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.

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This Starfish Stool Is Truly A Steiff Celebrity!

Who is the star of your Steiff collection? For many enthusiasts, that might change on a weekly, or even daily basis! Here's one very heavenly Steiff rarity that truly has permanent and universal star appeal. Put your feet up and check out this great larger than life celebrity that truly merits a place on the Steiff Walk of Fame!

This leading lady is Steiff's Seestern Snuggy Starly or Snuggy Starly Starfish. This five legged lovely is 50 cm in diameter and 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.
 

It is interesting to note that Starly's raised script button is attached to her via a simple white linen strip of material sewn into one of her leg seams. Clearly, she does not have ears or really any other place to put her IDs. However, this is the only time that Steiffgal has seen a button on a plain piece of linen, not on a yellow ear tag or other piece of semi-branded Steiff material or fabric.

Starfish are as rare as a celebrity sighting in the Steiff line. As far as Steiffgal can tell, Starly was the first starfish to appear in the Steiff catalog - ever! And there have been just a handful since her introduction. These include a 10 cm, colorful nicki velour baby rattle starfish (produced from 1978 through 1992); a 20 cm polka-dotted cotton squeaking baby toy (produced from 1999 through 2000); a 12 cm red and yellow mohair starfish named Coloro (produced from 2004 through 2005); and most recently, a red plush starfish named "Piccy" who was introduced in 2012. Piccy was produced as a 15 cm toy as well as a 12 cm keyring; he is pictured here on the left.

Snuggy Starly Starfish was part of a series of "functional playthings" Steiff started producing in the late 1950's. Steiff's universal appeal really took off a few years after the end of WWII, possibly because soldiers returning from assignments in Europe often brought Steiff items back home with them. As a result, Steiff began expanding its offerings to keep up with demand and explore the potential of new product lines. In addition to Starly, other sturdy, metal framed "sitting" mohair animals in the Snuggy series included a 30 cm may beetle (produced from 1968 through 1969), a 40 cm frog (produced from 1959 through 1966), a 43 cm turtle (produced from 1957 through 1974), and a 55 cm elephant (produced from 1957 through 1966). All but Starly were based on existing, beloved Steiff patterns of the time.  Snuggy Slo turtle - and a few of his groupies - are pictured here on the left. 

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on Snuggy Starly has put stars in your eyes!
 
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