I have been trying to find out the manufacturer of an elephant plush toy for years now, with no results.
I remember the day I got him around 1952. I was in the stroller in Eaton’s department store in Montreal, Quebec, when I saw him. I stood up in my stroller while my mother was talking with someone and grabbed him. I wouldn’t let him go, and my mother ended up buying him for me, and he has been with me and our family ever since. I was about 2 years old then, and I am 59 now, so he has been well used over the years, as you can see.

I am hoping to have this restored and knowing more about its origins will help me in having it restored properly. It has come to a point where he is falling apart and needs to be complete redone, but I have not been able to find any information on him, or anyone that would know how to restore him.

The face is some sort of a rubber material, and the body looks like a velvet on a canvas base. It was very popular in the Montreal region in the early 1950’s. At the time there was a big safety campaign going on called Elmer the safety elephant, and I am not sure if he was made to go along with this.

The first photo shows his face which might be a rubbery type substance, as it is fairly rigid and also soft, but it doesn’t smell like rubber. As you can see, his face has received quite a bit of damage. Unfortunately, I was responsible for the damage, as I chewed on him when I was a lot younger!!!

You can see a velvet type fur, which has been worn off the entire body, except for this little bit on the back side.
One lady in California said he might have been made by Gund. I have been looking on eBay for about 1 year at all the postings for Gund, stuffed elephants, etc., and have not see anything like him. I have also done many searches on Google, but have not been able to find anything about him.

Any information that you could give me on him would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my inquiry and looking at all my information.

May the spirit of Christmas be with you at this special time of the year.

Malcolm

If you can help Malcolm find this out about this 50’s Rubbery Face Elephant with Velvet? Body OR if you can suggest an appropriate restorer, THIS SEARCH REQUEST IS NO LONGER ACTIVELY MANAGED. Please use Our FREE FACEBOOK GROUP, including POST CODE #121609-3 in the subject

Searching for a toy – Originally posted 12/16/2009