BUENA PARK : Rare Bear Not in Cards for Royalty

Officials won’t say for sure, but Rosemary Volpp is convinced that her competitor for a one-of-a-kind mohair teddy bear put up for auction by Sotheby’s in London last September was the Queen of England.

Bits of information--such as hints that the family who also wanted the bear were billionaires and that there was no possible way they could attend the auction--all fueled the 62-year-old Buena Park woman’s belief.

“Who else could it have been?” asked Volpp. “We were told by the auction house appraiser that the woman was a grandmother, that she wanted it badly for her granddaughter and that it would have caused much too much of a stir if she attended personally.”

Auction house officials are prohibited from disclosing names of customers, but Volpp’s anonymous rival turned out to be no match for her and her husband, Paul, who eventually won the bidding process by shelling out the most anyone has ever paid for a teddy bear--$86,000.

“It was a lot money, but that isn’t the point. Some people buy swimming pools. Others buy trailer homes. We bought a beautiful one-of-a-kind teddy bear that we named ‘Happy.’ We worked hard for a long time for money, and now we are enjoying it,” Volpp said.

“Happy” is a 24-inch white bear that was made in the early 1920s by the German manufacturer Steiff. Steiff bears are considered top of the line and are commonly identified by a button in one ear. Steiff currently has plans to produce 5,000 new copies of the bear based on the Volpps’ model.

Sotheby’s never announced who the bear’s buyer was. Volpp has displayed the bear at several teddy bear collectors’ shows, but word was slow to spread to the general public.

Volpp said she knew she had to have the bear after seeing it at Sotheby’s on a trip to London last year.

“We have a variety of bears by the same maker, and I’d never seen this one before,” said Volpp.

Devout bear collectors for several years, the couple--semi-retired owners of a machinery shop--boast a total of more than 5,000 furry bears, all protected in their home by an elaborate security system with armed response.

Volpp said their initial plans were to quietly buy the bear for their 42nd wedding anniversary. To complete the process, they enlisted a buyer in London to offer a bid in the couple’s absence.

“We had only planned to spend $10,000,” said Volpp. “And we really didn’t think someone would challenge us for it since there were older and bigger bears also in the auction.” Volpp said she was told by the auction house that the bear was brought in by a British man who had apparently inherited it from his grandmother.

Since its arrival in the United States, the Volpps have displayed “Happy” at various bear collector shows around the country and sell pictures of it to admirers. The money collected from sales--nearly $10,000 so far--is given to area hospitals for treatment of and research into childhood diseases.

“We didn’t buy ‘Happy’ to make money or for show,” said Volpp. “She is a gift of love to us, and she is giving back.”