Bär 55 PB. Sounds exciting, no? Maybe not, but it would be if you came across the centenarian fuzzy wuzzy in your grandma's trunk. Created in 1902, the Bär 55 PB was a straw-stuffed, jointed bear ...

As a kid, I was fortunate enough to be emotionally wrecked by The Velveteen Rabbit and have my little wounds healed by a live-action performance — puppets included — at a local children’s theater.

It was almost 9 p.m. in Munich, and I was on a bear hunt. I was determined to buy a Steiff, the makers of the original stuffed bear, in the country where it was born. Scrolling through my phone, I ...