Just added to The Crowned Leopard inventory, Baby Alfonzo…a Limited Edition Steiff replica made in honor of the greatest tale of a girl and her bear there ever was!
In 1908, the Grand Duke of Russia commissioned a 13” bear from Steiff to be made for his 4 year old daughter Princess Xenia Georievna. This was a very special order as the most popular colors of bear were brown and white but the Duke ordered an exceptionally rare red bear for his princess. Xenia’s nanny made the bear an orange outfit in the style of one of the Tsar’s privileged Cossak horsemen and he was soon named Alfonzo. Xenia and Alfonzo made very fast friends and were quite inseparable.
In the summer of 1914 the princess traveled to Buckingham Palace to for a visit with her English cousins, the family of King George V, and of course Alfonzo accompanied her. WWI broke out during her visit followed by the Russian Revolution in which her father was tragically assassinated in St Petersburg in 1919. Neither Princess nor bear ever returned to Russia and Alfonzo remained by her side her entire life as her best friend and the only connection she still had to her father.
Princess Xenia grew up and eventually married an American who moved both Xenia and Alfonzo to New York where they lived until she died in 1965. In 1989, he was sold at Christie’s to a Mr. Ian Pout of Teddy Bears of Whitney for a world record auction price of just over $18,000! Alfonzo now happily resides in Oxfordshire, England within the esteemed collection of Mr. Pout.
Steiff created a Limited Edition replica of this incredibly special bear especially for Ian’s shop in 1995. Only 5000 were made, one of which is offered for sale here! This “Baby Alfonzo” bear measures 9.5”, has an identical outfit made of cotton sateen and is stuffed with the traditional excelsior which the original Alfonzo was made with. He retains his button, ear tag numbered 653773, box and certificate numbered 4786 of 5000. He retains 100% of his beautiful red mohair and of his very dignified look! He does have a bit of wear to his foot pads as shown in the photos, which is not original to his design but certainly adds to his charm as the original Alfonzo has similar wear. This bear is a must for any bear collector or lover!
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