Vintage Cherished Teddies "BUTCH" Football Hero Figurine – Priscilla Hillman, Enesco 156388, Hand-Painted Resin Teddy Bear, 1996

A Cherished Teddies collectible from the high era of the line — Priscilla Hillman's BUTCH, catalogued by Enesco as #156388, copyright 1996. The pose: a small honey-toned teddy in a white "CT" varsity jersey banded in orange, leather-look football helmet pushed back from his face with one ear flopping out, oversized brown football tucked under one arm. Yellow corduroy knickers, gold-buckled belt, slate-blue socks, brown football boots laced at the ankle. A tiny white bandage stuck to one cheek — Can I Be Your Football Hero? the question the figurine is officially titled with.

Priscilla Hillman launched Cherished Teddies in 1992 in partnership with Enesco; over the next two decades the line ran to several thousand named characters, each with a copyrighted personality, a quoted line, and a hand-numbered registration on the base. BUTCH belongs to the mid-1990s sports / boys group — produced briefly, less common today than the more numerous girls-and-bunnies subjects that the line is best known for. The base is signed in red script "Cherished Teddies — BUTCH — Can I Be Your Football Hero? — © 1996 Priscilla Hillman, Licensee Enesco Corporation — 156388", with the individual hand-written registration number inked beside it (each piece is individually numbered — the mark of a true Cherished Teddies original rather than a later unofficial copy).

A piece for the Cherished Teddies collector chasing the named-character roster, for the football coach / player / Sunday-afternoon-fan as a desk or shelf gift, for the grandparent passing a 1996-era toy down to a grandchild, or as a sweet nursery-shelf nod to the bandaged-knee bravery of small-boy sports.