The Boyds Collection Ltd.® began in 1979 as an Antique Shop in the home of G.M. Lowenthal and his partner, now wife, Justina Unger. Refugees from the "Rat Race," they had been working in management at Bloomingdale’s . . . when they shucked it all and moved to rural Boyds, Maryland to start their own business.

Their great love of antiques outweighed their ability to purchase, so instead of true antiques, G.M. and Tina began to search out and sell antique reproductions with the look and feel of true antiques but at more affordable prices. Their retail venture proved to be so successful that by 1982 they began to wholesale some of these top-selling reproductions.

Some of their most successful wholesale items were their reproductions of antique Duck Decoys that ranged from a 9 inch teal to a giant 3 foot whistling swan. The wholesale part of The Boyds Collection began to flourish as G.M. designed, painted, antiqued, boxed and sold the dick decoys. Tina handed customer service, billing, shipping and accounting aspects of their business. Their expanding wholesale product line soon grew to encompass wool Teddy Bears imported from China.

In 1984, when G.M. grew tired for painting 20,000 duck decoys until 3 a.m., the Boyd Company turned to Resin Sculpting with the Gnomes Homes, extremely detailed miniature houses based on American architecture and his own imagination. About that same time, G.M. designed a fully jointed 100% merino wool teddy bear named for his latest "joint venture" with Tina . . . their newborn son, Matthew. Thus the two partners began what was soon to become a beloved part of The Boyds Collection Ltd. -the plush designs known far and wide simply as "Boyd’s Bears."

After expanding beyond the Lowenthal’s "semi-restored" Victorian home in Boyds to an old Sunday school building down the street, the still-growing company needed even more room! In 1987, the Lowenthals relocated the firm to the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania area. The Boyds Collection Ltd. continued to evolve and to grow in popularity by proverbial leaps and bounds. Today the plush animals known as the "Bears and Hares You Can Trust" are sold by over a bazillion accounts nationwide.

In 1992 G.M. returned to the medium of cold cast resin which he had used to design the earlier Gnomes Homes. Hmmm. . . why not produce a resin figurine group based on sculptural interpretations of the Boyds Bears that had a certain style and personality all their own? Thus began a new design concept, and in 1993 the Bearstone Collection™ line of resin Teddy Bear figurines was introduced.

The Folkstone Collection™(a line of "pencil-style" animals, Santas, snowpeople, faeries, and angels) made its debut in 1994, and was followed by Wee Folkstones (shelf sitting faeries, elves, angels in training, gnomes and other companions) in 1996. Since then they have added on to the collections with Garden Gang, the Purrstone Collection™ (crazy house cats!), the Moose Troop™, Holy Cows™, (folk art-style cows that wiggle and bobble,) Snow Dooodes? (winter-weather snow friends), Route 33 1/3™ (lil’ gift boxes with surprises inside!), Uncle Bean’s Treasure Boxes™, and more!

In February 1996, the world was introduced to Yesterdays’ Child . . . The Dollstone Collection™, a series of resin sculptures based on little girls of different eras with their dolls or teddy bears as companions. In the fall of 1997, porcelain dolls were introduced. These 16 inch tall Limited Editions were poseable and dressed in beautifully made ensembles with a 6 inch Boyds Plush companion and special accessories to accompany each doll’s ‘story’. The two styles immediately sold out and G.M. knew he had a winner.

For more information about The Boyds Collection, check out their website at www.boydsstuff.com.