| Other Bonzo Soft Toys
Chad Valley weren't the only company to produce Bonzo
soft
toys.
Chiltern, Merrythought, & the famous Steiff companys
all made at
least
one Bonzo.
The Chiltern Bonzo
This was an early toy, not so much a Bonzo
but rather
more based on
a Studdy Dog. It is quite stiff -
having a wire frame - &
unjointed. They came in several sizes,
this example is about 7 inches tall.
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As well as having a sewn label at the rear,
this one
still has his original
paper label attached showing the company's
logo.
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Merrythought Bonzos
| The Merrythought company produced their Bonzo
between
1952 - 1954.
It was designed by Florence Atwood but was not
as prolific as the Chad
Valley ones, & is thus rare to find.
The company still exists today, & in 1995
they
re-issued a limited
editon Bonzo recreated to their original
pattern & using the same
style
fabric as the earlier ones. The re-issue
was limited to 500,
&
are thus now collectable in their own
right. There have since
been
further limited editions released - Bonnie
McBonzo in 2001, Aloha Bonzo
in 2002, & Alaska Bonzo in 2003. A
Far Eastern Bonzo was also
made a few years back as a strictly limited
edition for Hong
Kong.
It appears Merrythought wish to send Bonzo on
a world voyage, so watch
out for his next outfit in 2004!
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The Steiff Bonzos
| Sometime in the mid 20's, Steiff made a series
of
fully jointed velvet
prototype Bonzos - approximately 120 in
all. The company sent a
sample
for approval, but it was rejected in favour of
the Chad Valley
version.
Studdy felt their "characterisation" too
"vulgar" and that a similarity
between the images and the toy was not
achieved. The company's
then
director, Paul Steiff, replied to the rejection
"We can't and don't
wish
to make an exact replica of Bonzo". None
of the prototypes were
officially
sold.
A group of Steiff prototype Bonzos.
Steiff even created a musical Bonzo!
He had a
simple mechanism
in his body that played a tune when he was
squeezed.
This Steiff is called "Laughing
Bonzo" He still
has his paper tag with his name on it, &
it appears that his
original button is also fixed into the tag,
though it is now badly
rusted.
He required some
loving restoration when he arrived, and now
is a great example.
This one is called "Begging Bonzo" as
labelled on his
chest tag.
In 2002 he was auctioned at the annual
Steiff Festival in Giengen,
Germany.
He sold for a record-breaking €55,000 hammer
price, the highest price
ever paid for a Steiff animal!
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In late 2009, the
Steiff
company released a strictly limited edition of
750 new Bonzos.
The collectable toy is called the Bonzo 1927
Replica, & was
modelled on their original patterns from their
archives. The task
of hand painting him has been done by a single
person at Steiff!
Old meets new, as a vintage original meets his
new counterpart!
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