Antique Fechter Austria Old Raccoon Growler Rare 010001

Fechter Bears - The History


Fechter is the best known of the Austrian Bear makers
making bears from 1930 to 1979

After WW2

Owned by Wilhelm & Berta Fechter of Neustadt Germany
Berta learned her trade working at the
Nicol Steiner Factory in 1949
Registered their business in a house in Leonhardbach district

First materials used were American army blankets & towels
Then they used excellent quality Mohair

Berta who was such a hard worker made sure
everything was run absolutely perfect
She would make sure her employees were always working
to make her bears the best and would often say
" No time for idle chat "

Anyone who worked for her would apprentice for 3 years in college
to learn everything they could about bear making
and then apprentice again at her factory..

All Fechter Bears were VERY EXPENSIVE to buy
and they wouldnt sell them through department stores
which made them harder to obtain..

The bears were made with mohair and had open mouths..

Very few had closed mouths and are rare and hard to find now.
Austrian buyers loved the open mouths
Uk buyers loved the closed mouths

1960's - 1970's


Major expansion and the factory was moved
to Wies in 1973.

Wies is a town in the district of Deutschlandsberg in Styria in Austria.


From 1973 Fechter began to use the Styria Tags.

Wilhelm Fechter passed away in 1983

and the contents of the factory sold to a dealer from Usa

As you can see the history of Fechter Bears is very interesting