Feeling a little stubborn today? Well, that just may come in handy in this particular situation! Take a look at this mysterious Steiff mule. Have you ever seen anything like him before? His rarity alone is worthy of military honors.
What we have here is Steiff's seldom seen, largest sized US Army Mule mascot. He is standing, unjointed, and excelsior stuffed. He measures 34 cm long and 22 cm high. Mule is made from grey mohair that has been highlighted with darker grey airbrushing on his back and neck. His tail and the lining of his ears are made from dark grey felt. His mane and the tip of his tail are made from long black mohair. Mule's facial mask is made from slightly shorter mohair. He has an open, smiling peach colored felt lined mouth. And of course, you cannot help but notice his amazing eyes! They are made from turquoise and black glass and can be tilted to the left and right to create funny and varying facial expressions. Army mule is detailed with a red cord harness and two long, thin orange wool pom-poms - one on either side of his face. He has a squeaker in his belly.
As far as Steiffgal can tell, this large mohair Army Mule does not appear in any standard Steiff reference books. He retains his raised script button, traces of his yellow ear tag, and a frayed US Zone tag as his IDs. Given this configuration of IDs, and the dating available on other similar Steiff mascots, it is Steiffgal's best guess that he was made around 1952.
One place this fine fellow has made an appearance is in the F.A.O Schwarz catalog of 1952, along with a number of other Steiff mascots. You can see this catalog page here below; you can click on it to make it bigger. The Steiff Army Mule, on the far left, is listed at $7.50. Adjusted for inflation, $7.50 in 1952 is equal to $73.72 in 2021. The copy for this catalog page reads:
"COLLEGE MASCOTS (Exclusive Import) Mascots bring good luck, hence owning one of these can help only the college it represents. Each measures about 10" high, made by an outstanding manufacturer for us exclusively from our own designs. They are soft-bodied covered with the finest mohair plush and have excellent markings with very expressive, moveable eyes. The removable felt blankets are in the correct colors. Ship. wt. 3 lbs. each."
One thing that really stands out in this design is the Mule's eyes, which are even called out in the F.A.O. Schwarz catalog copy. This eye style appears infrequently on Steiff items, but when it does, it is Steiffgal's opinion that it is the company's way of saying, "don't take this piece too seriously - or literally!" This playful, cartoonish eye style debuted in the 1920's on some of Steiff's Cheerio dogs and Petsy the Baby Bears. Postwar, they appeared on Steiff's 1950's era Lulac rabbit models, as well as these larger mohair 1952 mascots.
The 1950's and very early 1960's were Steiff's heyday years of producing mascots for the US market. During this timeframe, Steiff made mascots for institutions including the US Army (mules) and Navy (goats), Columbia University of NY (lions), Princeton University of Princeton, NJ (tigers), Yale University of New Haven, CT (bulldogs), and Duke University of Durham, NC (doll devils), among others. Most of these mascots were based on existing designs in the Steiff portfolio that were modified via different eyes, proportional changes, and/or were accessorized with a lettered felt blanket. The Duke Devil was a completely new design. He was jointed, with a felt body and a rubber head with horns. He was detailed with a blue felt suit, long blue felt tail, and white felt shoes, and carried a pronged spear. You can see this handsome - ah, devil - here on the left; the photo is from Worthpoint.
Steiffgal hopes this discussion on Steiff's largest mohair military mule ranks highly with you.
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