Vintage Cherished Teddies Flossie Carousel Figurine – Bear Riding Giraffe, I'd Stick My Neck Out For You, Enesco 589950, 1999

A little bear in a pink dress and kerchief rides a carousel giraffe, one gold barley-twist pole rising behind her, the whole thing standing on a green oval base. She is Flossie, and the line under her foot is a pun, as every Cherished Teddies title is: "I'd Stick My Neck Out For You" — a giraffe's neck, and the promise to go out on a limb for someone. That double meaning, warm and a little silly, is exactly what Priscilla Hillman built the whole line on.

This is one of the bigger Cherished Teddies. Most stand two or three inches; the Carousel Collection — bears mounted on carousel animals — reaches a full five, built in four parts (bear, animal, pole, base) and collected animal by animal, the way you'd gather a whole carousel. There is a nice old logic to the giraffe, too: on a real carousel the tall, exotic outer-row animals were the showpieces, the seats everyone wanted.

Marked Flossie · "I'd Stick My Neck Out For You" · ©1999 Priscilla Hillman · Licensee Enesco Corporation · 589950 · Made in China, with a hand-written registration number where a previous owner mailed in the adoption card.

For the Carousel-series collector filling the set, a giraffe lover, or a "stick my neck out for you" gift with some charm behind it.