Friday, November 30, 2012

Misha


A pin found on Ebay

In 1981, when I was eight years old, we went to the Royal Melbourne Show (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Melbourne_Show), as we did every year. I was bought a teddy bear - Misha - who has remained a faithful companion ever since. He is sitting on the dresser in our bedroom now, thirty-one years old and a little careworn but still keeping his end up, as they say. When I was eight, I didn't realise that Misha (or Mishka) had been the symbol of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. When he made it to Melbourne, Misha had been transformed into a football bear and wore a little Hawthorn t-shirt.

Lately I have been looking around the Net at all things Misha, partially on a nostalgia trip and partly due to my love of Soviet-era vintage. There's a lot to be found! Misha is still a very popular bear...

Do you still have a special furry childhood friend?



Lovely 'flock' covered Misha on Dawanda


Hipster Misha getting down in time for the Olympics
Image found at http://femtasia.blogspot.com.au/2009/05/misha.html




Image found at http://paulina.holbreich.org/tag/bear/

Misha as I knew and know him (though no Olympic rings on my Misha)
http://collectableteddybears4sale.com/misha-bear-by-olympic-mascot/


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, I found your blog whilst searching for Misha bears. I too had a Misha bear growing up (in Melbourne), however lost it during the black saturday fires. I've been searching for another one but have found that most of the o/s bears look different to the one I had. The search continues I guess.

Feronia said...

Hi and welcome :) I'm so sorry to hear you lost your Misha in the fires. I hope you're doing ok. There are quite a few Mishas on Etsy and Ebay - I think they may look different because they are 'new' and haven't had 30+ years of love squeezed into them!