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"Hello, I found today in my elderly father's house a toy dog on wheels which I think may have belonged to his mother. I found your site and blog really useful in learning more about it. It has a rusty Steiff button in its left ear with a long trailing F.
It also has a medallion on a collar. I haven't seen a collar in any of the photos of other Steiff dogs I've found so far on the internet, so I wonder whether it might have been added, and so is not original. I would be interested in what you think about the medallion and if you are able to tell me anything more about the dog."
This cute canine is the wheel deal indeed. Although it's hard to tell from the photos, it is Steiffgal's best guess that given his form and presentation that this is Steiff's early Fox Terrier on wheels. You can see this item pictured here on the left, the photo is from Pfeiffer's 1892-1943 Sortiment book. He is standing, unjointed, and made from white velvet. His material has been precisely painted brown on his ears and around his eyes. Steiffgal suspects he might have had a few other brown spots here and there that faded over time - most notably right on his back. His face comes to life with a somewhat upturned, pointed snout, black shoe button eyes, and a hand embroidered nose and mouth. He glides along on four metal wheels which are connected by metal axles. As noted, he retains his button in ear as his Steiff ID. Velvet Fox Terrier on wheels appeared in 14 and 17 cm (measured vertically, top of head to toe, not including wheels) from 1902 to 1917 overall. Given this early timeline, it would align that this toy belonged to someone born right at the beginning of the 1900s.
Now let's complete the circle here and talk about the dog's collar. Yes, Steiff did put fancy neckwear on many of its fine products during the first quarter of the 20th century. Large, colorful silk ribbons started appearing on mohair Teddy bears and other pets around 1925. But as early as the turn of last century, it was not uncommon for the company to decorate primarily velvet or felt dogs, cats, and some animals on skittles with fitted ribbons or collars detailed with bells, simple disks, or more elaborate medallions. Perhaps the "most famous" medallion bearing example was the company's Caesar, the King's Dog - who had his very own custom medallion based on the one worn by his namesake. From what Steiffgal can unearth, most Steiff "hardware" was attached to an animal's collar via rings or elegantly secured though a system of a disk and bead on smaller items. You can see the ribbon, bell, bead, and disk detailed "necklace" of a c. 1902 felt cat skittle cat below.
So what's going on with this velvet dog's collar and medallion? In this case, Steiffgal suspects that the medallion here MAY be original to the dog, but probably was reconnected to the collar given its "home repair" presentation.
Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this velvet Fox Terrier on wheels has answered James' questions about him, in a round-about sort of way.
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