Are You Smitten With This Midcentury Steiff Kitten?

It's time to let the cat out of the bag concerning this week's fantastic Steiff find. The company's delightful vintage button-in-ear kittens have long headlined Steiff and doll collectors' lists of favorites given their incredible appeal, playful personalities, and ease of display. And there's simply nothing cuter than a kindle** of Steiff kittens! Take a look at this delightful, interestingly ID'ed midcentury example and try not to fall in love with her!

This fantastic feline is an early postwar version of Steiff's beloved Susi cat. She is 17 cm tall, sitting, and head jointed. Susi is made from grey and white patched style mohair. Her muzzle, front feet, and chest area are white; her body, head, and tail are grey. Her grey mohair is hand airbrushed with bold, eye catching black stripes. Her front claws are red and hand embroidered. Sweet Susi's face comes to life with green and black slit pupil glass eyes, a pink embroidered nose and mouth, and clear monofilament whiskers. Her belly squeaker works, sometimes! Her dark pink silk ribbon is original to her. This mohair Susi was made in 10, 12, 14, 17, and 22 cm from 1949-1978 overall. This example was produced in the earliest part of that time frame.

Susi is paws-atively a key design in Steiff's century-plus history of cat production. Steiff debuted its original Susi cat in 1936. Prewar, she was produced in mohair in 14, 17, 22, and 28 cm through 1943. In Pfeiffer's 1892-1943 Sortiment, she is described as "mohair plush, gray tabby, sitting, very pretty model, round shape." It is very unusual to find subjective or "flattering" descriptions in the Sortiment books as they are almost always entirely factual and literal. So Susi's design really must be the cat's meow! Early postwar, Susi - like many of Steiff's legacy prewar patterns - was produced in artificial silk plush as that was the fabric that was available for toy product in the late 1940s. Art silk Susi appeared in 14, 17, and 22 cm from 1948-1949 overall.

There is so much to love about this pretty kitty. Her facial expression and presentation are lifelike and irresistible. Her construction has so much integrity, and has a distinctively "old fashioned" quality to it. And her condition is lovely, too; it's amazing she looks almost fresh as a daisy after nearly seven decades. From the historical perspective, Susi's IDs bridge pre- and post-war designs. She has her linen tag style "US Zone" tag sewn into her arm seam; technically, these appeared in items produced in the c. 1947-1953 time frame. She also has her red imprinted, "watermelon" bear faced chest tag. These appeared on items prewar from c. 1928 through the mid 1940s, then again through 1952. This tag features a very angular Teddy bear face with a distinctive "U" shaped muzzle. 

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this early postwar Susi kitten has made you grin like a Cheshire cat.

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**YES! This is a real word to describe a collection or group of kittens!