I, too have a pair from this series. The large one is "Ursula - white Polar Bear" and her leather tag reads in part "From the Gund.Design Collection, the ultimate in soft sculptures. This extraordinary creature symbolizes a dedication to excellence known as the Gund touch."
I worked in a stuffed animal store called Noah's Ark, in the Dallas Galleria for a while. These were the major purchase I made while there, for around $700 with my discount. This was back in the early to mid 1990's....so the line ran before 2000 but ended in 2003.
They were a "big deal" with leather paw pads, made to be very realistic. Slight airbrushing of brown on paws, as real polar bears show. The Gund Design logo has a dot at dash-level between the words. The editions were limited. I can't recall to what. I fell in love with the bears, and was not thinking in terms of re-sell. I was young, and the purchase was 2 months' rent for me! We only had three, and I sold one and bought the other two...and got tons of praise from the owners.
Ursula was the "big" one, maybe 45'', and the smaller one was perhaps 30"? I renamed them Bogdan and Vladi, so I don't even recall the small one's name.
Sadly, they were damaged in a very serious house fire in 2010. In trying to figure out insurance value, I was stymied by the lack of a presence in the secondary market. They don't seem to be mentioned much, and I guess the buyers are holding, or maybe a few stored to resell, as the website mentioned above did.
All my pc files were lost, so I don't even have a good picture to share. I continue to hope someone will come forward and post pictures of a collection that includes this line...they were so magnificent. The bears were most lifelike.
I will never forget leaving the mall when I bought Vladi, carrying him under my arm...someone stopped me and wanted to pet him, mistaking him for a live pet!
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