Although
Steiff treasures can't talk themselves, they certainly inspire
delightful conversations between enthusiasts from all over the world!
Steiffgal recently had the pleasure of meeting a collector who has a
special passion for really old Steiff: items from the turn of last
century or before! Come meet Jean and check out some of her absolutely
museum quality antique Steiff finds!
Steiffgal: Please tell us your name, where you are from, and
your profession.
Jean: My name is Jean Smith, and I live in the San Francisco Bay
Area, in Berkeley, California. I’ve been at UC Berkeley for 25 years, and am currently the
business manager for the communications office… never a dull moment, I can
assure you!
Steiffgal: Please tell us how you got interested in Steiff.
Jean: When I was a child, my mother gave me a Steiff animal when I
received good grades on my report card. I was never interested in dolls, but
loved animals, so her ploy worked… I wound up with 20 or so Steiffs in my toy
basket. Fortunately, even then, I knew they were special, so I always kept
them, although I do remember pulling the chest tags, buttons and stock tags
out… ouch!
Steiffgal: Please tell us about the first piece of Steiff you remember getting.
Do you still have it?
Jean: I recall that my first Steiff was “Slo” turtle, followed
closely by a little fox, a woolie ladybug (sadly misplaced), an “Wittie” owl, a
“Pieps” mouse, a “Nosy” rhino, a “Gaty” alligator, and an elephant. I still
have them all!
Steiffgal: Please tell us about your very, very old Steiff items.
Jean: I think I started veering into the really old Steiff pieces
back in the 1980s and 90s. My mom and I for several years attended the
“Festival of Steiff” Show in Toledo, OH, where I saw wonderful pieces on display
and for sale. We also haunted the old Marin City flea market every Sunday. Over
the years, I found an 1898 Steiff skittles set, all elephants, with the
original pink and green felt ball, a Steiff velvet cat pincushion which also
had sewing guide lines (literally template lines) drawn on at the factory for a
young girl to practice her needlework, and many other treasures.
Steiffgal: What draws you to items from
the turn of last century?
Jean:
I find the workmanship, imagination, and historical significance of
these pieces to be fascinating. Being a bit of a history wonk, I love
the idea of handling something that has survived two World Wars and over
100 years of handling. I also have a weakness for those little
shoe-button eyes… can’t help myself when I see a shoe-button eye!
Steiffgal: What are your favorite three items in your collection from this time period? Why is each one a favorite?
Jean: I’d have to say my favorite of the entire collection is the
1898 skittles set. They are pre-ear button era. The set’s just so clean,
so complete and so wonderfully whimsical that I just adore it. When it
came to me, I could see that each piece had been wrapped in old
newspaper, and judging from a small scrap of paper, came from Britain.
Just what these little guys had been doing for all this time was a
mystery. They certainly were not played with. I often wonder… did some
parent buy them for a child who died young? Did some adult fall in love
with them and then put them away in a box? So far, the elephants are not
talking.
I also love a little felt giraffe on metal wheels.
This came from a couple of wonderful California Steiff dealers, the
Jensens. He’s also incredibly clean and was not ever played with.
Imagine what this little guy has seen…the advent of the automobile,
human flight, computers, etc.
Little kitty pin cushion and Mr.
Goat run a third-place tie for favorites. I adore pet goats, so it was
just crazy the day I saw this guy on EBay. I agonized over his “Buy It
Now” price and finally hit the button and he was mine. My mom’s Steiff
goat is even earlier, on metal wheels, but she won’t part with him to
keep mine company.
Steiffgal: How do you display these precious items? Jean:
All of my pre-1940s pieces are housing in a large glass-fronted case in
my bedroom, arranged by species or character. I have a few very rare
1950s pieces in there as well, like the
grasshopper, his frog buddy, and
the
Bayer Germ.
I keep, in my bedroom, an old comforter cover, king
sized… if there’s ever a fire, my dogs go out the window first and then I
start frantically stuffing those old Steiffs in the comforter cover and
make my escape!
Steiffgal: What is your dream/fantasy piece that you hope to add to your
collection someday?
Jean: There is a picture, in one of my Steiff books, of a Steiff character frog
standing on his hind legs, holding an oar. I would LOVE to find one of those
froggies. And of course I would find him at a garage sale and pay $5 for him.
Well, I can dream. I would also love to find a Billy possum, but the last one I
saw went on EBay for over $9,000. Maybe at that same garage sale…?
Steiffgal: Many, many thanks for sharing these remarkable Steiff treasures with me and our wonderful readers! And good luck finding your frog... I am sure you will find him if he's out there!
Posts
Man-O-Man, did this collector have something to share! She recently added a very special bear to her hug and wanted to know more about it. Her new vintage friend just happened to be a delightful and very early Steiff rod bear! This bear was a blonde PB28 - Steiff's c. 1904 era, solidly stuffed and fully jointed cub. This fine, 40 cm tall example retained two of its "crowning glories," its all original black gutta percha nose, as well as its elephant ear button. (You can see a photo of this button at the bottom of this post.) He also sported black shoe button eyes, a prominent back hump, an "American" football shaped torso, felt pads, and five hand embroidered claws on each of his paws - all design elements typical to Steiff's early turn of last century production. A gorgeous example all around. 
Do Steiff's rod bears test your metal? One of the things that makes these turn of last century cubs so interesting is how varied they truly are - despite their limited time and appearance in the line. They were technically only produced in blonde and white in two sizes (28 cm sitting/40 cm standing and 35 cm sitting/50 cm standing) from 1904 through 1905. Steiffgal has handled only 8 examples professionally, but none of them really looked anything alike. Some were long and lean; others were quite chubby and cub-like. Their faces ranged from serious and pensive to "dazed and confused." And the fabrics included short cinnamon mohair to long and wavy apricot plush - and everything in between. It is most unusual to see such variety in manufacturing, especially from a company famous for its precision, consistency, and quality control. So how can this be?
It's Steiffgal's best guess that each rod bear is almost a "one of a kind" because of their era of production. Jointed bears were truly an entirely new category for Steiff; made, stuffed, and detailed by hand; and based on quickly evolving patterns. So the manufacturing "learning curve" had not kicked in yet. And mohair became commercially available in 1903 - just a year before their launch. As such, it is possible that Steiff used a variety of mohairs on these earliest bears because that is what was available at the time. 
