Golli – Clown

$195.00

Out of stock

Description

Called Golly Bouffon, measures 11 inches in height.  28cm.  He is limited edition number 8 from only 80 produced.

Merrythought have been making teddy bears for four generations, since 1930.  William Holmes was the owner of a spinning mill in Yorkshire called Holmes & Laxton.  He recognised the opportunity to make premium soft toys from the luxurious natural fibres they sourced.  He found a beautiful brick foundry building in Ironbridge and Merrythought was born with a team of skilled local seamstresses.  The product range expanded until WWII when the foundry was taken over by the military for map storage and manufacture of blankets, chevrons, helmet linings, igniter bags, gas mask bags & hot water bottle covers for the army.  Some iconic Merry thought bears like Punkie, Cheeky, & Disney came along in the late 1940’s and 1950’s.  Down the generations to now, Merrythought manufacture bears for commemorative bears for Buckingham Palace and Hamley’s famous toy store.

Merrythought made Golliwoggs from the 1930’s right up until around 2011-12, when they bowed to public pressure from a newspaper that claimed their golliwoggs were out of keeping with their role as manufacturer of the official London 2012 Olympic Bear.  Despite Merrythought defending ‘teddy’s best friend’, Golli’s were quietly retired from Merrythought stocks after that.  It was an end of an era.  Now they are sought after by collectors.