Teddy bear auction raises £60k for Herefordshire charity

Les Collard said he was glad the money raised would go to benefit Herefordshire Wildlife Trust

An auction of a collection of teddy bears has raised more than £60,000 for charity.

Susan Collard, from Hereford, collected 4,000 of the toys over more than 20 years before her death in February.

An initial auction of a selection of the bears took place at Special Auction Services, in Newbury, Berkshire, on Thursday.

Widower Les Collard said he was "very pleased" with the success. In total, the auction made £60,648.

Mrs Collard had chosen to bequeath the bears to Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and Mr Collard said they wanted the money raised to do "lasting good" for the environment.

Sold as a single lot, Northwood and Huntley fetched £1,250

The top lots at the sale were Northwood and Huntley, a Steiff and a German teddy bear, which were sold together and fetched £1,250.

The pair date from around 1908 and 1910 respectively, with Mrs Collard's records noting she had purchased them in August 2001.

A toy of Pindar the Panda, a character created and written by Peter Howard and illustrated by David Low, the political cartoonist, which appeared in the Evening Standard each day in the late 1930s, also fetched £1,125.

Les and Su Collard had been married for 58 years

Mr Collard, who watched the auction, said: "I am very pleased with the sale - the way it was conducted and the way it was illustrated.

"I am also pleased that all of the proceeds will be given to the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust as Su wished."

The trust had said it was "touched" to have been chosen as beneficiaries by the couple.

Daniel Agnew, from Special Auction Services, had said it was the largest single owner sale of bears it had seen, with the remainder of the collection to go under the hammer over the next year.