The German emigrant Adolph Gund founded the Gund Manufacturing Co, in 1898 in Norwalk, Connecticut. Shortly after he moved the company to New York City. The company made toy animals, belts and necklaces. From around 1906 the also made Teddy Bears. From those first Teddy Bears not one has been positively identified.
In 1925, Adolph Gund retired and his assistant Jacob Swedlin
took over the company. He expanded in a big way and won the rights to
the production of Walt Disney characters. Until 1971 the factory was
based in Brooklyn, the company moved to Edison, New Yersey in 1973.
Around that time, 1979, Gund began to move into the collectors market
with the ‘Collectors Classics’. Nowadays the bears are manufactured in
Korea.
Trademarks
The capital ‘G’ on the label [1] had the shape of a rabbits head. The label was first used around 1948. The name of every bear is printed on the label [2,3], which makes identifying easier. In 1988 a bear was made in honour of the companies 90th anniversary, with a special label [4].
