Thursday, August 2, 2012

 Largest teddy bear collection: Jackie Miley sets world record (PICS & VIDEO)

HILL CITY, S.D., USA -- Jackie Miley, a 63-year-old resident of Hill City, S.D., has 7,790 different teddy bears, setting the new world record for largest teddy bear collection, according to the World Record Academy: www.worldrecordacademy.com/.

  Photo: Jackie Miley, 63, is surrounded by her beloved teddy bears at Teddy Bear Town in Hill City, S.D. With 7,790 teddy bears in her collection, Miley holds the World Record for largest collection. Photo: Kristi Eaton/AP ( enlarge photo )

The Guinness world record for the Largest collection of masks was set by Gerold Weschenmoser (Germany), who has 5,385 different masks.

Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the largest collection of film projectors: 1,919 - achieved by Christos Psathas (Greece), in Athens, Greece.

  As a child growing up in foster care in Minnesota, Jackie Miley never had the quintessential childhood toy: the teddy bear.

  The 63-year-old resident of Hill City, S.D., has made up for that — and then some. With 7,790 different teddy bears, Miley holds the World Record for largest teddy bear collection.

  Her collection resides in a small home along Main Street in Hill City, a town of fewer than 800 people in western South Dakota's Black Hills.
( enlarge photo )

  Teddy Bear Town is filled to the brim with every bear imaginable — Beanie Babies, the talking Teddy Ruxpin and porcelain bears.

  Visitors can admire the collection and buy souvenirs at a teddy bear-themed gift shop.

  ''I'm referring to it as a house of memories. I've got people's very first bears. I've got bears in memories of people who passed away . . . It brings back childhood memories to a lot of them,'' Miley said of the visitors.

  Miley's most meaningful bear is from one of the elementary schools she attended in Minnesota. The bear, which had a photo of Miley from the second grade pinned to the chest, was a surprise gift from a visiting couple.

  ''I was raised in foster homes and I don't have a lot of childhood memorabilia, and that is the only picture I have of myself at the age of 7,'' she said.

   Related world records:


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Thursday, August 2, 2012 4:29 PM