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This standing sweetie measures 28 cm tall (not including the ears) and is head jointed. Rabbit's body is made from a soft fabric that has a velvet-y touch to it. It has flat, cardboard lined feet designed for standing. The tips of its hands and feet, and its head and ears, are made from a woolen type of fabric - it is short, with a continuous, semi-rough feel to it. Rabbit's long "sideburns" (or side-buns?) are made from long mohair. Bunny's face comes to life with brown and black glass pupil eyes, a simple red hand embroidered nose and mouth, and traces of airbrushing. The ears are lined in wire and are poseable. Rabbit doll retains its long trailing "f" button and traces of a red ear tag as its IDs.
So just who is this rare hare? This exact rabbit doll pattern does not appear in the Steiff Sortiment books. Steiff did make a series of wonderful rabbit dolls - toys with rabbit heads and human-like bodies like this one - starting in the 1930s. But none had the dramatic facial "hair" of the one under discussion here. This sideburned head pattern was produced on at least four other rabbit bodies. These included sitting and begging tail-turns head models, and two begging models - an unjointed version, and one wearing a little jacket. All appeared in the line from 1931 through 1940 overall. Given all of this, it is Steiffgal's best guess that the rabbit doll was indeed made in early to mid 1930s.
It is easy to go down a rabbit hole when it comes to learning more about Steiff rarities, and that's exactly what happened here. After looking through an original 1938 Steiff brochure, Steiffgal spotted a rabbit doll with mohair sideburns. Much to Steiffgal's surprise - as she thought the rabbit may be a girl - the bunny doll is actually called "Haspapa!" This literally translates to "Rabbit Father." He is shown next to another rabbit doll called "Hasmama," or "Rabbit Mother." Papa and Mama were made in 22 and 28 cm. The brochure does not mention their materials. However, it is interesting to note that they are posed with a woolen mohair duck. Woolen mohair was often used in the place of mohair plush on Steiff toys in the c. 1930-1950 time frame. It is considered an alternative, war-era fabric. So it is plausible that Haspapa was originally intended to be made out of woolen mohair and not traditional mohair plush. The picture from the brochure is shown here on the left, you can click on it to make it larger.
Finally, its a clothes call with Haspapa's darling outfit. According to the brochure picture, Haspapa left the factory wearing green overall style pants and what appears to be a checkered shirt. Fast forward eight decades, Haspapa did arrive wearing his wonderful red overalls; they are original to Steiff but not to him. The red fabric features lots of Steiff's most beloved toys and designs on a teeny-tiny scale, and looks great with his red nose and mouth . But given his age, and the New England weather, Steiffgal though he needed a few more layers. So Steiffgal's sister went right to work, making him comfortable cotton underwear, knitting him a sweater, and even "cobbling" him a pair of tie shoes. Isn't he a handsome devil? A big Steiff shout out to Steiffsis for the great handy work. Steiffgal hopes this discussion on Steiff's Haspapa has been a hare raising experience for you.
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