A Steiff teddy bear is worth anywhere from US$20 to more than US$5,000, and the number that matters most is not the name on the ear button — it is the decade the bear was made in. We measured 630 live Steiff teddy listings on 3 October 2026 across eBay United States, eBay Germany, a US dealer marketplace and the auction record, then split them by era, by model and by the marks collectors actually look for.
If you only want the headline: a modern Steiff soft toy is a US$40–70 item, a 1980s–2000s limited edition or museum replica runs US$50–350, a genuine pre-1950 mohair bear starts around US$130 and climbs into four figures, and the earliest bears with shoe-button eyes and a humpback are the ones that reach US$2,000–5,000.
What we measured, and how to read it
Everything below is an asking price, not a sold price — it is what sellers want, not what buyers paid. That distinction matters, because Steiff asks are inflated at the top end by a handful of optimistic listings.
- eBay United States — ten de-duplicated searches in Dolls & Bears, 416 unique Steiff teddy listings. Median ask US$75, half the listings between US$40 and US$149. 39% asked at least US$100, 8% at least US$300 and 1% at least US$1,000.
- eBay Germany — four searches, 214 unique listings. Median ask US$100, half between US$43 and US$168.
- Dealer retail — two searches on a US doll marketplace, 62 listings, medians of US$225 and US$150.
- Auction — LiveAuctioneers holds 4,196 past price results and 157 upcoming lots for "steiff teddy bear". Realised prices sit behind their subscription, so we quote the published estimates from the 17 October 2026 Ladenburg sale instead and label them as estimates.
Prices were converted at HK$1 = US$0.1274. eBay displayed most of these listings in HKD for a Hong Kong connection, so the underlying numbers are the seller's own currency converted once on our side.
The price bands, era by era
This is the part most guides skip. Once you know the era, you know the range.
- Pre-1918 — the earliest bears. 16 listings, median US$170, half between US$104 and US$450, top ask US$1,544. Small numbers, big spread, and the most authentication risk.
- 1919–1945 — pre-war mohair. 66 listings, median US$130, half between US$65 and US$279. The top ask in the whole dataset sits here: a 1927 white humpback with a central seam and boot-button eyes, 20 inches, at US$5,174.
- 1946–1975. 86 listings, median US$60, half between US$35 and US$110. This is where Zotty, Dralon-era bears and most "vintage but not antique" Steiff live.
- 1976–1999. 27 clearly-dated listings, median US$53.
- Modern reissues and replicas of old models. 68 listings, median US$112 — the uncomfortable finding in this dataset. A clean 1990s replica of a 1907 or 1920 bear routinely asks more than a worn genuine 1930s bear, because it still has every tag, both eyes and no repairs.
- Modern soft toys and undated listings. 367 listings, median US$75. Strip out the co-branded specials (Pokémon, Disney, Star Wars, Boss) and the everyday Jimmy / Fynn / Soft Cuddly Friends bears sit at US$30–60 new.
The ear button is the price tag
The "Button in Ear" (Knopf im Ohr) has marked genuine Steiff animals since 1904, when Franz Steiff crimped a small metal button through the left ear as a tamper-evident proof of origin; it was registered the following year. The button style dates the bear before you even read a tag:
- Blank or elephant-embossed button, 1904–1905 — the earliest, extremely rare.
- "Steiff" in script with an underscored, trailing "f", c.1905 to the 1950s — the classic vintage format.
- Raised lettering, 1950s onward — the modern format.
From 1953 Steiff added a colour-coded paper flag under the button. Yellow with red print = a regular catalogue item. White with red print = a limited edition. White with black print = a museum replica. Read the flag and the button together; a flag alone proves nothing, because flags are held by a thread and can be moved from bear to bear.
The measured effect of all this is blunt. Listings that hedge — "possibly Steiff", "not Steiff", "Steiff?" — had a median ask of US$69, roughly half the US$136 median of listings described with concrete early features such as a button, wood-wool stuffing or boot-button eyes. A genuine bear that has lost its button and tag is traded in the same market as an unattributed one.
Model by model: what the same 630 listings asked
Model names move the price far less than era does, but these are the real medians from the measured set:
- Zotty — US$86 (n=20). The 1950s–80s Zotty family still has a following.
- Petsy — US$78 (n=61). Both genuine 1928-era Petsy and the 1980s–2000s Petsy replicas cluster here.
- Jimmy — US$53 (n=57). A current production line, so condition equals retail condition.
- Robby — US$48 (n=54). The floppy seal; the miniatures are cheap, the large early ones are not.
- Original Teddy — US$42 (n=15).
- Soft Cuddly Friends (Fynn, Lita, and similar) — US$34–37. Washable modern plush, bought to be owned, not collected.
- 1912 black "Titanic" bears — US$164 (n=7). A limited modern theme that holds its money.
- Classic 1920 and Classic 1907 replicas — US$160 and US$199 medians respectively.
United States, Germany and dealer retail
The three markets disagree, and not in the direction people expect.
- eBay US median US$75 versus eBay Germany median US$100 — for Steiff, the home market asks about a third more, the opposite of the pattern we measured on Kämmer & Reinhardt dolls, where Germany was cheaper. Steiff is a German brand with a German collector base that pays for the real thing.
- Dealer retail medians of US$225 and US$150 are roughly 2–3× the eBay median, and the top dealer ask was US$1,795 for an antique Steiff child doll rocker and pull toy on wooden wheels. Dealers are selling provenance, restoration and a return privilege.
- Auction estimates from the 17 October Ladenburg catalogue put the trade band at €950–1,900 (≈US$1,070–2,140) for a 1934–43 classic bear with a button and elongated "f", €380–760 (≈US$430–855) for a pre-war yellow bear with a button, €160–320 (≈US$180–360) for a pre-war 15 cm bear, and €150–300 (≈US$170–340) for a well-loved 1913–18 Record bear.
What actually kills the value
Collector guides are consistent on the ranked order of damage, and our data agrees with the direction even where it cannot price each line:
- No button, or a replaced button. The largest single deduction; a genuine bear without its button trades near the "possibly Steiff" median of US$69.
- No ear tag and no chest tag. The chest tag carries the model name and size and is the first thing thrown away.
- Bald, flattened or replaced mohair. Natural age matting is fine; balding is not, and replacement mohair is worse.
- Replaced paw pads, very common and visible. A condition point rather than a disqualification.
- Over-restoration — repainted glass eyes, new stuffing, re-stitched seams. Buyers discount heavily.
A ten-minute valuation routine
- Turn the bear over and look at the left ear first. Button present? Blank, elephant, underscored script, or raised lettering?
- Note the ear flag colour — yellow, white-red or white-black — and whether a chest tag is still attached.
- Check the eyes: shoe-button eyes predate glass eyes, and plastic eyes mean recent production.
- Squeeze the body gently. Wood-wool or excelsior stuffing is a pre-1950 signal; foam is not.
- Look for the hump, the long curved arms and the long snout of the earliest bears.
- Match the bear to the era band above, then to its model median.
- Compare against what you can actually buy today — including our own Steiff and plush stock, where 31 Steiff pieces are listed between US$41 and US$117 (median US$66), in line with the modern-collectible eBay median and well below dealer retail.
One last note for collectors outside the United States: every price on this site is shown in Hong Kong dollars as "$". We ship worldwide from Hong Kong and quote in USD on request.
Get notified when rare bears and dolls arrive:
More measured price guides are filed under our value guide, including how to value an antique doll.
Related reading: Boyds Bears values in 2026 — what they really sell for: we measured 1,061 live listings (median US$15, and only 10.7% above US$40), with eBay Germany (US$13) and dealer retail (US$21) side by side, plus how to read the tag, style number and edition code.
Related reading: How much is my teddy bear worth? The 2026 numbers: we measured 2,378 live teddy bear listings on eBay US and Germany plus 224 dealer listings, and split them into four bands — mass-market plush (US$5–40), collectible brands (US$40–150), genuine antique mohair (US$100–300) and the top of the market — with the maker marks and the 10-minute identification routine that decide which band a bear falls into.
Related reading: Are Gund bears worth anything? The 2026 numbers: we measured 514 live Gund, Ganz and Dakin listings — 86% asked under US$50, and the median Gund bear asked US$23. The guide sets out the four exceptions that beat that (sealed-code Webkinz, Snuffles anniversary editions, 1950s–60s rubber-face bears and 1980s Dakin) plus the 60-second tag check that tells you which band a bear falls into.