A milestone gift

Some occasions are marked with a speech and a gift that has to last as long as the memory. A graduation, a retirement, twenty years at the same firm. A teddy is an unusual choice for these and, we think, a good one, because it is kept and looked at.

The three groups below differ mostly in what the occasion is worth. A graduation gift should be something the graduate keeps through the next decade of moving flats. A retirement gift should have substance. A work anniversary gift should read as considered rather than sentimental.

All of them come from heritage makers, Steiff, Teddy-Hermann and Charlie Bears' handmade ranges, whose teddies are recognisably themselves thirty years on.