Vintage Boyds Bears Bearstone Valentino Slipshot Cupid Figurine – Aim Em High, Style 82006, Rainbow Wings, Resin Valentine, 2000

A Boyds Bears collectible from the Bearstone Collection's Special Occasion line — Valentino Slipshot... Aim 'Em High, style #82006, copyright © 2000. The piece is the firm's Valentine's Day Cupid: a small honey-brown resin teddy in pink ribboned costume, rainbow fairy wings fanned behind, a brown leather-look quiver strapped across one shoulder, holding a tiny gold heart-tipped bow and arrow. He stands on a white painted-cloud base, scattered with small red heart confetti, an extra heart-tipped arrow lying beside him and a second arrow upright on a spring at his side — the slipshot arrow of the figurine's name, ready to fly back out.

Boyds Bears & Friends, founded 1979 in Pennsylvania by Gary Lowenthal, sits at the top of the 1990s–2000s American collectible-bear field alongside Cherished Teddies. The Bearstone Collection — Boyds' resin-figurine line as distinct from the plush bears — gave every piece a distinct name, a literary epigraph, and a style number; this one carries the Percy Bysshe Shelley line "Common as light is love... they who inspire it most are fortunate, but those who feel it most are happier still". The Special Occasion series within Bearstone covered Valentines, weddings, birthdays, and other gift-occasion designs — issued in shorter seasonal runs than the year-round Bearstone catalogue.

A piece for the Boyds Bears collector chasing the Bearstone Special Occasion run, for the Valentine's Day collector, for the 2000s nostalgist, or as a Valentine's / engagement / first-anniversary gift to someone who already keeps a few cute resin pieces on a shelf.