You could call it one very expensive squeeze: a limited edition Gund Snuffles bear made of white alpaca fur, black Tahitian pearls as eyes, and sporting a 10-carat diamond attached to a white-gold chain made his debut at Toy Fair 2010. Why so iced down? Because the bear is celebrating its 30th birthday this year—and just to be sure that ogglers don’t spoil the party, a security guard is standing by Mr. Snuffles’ enclosed case, which is even behind a velvet rope.
The one-of-a-kind plush bear is valued at an astounding $10,000—not exactly the kind of pocket change one might usually carry around at a trade show fair. But this special bear is decked out for a good cause: The bear will be put up for an auction sometime in 2010, and all proceeds—which will surely exceed the ten grand the bear is estimated to be worth—will be donated to charity.
But for now, the display of the diamond-clad Snuffles is just a clever way to build some show buzz—which is apparently working since I actually had to elbow my way up to the bear’s case at the Gund booth (733). After eyeballing Gund’s other offerings (check them out on www.gund.com), I even left with a proud reminder of my visit—a sticker that reads “I Hugged Snuffles.” I would’ve preferred to leave with a sticker that said this: “I borrowed Snuffles’ necklace.” Oh, well—maybe next year.
While that bear is truly amazing...it is also a tribute to excess and wealth that is a bit sad.
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful that they are donating the profits of auctioning it off to chariety, but imagine how wonderful it would be and how much good publicity they would have gotten if they donated 1000 $10 bears to orphan children that could use a snuggly friend, instead of creating one bear for someone ultra rich.