Check Out This Bearded Beauty From The Steiff Archives!

It's easy to be all smiles over this next Steiff mystery. Check out this note from a friend in Germany, who has just added a very special bearded beauty to his collection. But who exactly is this rarity, and what might be the back story behind him? Orlando writes:

"I bought a sitting Schnauzer from the Steiff archive, which I can't find in any book. He has the number 3530, which is written on the archive tag. He has a leather collar, his breastplate, and his ear flag with a button. The pressure voice, works. Maybe you can tell me something about the dog. Was it perhaps intended for the American market? Thank you for your efforts. I'm looking forward to your reply."

This darling doggie is an unusual version of the Steiff's popular and legacy Tessie Schnauzer design. These pretty pooches were made in 10, 14, 22, and 28 cm from 1954 through 1976. Tessie dogs produced for the standard line were standing and made from long, light grey mohair. They had irresistible faces that came to life with black and brown pupil eyes, a black hand embroidered mouth, a happy pink tongue, and pert triangular shaped ears. Their accessory was a red leather collar.

Orlando's version has the same general look and feel as the standard line issue Tessie dogs, with a few key differences:

• 1. Standard line Tessie was standing and Orlando's is sitting. 

• 2. Standard line Tessie was made from mohair and Orlando's appears to be made from a different sort of fabric. 

• 3. Standard line Tessie has a closed mouth and Orlando's has an open, smiling mouth lined in velvet - sort of like those seen on Steiff's early 1950s Cockie Cocker Spaniels. 

• 4. Standard line Tessie came in sizes up to 28 cm and Orlando's appears to be larger.

So what does this all mean? The Steiff archive tag, with the numbers 3530 and 1955 on it, does help to shed some light on the dog. These numbers translate to 3=sitting, 5=wool plush, and 30=30 cm tall. So his fabric is in part wool plush, he is 30 cm tall, and he was made in 1955.

Now let's talk about his unusual form - sitting instead of standing. The sitting version was sampled in 1955, one year after standing Tessie's introduction. Steiffgal has two plausible ideas why Steiff tried out a version of their Tessie Schnauzer dog in sitting form.  

The first has to do with growing the company's overseas presence and market position. It was not uncommon for Steiff to make design tweaks to its standard line, postwar dogs and present them as exclusives to F.A.O. Schwarz and other high end stores in the USA in the 1950s and 1960s. For example, Steiff produced a standing Dally Dalmatian (the standard line version was sitting), a sitting black and white Cockie (the standard line version was standing), and an open mouthed Biggie Beagle (the standard line version had a closed mouth) as specials for F.A.O. Schwarz. This sitting Tessie might have been proposed for an exclusive for the USA, but never put into production for one reason or another.

The second has to do with regular business product line extension. If a design is great and selling well - why not make it in a theme and variation form? The best analogy Steiffgal can come up with here is Steiff's foray into creating a postwar sitting Arco German Shepherd. Postwar, Arco has always appeared in the catalog standing. Steiffgal has seen just a few of the sitting versions here and there, but has never seen them documented in any reference book as a standard line item. In 2020, a 25 cm sitting Arco with all IDs sold at auction; it generated 12 bids and hammered at €2,300 / $2,481. His cataloging read, 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." Here on the left you can see this sitting version of Arco, the image is from LiveAuctioneers. 

It is not clear why these sitting versions of Tessie and Arco never went into full blown production. Steiffgal suspects it has to do with production and labor costs, and/or market share or other business factors. These kinds of production decisions almost always have an economic element to them. But only they know for sure - and their lips are sealed!

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on Orlando's archival Tessie has been one for the books!

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