Wishing You a Spectacular Seaside Steiff New Year!

Steiffgal hopes your New Year's holiday was peachy-keen. Or even better, beachy-keen! For collectors in the Northern hemisphere, we are entering the coldest and darkest part of the year. So how about heating things up with a Steiff fantasy trip to a favorite warmer weather destination - the beach! It's time to head off for a little sun and fun... and sand between our toes. Here are a few Steiff friends that call the shoreline "home."

Many wonderful birds feather their nests right along the oceanfront. Of course, it wouldn't be a day at the beach without a flock of seagulls within eye and earshot! Steiff's Movi Seagull is the perfect beach buddy.  He is 28 cm, unjointed, and made from white, black, and grey woven fur. He has black felt "feathers" on the tips of his wings. He is standing on large, poseable yellow velvet and felt webbed feet and has a yellow trivera velvet peak. Movi has black button eyes that are backed by red felt. Movi was produced from 1979 through 1981 and is relatively uncommon on the secondary market.

Beach visitors are likely to find a few herons standing tall among the beach grass and palm trees. Steiff's fantastic, life sized Grey Heron has a leg up over most of Steiff's studio birds in terms of rarity.  This big bird is 50 cm tall, unjointed, and standing on one leg. He is primarily made from short white and grey plush. He is brought to life with stenciled felt wings; long grey and white plush "feathering" on his back, chest, and head; and a long, thin yellow trivera velvet beak. His pert face is detailed with light green and black pupil eyes and a black plush "bandit style" mask across his forehead. And of course, it's no balancing act to notice his authentic, yellow trivera legs (or in this case, leg!) with its prominent, distinct "knee" and large four-toed foot. This Grey Heron was made from 1980 through 1984 in this size only.  

Just walking on the beach puts most folks in a good mood. Which may explain why Steiff's sand crabs are anything but cranky! Check out Steiff's cheerful and colorful take on these crustaceans.  Steiff's Cosy Clippy Crab is 10 cm, made from two colors of woven fur, and has felt claws and feet. His eyes are tiny and set deeply into his face. Clippy was produced from 1995 through 1996 in six - yes six - rainbow hues including violet, yellow, red, olive green, eggplant, and raspberry. 

It's time to take a deep dive and do some synchronized swimming with some of Steiff's best-loved water babies.  Start to "fin"-ish, collectors can't seem to get enough of Steiff's Flossy Fish.  Flossy was the first fish design launched post war in 1960. She is made from mohair in 13, 28, and 66 cm and detailed either in the blues, reds, or yellows.  The smallest versions have felt fins while the larger versions have mohair ones. All Flossies have oversized brown and black pupil eyes, playful felt lips, and are joyously hand airbrushed - perhaps to give the impression of swirling color under water. Flossy remained in the Steiff catalog through 1981.  

Put your feet up as we wind down this leisurely beach stroll.  And there's no more "aquatically appropriate" way to do that than with the company's spectacular starfish stool!  This five-legged lovely is 50 cm in diameter, 30 cm high, and made from mohair. She was actually originally designed as a "sitztier" or sitting animal for children. Her top is gloriously hand airbrushed in pumpkin-orange, brown, green, and cherry-red. Her underside is tan. The tips of her "feet" are made from a faux suede material, which feels quite similar to the faux suede material used on the pads of Steiff's mid to late-1950's pandas and Teddy babies. Starly has a yellow metal frame attached to the underside of her body via heavy tan strings. This "skeleton" gives her strength and stability, and holds her semi "arched" or standing position. She has grey rubber feet on the ends of this metal frame, to keep her in place and prevent floor scratching. Starly was produced in this size only (officially cataloged as "35 cm") from 1959 through 1969 - and is considered one of Steiff's "superstar" collector's items from this period.

Steiffgal hopes this little imaginary warm weather get-away has been as delightful as a day at the beach for you.

Have a question about one of your Steiff treasures? Let's talk! Click here to learn more. 

It's No Fish Tale When It Comes To This Steiff Water Baby!

Steiffgal's grandmother had a favorite saying... that "fish and company stink after three days."  Although this may be the reality in some situations, it certainly is the opposite in the case of this extra-special and extremely rare Steiff fish, pictured here on the left.  Take a look at this most unusual Steiff water baby and see what makes him so unique from the design and historical perspectives.

Do you want to fish or cut bait with today's featured guest?  Here we have Steiff's Forelle or Trout.  He is 40 cm and made from tan silk plush and is stuffed with excelsior. His fins and tail are made from vivid turquoise colored felt which is lightly painted with stripes. His fishy face is detailed with oversized brown and black pupil eyes.  Trout's body is fantastically and elaborately hand airbrushed in shades of blue and green, with hatching on his back to resemble scales.  Trout appeared in the line for one year only - 1950 - and only in this size and coloration.  

Keeping things to scale, this little fish has many big and interesting features to discuss.  

First is his material.   Trout is made from silk plush -  a synthetic and poor wearing substitute fabric that Steiff used on several items right after the factory reopened after the war in the late 1940's.   This material was used as felt and mohair were in extremely limited supplies at the time.   Steiff items produced in silk plush in general are harder to find on the secondary market as far fewer were made, and they tended to not have the durability as products produced in more durable fabrics.

The second is his decoration and design.  Trout is truly an original pattern; he has no pre-war ancestors and fish were not a standard line species until "Flossy" was introduced in 1960.  It is curious to note that despite Trout's very simple design and construction, and relatively "cheap" materials, Steiff spared no expense to give this fish the royal airbrush treatment.  It is really hard to imagine the amount of work or skilled precision that was necessary to get this look - this trout is simply a work of art, and that's no fish tale.

The third is his place in history.  This trout was the very first United States exclusive to be produced and sold post WWII.   It can take many months, or even years, for a product to go from a concept in a designer's head to being sold on a toy store's shelves.  Thus, it is quite possible that this pattern may have had its origins pre-war, or perhaps was one of the very first new designs on the drawing table in the late 1940's.  The overall design also suggests that the company was very anxious to get back on the global stage, and tried to use the best of whatever materials and skills it had on hand to do so.  Fabrics were clearly in short supply, but Steiff more than made up for this by pouring on the handiwork, which apparently was readily available.  Although it is not clear where this exclusive was sold in the USA, both FAO Schwarz and RH Macy were larger accounts of the time.  It is most likely that Trout was available at one or both of these stores; this particular example was purchased at FAO Schwarz in New York City.

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on Steiff's early silk plush trout has "fin"-ished in a most satisfying way for you.

Have a question about one of your Steiff treasures? Let's talk! Click here to learn more.