Sit And Stay And Check Out This Amazing Postwar Steiff Rarity!

What a good boy! That's exactly what you are going to say after seeing today's special blog guest. Here we have a familiar face, sort of, in an unfamiliar form. Check out this amazing Steiff dog and see where it fits into Steiff's German Shepherd post war deign timeline.

Here we have a Steiff's unusual sitting Arco German Shepherd. He is about 45 cm tall, head jointed, and made from tannish colored mohair. His sideburns, chest, and tail are made from longer mohair. His back and sides are airbrushed with black, grey, and tan highlights, much like the real dog. He has black embroidered claws on his paws. Arco's face is detailed with brown and black pupil eyes, a black hand embroidered nose, and a friendly peach felt lined open mouth. Of course, his red felt tongue really adds to his smile! His red collar may be original to him. He retains his raised script button and traces of his yellow ear tag as his Steiff IDs.

Steiff produced sitting German Shepherd dogs on a commercial scale prewar, but not postwar. Prewar, Arco was made sitting in 17, 22, and 28 cm from 1937 to 1943. During this time, this beloved pattern was sometimes also referred to as "The Police Dog." Steiffgal has seen just a few sitting postwar versions of Arco, and it is her best guess that this pattern was produced as a sample or prototype and based on Steiff's 1960s-era standard line Arco pattern. A 25 cm sitting version with all IDs sold at auction in 2020; it generated 12 bids and hammered at €2,300 / $2,481. He is pictured below on the left. His cataloging, which seems to back up the prototype theory, reads in part:

"Arco, button, chest label and cloth tag label, cloth tag label is worn, sitting 25 cm, flat STEIFF button with embossed cursive writing in ear, item-No. 3325, cloth tag label on ear isn't readable, neck mark, Arco, mohair stuffed with wood wool , brown/black glass eyes, black nose/ mouth decoration, always 3 claws, press voice is faulty, red leather collar, this Alsatian Arco in sitting version was planned by the company STEIFF 1963 as novelty in different sizes , but wasn't put into the assortment, it were probably only a few sample items produced, very nice, unused original condition, extremely rare STEIFF rarity, expertise by the company STEIFF GmbH Giengen is enclosed."

Steiffgal has really enjoyed shepherding you through the details and history of this rare and wonderful Arco.

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