GUEST: I got him at an auction sale in a box of miscellaneous junk, and he happened to be down in the bottom of this box. And I've had him probably ten, 15 years. I like Steiff toys, so he was a real find for me. He has the button in the ear and he has some tags and that's all I know.
APPRAISER: He is a Steiff, as you had thought. He has a Steiff tag that says "Teddy Baby" on it, so he is a Teddy Baby. Teddy Baby started being made in about the 1930s. He also has a "US-Zone Germany" tag on the side of his body, and the tag identifies that he was made approximately between 1948 and 1952. Now, you don't remember what you paid for the box?
GUEST: Approximately ten dollars. I don't pay a lot for a miscellaneous box of junk.
APPRAISER: That's okay. This particular piece has been reproduced, but this is an old one, and it is the most rare of all the sizes of the Teddy Babies, so you can find Teddy Babies that are quite a bit bigger than he is, but they are quite a bit less expensive. This particular one is around three inches, and most Steiff three-inch bears, you're going to be looking at somewhere between $20 and $75. This little guy, in a retail situation, you're going to find somewhere between $750 and $1,000.
GUEST: Oh, my goodness!
APPRAISER: So you made a really, really lovely find in your auction box that was a nice thing.
GUEST: I had no idea!
