German Eduard Cramer

Eduard Cramer was born in 1858 and trained as a tailor. However due to lack of work he began to use his skills to design soft toys. He became a German manufacturer of soft toys and went under the name of Eduard Cramer, Schalkau, Thuringia.

The company was established in 1896 with plush bears some of the earliest creations. These teddy bears don’t have labels but can be identified by their heart shaped faces, open mouths and flat standing feet. They have long pronounced muzzles of clipped plush mohair with some having light brown nose stitching. Many Cramer bears also have button hole mouths. Eduard Cramer also made musical bears and mechanical bears. Many of his designs were rather different and were often brightly coloured but were always top quality.

Bearkin is a rare Cramer made Teddy Bear which appeared in the 1930's. This was a 20cm bear which were dressed in various costumes such as the "Scotch Bearkin" which was dressed in a plaid cap, with a velvet top, kilt and sporran and red leather shoes.

The Cramer trade mark was a triangle loose tag attached to the chest. Marked in the 1920;s with "Eduard Crämer" or "E/C". They later established a "Educa" trademark