Steiff teddy bears X-rayed at vets sell for £10,400

The two Steiff teddy bears will be auctioned with the book The Roosevelt Bears, that gave them their names

A pair of Steiff teddy bears which had to be X-rayed by a vet to check their rarity have been sold for £10,400.

The rod-jointed toys named the Roosevelt Bears had been owned by one family since 1904, but "not played with much".

Auctioneers in Gloucestershire had to X-ray them to check their rare joints.

The bears were sold with an original copy of Seymour Eaton's storybook, the Roosevelt Bears, from where they got their names.

Auctioneers Dominic Winter said rod bears were rare and having a well-preserved pair at auction was "an exceptional occurrence".

The teddy bears had to be X-rayed to check their authenticity

Susanna Winters, toys and games specialist at the auction house, said: "The only way to prove they were rod bears was to get them X-rayed.

"I arrived at the vets with a bag of teddies and explained what we wanted... the vet staff were as jubilant as I was when the X-ray confirmed our hopes."

Teddy B and Teddy G, as they are known, were originally bought in the United States.

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The anonymous seller remembered "not being allowed to handle them as a child" and said for some years the bears "had been confined to an old trunk", the auction house said.

Auctioneer Chris Albury said the bears were bought by a woman in Florida who was an online bidder "so they'll be returning to the States after a sojourn in the UK".

The bears had been estimated to sell for £10,000.

The bears were "not played with much" and confined to an old trunk for many years