with the person of the first picture.


... to be continued

Oh no, that monkey looks so creepy! It will haunt me in my dreams!

Congrats on getting the largest bear in your collection!

Ana wrote:

Oh no, that monkey looks so creepy! It will haunt me in my dreams!  

Congrats on getting the largest bear in your collection!

Yes indeed, this is the stuff nightmares are made of.

Congratulations on your splendid large bear model Sandor! I really love life size models of animals and that is a very well sculpted bear. I hope you enjoy his company!!

Hi Dutch Bear,

I hope you don't mind me posting here (I can delete if you don't), but I wanted to draw attention to this set that just released by Japanese company called Yell:

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Please note, the complete set is 8 bears (4 species, 2 each), not 10 as shown in the pyramid.

Dutch Bear wrote:

Read this in a low, hoarse movie teaser voice:

Rescued from a filthy, dusty storage unit at a industrial area on the outskirts of Tilburg, The Netherlands

DB Collections proudly presents:

its latest, biggest, heaviest, most expensive, one-of-a-kind, antique wooden carousel/merrygoround BEAR

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It is about 50 years old, from a merrygoround of the '70s.
No further history know.
It measures 134 cm long, 68 cm tall and 36 cm wide.
Yes, you can sit on it.
Yes, it need to be cleaned.
Yes, maybe it needs restauration. I will dicuss that with two experts first.

A spectacular, wonderfull, beautifull bear

bmathison1972 wrote:

Hi Dutch Bear,

I hope you don't mind me posting here (I can delete if you don't), but I wanted to draw attention to this set that just released by Japanese company called Yell:
Please note, the complete set is 8 bears (4 species, 2 each), not 10 as shown in the pyramid.

Thank your for the heads-up. The bears look lovely as a set, just a bit too cartoony to my liking. I dont think I will add these to my collection any time soon.

Great, you are investigating and I'm curious to see the next chapters. For a while I thought that monkey was the previous owner of your bear but I'm sure I misunderstood something.

Dead end. I talked to the man who owned the monkey and sold it to the seller of my bear.
But my bear was not his. So there is that. I think I will leave it for now and just enjoy my bear.

Dutch Bear wrote:

Dead end. I talked to the man who owned the monkey and sold it to the seller of my bear.
But my bear was not his. So there is that. I think I will leave it for now and just enjoy my bear.

As far as I'm concern, it is a very wise decision

This gentleman did tell me there is a Circus Museum in/near Lille. Do you happen to know it?
He used to own a old carousel from the early 1900's, that is now in that museum.

Well, there is a Circus school and museum but I think your gentleman is talking about the Musée de la Fête foraine. I've never been there before, but I don't think it's going to be much longer.