Having A Ball With This Prewar Steiff Kitten Novelty

Without trying to be catty, Steiffgal suspects you've never seen a Steiff kitten just like this one! Check out this fancy feline who is simply having a ball - literally. This prewar novelty is totally the cat's meow!

This lovely lady is simply cataloged as "Wool Plush Cat." But her details are far more interesting! She measures 9 cm tall and 17 cm long, not including her tail. She is head jointed and in a lying position. She is made from tan wool plush with now faded black airbrushed striping. She has a pinch style squeaker in her torso. Kitty comes to life with felt backed ears, green and black glass pupil eyes set low on her face, and a pink hand embroidered nose and mouth. Her accessories include a satin bow, jingle bell, and a red, yellow, and blue woolen miniature pom pom ball which is held between her two front paws. This delightful rarity was made in 17, 22, and 28 cm (measured horizontally, not including the tail) from 1933-1942.

Kitty's design and presentation closely mirror Steiff's late prewar design aesthetic as well as business drivers and strategy. In the early 1930s, the realities of Germany's challenging geopolitical, social, and economic situation really began impacting every level of operations at Steiff. As such, the company started using less expensive and more readily available non-mohair fabrics as well as launching simplified designs to minimize materials and labor costs. Here to the left you can see this pretty kitty as she appeared in Steiff's 1938/1939 print catalog; you can click on the photo to make it bigger. 

Here's how this kitty's pattern checks many of those boxes. 

1.  She is made from wool plush, which is lovely and durable, but is less elegant than the company's signature mohair. Wool plush is considered a wartime era, substitute fabric and was often used in Steiff's production on items bookending WWII. 

2. Her face is nicely done, and very appealing and expressive, while her body is  very basic in form. Starting around 1931, Steiff began consolidating their design and manufacturing efforts on an item's head, while leaving the rest of the body as simple as possible. A great example of this is the company's line of dressed animal dolls of that era. They consisted of a lovely, detailed mohair head on a plain, generic linen or fabric body. 

3.  Kitty she has only one joint - a head joint. Jointing is very expensive and time consuming, and the fewer joints an item has, the more efficiently it can be made. 

4. And finally, her accessories are also quite telling. Her bow, bell, and simple woolen miniature pom pom are inexpensive to source and quick to attach to her, but really elevate her presentation and draw your eye forward to her finest feature, her head. Steiff debuted its general woolen miniature line, which was invented in part to address the realities of manufacturing in Germany in the 1930s, so it is interesting to see it being used here to compliment and upscale this design. 

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this wool plush kitty has tickled your whiskers!

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