HOLIDAY POOH |
Inspired by reading A. A. Milne's Winnie-the Pooh books to their four children, John and Susan realized that they had never seen a doll of "Christopher Robin!" Following on the heels of the recent successful edition of The Little Prince, the Wrights' decided they would like their next literary character to be Christopher Robin.
Although they hadn't made any bear or animal characters, it was immediately clear that a Winnie-the-Pooh bear would undoubtedly be wanted by collectors to accompany the doll. A lengthy and complex pursuit of the licensing rights finally resulted in a contract with the Walt Disney Company, under which the Wrights' came to produce Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh and eventually the other characters from the books as well. It is important to note that one of the Wrights' struggles in obtaining licensing was founded on their determination to recreate the characters from the books, not from the Disney animated films. Their achievement created an entirely new licensing division in the U.S. for what became known as "Classic Pooh," as distinguished from the then-accepted "Disney Pooh."
As they had done with The Little Prince, the Wrights' insisted that Christopher Robin and Pooh be steadfastly faithful to the original illustrations. In this case, the artist was Ernest H. Shepard, and again, they had only simple line drawings to use as source material. The fidelity of the RJW three-dimensional renderings relies greatly on the shapes and silhouettes they achieved, which mimic the lines of Shepardıs drawings perfectly. It was the company's first foray into making animals, and became a landmark RJW series for that reason.
Holiday Pooh was produced exclusively for the 1997 Walt Disney World Doll & Teddy Bear convention. Measuring 12" tall, he is fully jointed and made of custom wool/mohair plush with embroidered mouth and nose and glass eyes. One of the distinctive features of this edition is that this is the only RJW Pooh with an open mouth and felt tongue. Pooh is dressed for winter in a wrap-around scarf made of all-wool felt with a felt applique plaid. He holds a sprig of holly & berries made of felt and on his feet, custom-made black vinyl boots inscribed 'RJW' on the soles. Every detail has been carefully researched to capture the essence of Winnie-the-Pooh as depicted by E. H. Shepard in the original Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne.
Holiday Pooh was produced in a limited edition of 1000 individually-numbered pieces and sold out the first day of the Disney event. The happy little bear came enclosed in his very own deluxe RJW carrying box with a cord holder along with the accompanying signed and numbered certificate of authenticity and the forms for owner registration.
©Disney. Based on the "Winnie-the-Pooh" works. ©A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard.
DIRECT PURCHASE: The Holiday Pooh offered here is number three of only ten Artist Proofs made and comes directly from R. John Wright Archives in pristine as-new condition. (Note: this is the only time more than five Artist Proofs were made.) The purchase price of $975.00 includes shipping & insurance in the domestic United States. [For overseas shipping rates, please contact the RJW office.]
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