Charlie Bears may feel as though they have been part of the collecting world for much longer, but the company is surprisingly young. Founded by Charlotte and William Morris in late 2005, Charlie Bears launched its first collection on 1 February 2006 with just twelve bears. Since then the company says it has created more than 2,500 different designs, with Charlie Bears now sold through hundreds of retailers around the world. 

From the beginning, Charlie Bears were intended to be more than conventional soft toys. The company describes them as “bears with personalities”, and that idea is easy to understand when you look at the faces. Expressions, eye placement, muzzle shaping, fur choice and finishing all contribute to making one bear look entirely different from another, even when the underlying construction is similar. Because the bears are made by hand, there can also be small variations between individual examples of the same design. 

Although bears remain at the heart of the range, Charlie Bears has never restricted itself to teddy bears alone. Over the years collectors have been offered pandas, rabbits, dogs, cats and increasingly imaginative creatures, including dragons and other fantasy animals. The current ranges demonstrate just how broad the company has become, with traditional collectable bears sitting alongside mythical characters and licensed designs.

One of the things that can initially confuse new collectors is that not all Charlie Bears belong to the same collection. The standard Plush Collection consists of fully jointed collectable characters made from plush, while the Plumo Collection combines plush with fibres such as mohair or alpaca. Charlie Bears states that Plumo designs are limited to 1,000 pieces worldwide. 

The Isabelle Collection occupies another part of the collecting market. Created in collaboration with award winning bear artist Isabelle Lee, these are limited edition collectors' pieces using materials including mohair, alpaca and wool. They are fully jointed, can include hand-painted and embroidered details, and are supplied with numbered certificates of authenticity. 

There is also the MiniMo Collection, where the scale becomes much smaller while materials such as alpaca, mohair and wool are retained, and Charlie's Signature Collection, which the company describes as its flagship range. Signature characters are individually handmade, produced in limited numbers and supplied with numbered certificates.

At the other end of the spectrum are ranges intended to be cuddled and played with rather than primarily displayed. Bearhouse characters are machine washable and suitable from 18 months, while Cuddle Cubs and the Bear & Me range include softer non-jointed characters suitable from birth.

For collectors, however, one of the biggest attractions has always been limited production. Charlie Bears states that all of its bears and characters are limited in production, while certain collections have particularly small editions. Once a design has been fully adopted, the Charlie Bears term used when it is no longer available from the company, collectors have to search the secondary market if they want to add it to their collection. 

That does not mean that every discontinued Charlie Bear automatically becomes rare or valuable. As with almost every collectable, availability and desirability are not the same thing. Some characters develop a particularly enthusiastic following because of their expression, unusual colouring, size, animal type, limited edition or association with a particular collection. Others remain relatively easy to find long after they have disappeared from retailers.

Condition also becomes increasingly important as the earlier bears age. A collector buying an older Charlie Bear should look at the fur, paw pads, nose stitching, eyes and joints, as well as checking whether original necklaces, ribbons, bells, clothing or other accessories are still present. Swing tags can also matter to collectors, particularly on examples intended primarily for display rather than play.

With numbered limited editions, original certificates are particularly desirable. A missing certificate does not make the bear cease to be genuine, but it removes part of its original documentation and may influence how attractive the example is to a serious collector.

The sheer number of designs produced since 2006 has also made Charlie Bears an interesting collecting field in its own right. It is no longer simply a matter of buying whichever bear appeals. Some collectors specialise in the Isabelle Collection, others in Plumo bears, particular animals, early designs or limited editions. Others simply build what Charlie Bears calls a “hug”, a collection chosen because each character appeals personally to its owner.

That perhaps explains part of the brand's success. Traditional teddy-bear collecting can sometimes seem intimidating to newcomers, particularly where early Steiff, Merrythought or antique bears command substantial prices and require specialist knowledge. Charlie Bears created a modern collecting world with identifiable named characters, annual collections, different levels of rarity and a constant stream of new designs, but with many pieces still accessible enough for somebody to begin collecting simply because they fall in love with one particular face.

Nearly two decades after those first twelve bears appeared, Charlie Bears has become a collecting field substantial enough to have its own terminology, specialist ranges and secondary market. There are bears bought for children, bears bought purely for display and limited-edition pieces intended very deliberately for adult collectors.

Yet despite all the edition sizes, certificates and collecting terminology, the appeal remains remarkably simple.

You look at a shelf full of bears, and somehow one of them looks back at you. And that is usually the one that comes home.