Wool You Be My Baby?

It may sound corny, but this small scaled maize wool plush Teddy baby bear has captured Steiffgal's heart in a really big way! This happy handful has seen a lot in his nearly century of life, based on his loved condition. But the world hasn't seen a lot of him - or his pattern - based on his absolute rarity and short stint in Steiff's product catalog. Take a look at this beautiful baby and see what makes him so special from the design and promotional perspectives.

Teddy baby is 15 cm tall, fully jointed, and made from fuzzy maize colored wool plush. His feet are made from slightly shorter wool plush. He has felt pads and four black claws on each paw. He has a side squeaker in his torso. Typical to his legacy namesake pattern, he has flat feet designed for standing, downturned arms, and a distinctly toddler-esque appearance and proportions. Although most Teddy baby bears are open mouthed, this particular model was produced with a closed mouth in all sizes. As such, his pensive face comes to life with proportional glass pupil eyes, a shorter wool plush inset muzzle, and a probably restitched black floss nose and mouth. He retains his long "trailing f" button as his Steiff ID.

Wool plush, closed mouth Teddy baby was produced in 12, 15, 20, 22, 28, and 35 cm (measured sitting) from 1929-1932 overall. This pattern is one of the rarer prewar Teddy baby varieties. This is the first of his kind Steiffgal has ever seen or handled. The vast majority of prewar Teddy baby bears were produced in brown, blonde, or white mohair with smiling, velvet or felt lined open mouths.

Despite his relative rarity, this wool plush Teddy baby was featured in its own Steiff print advertisement. This was produced and distributed in 1929, the year this Teddy baby was introduced. The main copy on the advertisement translates basically as: "The cute, fluffy bear child with the new expressive face, the loyal look and the cuddly paws, a great performance, fully mobile, and well-positioned." According to the print advertisement, Teddy baby is offered in maize mohair plush or wool plush. Both versions are available in 12, 15, 20, 22, 28, and 35; those at 22 cm and larger came with a growler. You can see this print advertisement here on the left. If you click on it, you can view it in a larger format.

It is also very interesting to note that the two different versions had significantly different prices as noted in Reichsmarks, the German currency of the era. You can see this in the third column of information describing each of the two Teddy baby variations. The wool plush versions generally are around 20% more expensive than the mohair plush versions. Steiffgal suspects that this likely reflected the actual costs of the fabric to make these items as the time and effort to make these two variations had to be almost identical.

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this unusual prewar Teddy baby model has helped to rejuvenate your day!

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

All Treats and No Tricks With These Tiny Orange Steiff Treasures

When you were a kid, what was your favorite Halloween score? For Steiffgal, it was Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. How times have changed! Today, a REAL hair-raising treat would be a palm sized Steiff goodie in a Halloween pail, wouldn't you agree? So, to celebrate this spooky season in a more grownup fashion, here are a few orange hued "snack sized" treats to satisfy your Steiff sweet tooth. (Please click on any photo to enlarge it for viewing and study.) 

It's hard to outfox this teeny tiny Steiff woolen miniature Pitty fox. He is sitting, measures 5 cm, and is made from orange and white woolen threads. His face comes to life with an itty-bitty black bead nose and eyes and felt ears. Steiff's woolen miniatures are often head jointed, but Steiffgal is not sure if this is the case here as he remains in his original cardboard and plastic packaging. Steiff created a series of ten Pitty woolen miniature animals in the 1977 through 1981 time frame; all were distributed in similar bubble style packaging. It is Steiffgal's best guess is that this is the case so they could be merchandised and sold off of a standard counter rack.

Steiffgal's also nuts over this woolen miniature squirrel. She is also from the "Pitty" line. She is begging, measures 5 cm, and is made from orange woolen threads. She has a peach colored base and hands, orange felt ears, and a black button nose and eyes. Like Pitty fox, it is not clear if she is head jointed or not. On the back of her cardboard packaging, she has a white paper price tag from Saks Fifth Avenue. It notes that she costs $5. Adjusted for inflation, $5.00 in 1980 is equal to $16.07 in 2018. Pitty squirrel certainly packs alot of personality into a very small presentation!

This next happy handful is a late 1920s-era Steiff Charly King Charles Spaniel dog. He has distinctive orange mohair highlights on his ears, backside, and tail. Most of Steiff's Charly dogs were produced with brown mohair highlights, so this one is a little more unusual. Charly is sitting and head jointed. He has extremely long fuzzy ears; large, childlike brown and black-pupil eyes; a very detailed facial seam structure; and a prominent tail. Steiff made this Charly pattern both sitting (10, 14, 17, 22, 25, 30, and 35 cm) and standing (7, 10, 12, 14, 17, 22, 25, and 36 cm) through 1939.

Charly likes to troop the colors with this similarly hued Bully the Bulldog. This white and orange mohair pup is 10 cm, sitting, head jointed, and made from orange and white mohair. Orange and white Bully dogs are a little rarer than black and white Bully dogs as they were in the line for fewer years. Bully's face and muzzle area are tan velvet. He has very large brown and black glass pupil eyes and a black, hand-embroidered nose. Most remarkably, Bully retains his original and traditional horsehair collar. This is made from a long, thin strip of material which is doubled over width-wise; the horsehair fibers are sewn in between the faces of the material. The horsehair collar was a typical pre-war accessory and indicated a "regal" nature of the item wearing it. Bully was made in velvet and mohair, as well as sitting and standing, in sizes ranging from 10 to 50 cm in the 1927 through 1937 time frame overall. 

And this discussion would be unbearable without a cub representative in the mix. Here we have a 6 cm Teddy Baby Replica 1930. He is technically cataloged as "maize" in color to reflect his corn colored hue. This tiny Ted is fully jointed and has all the traditional Teddy Baby characteristics - including downturned wrists, flat feet made for standing, and a charming, youthful face - albeit on a super small scale. Maize Teddy Baby appeared in the line from 1998 through 2001.

Steiffgal hopes you found this discussion of tiny orange treasures all treats and no tricks. 

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

An A-maize-ing Late 1940's Era Steiff Teddy Baby

Once in awhile, something amazing (or in this case, a-maize-ing) just seems to appear out of nowhere!  And such is the case with this very cool and unusual Steiff Teddy Baby bear.  Steiffgal purchased this terrific toddler online based on his impish smile and adorable personality.  But, he arrived with a surprise - well, three, actually - which really made him a most welcome addition to her hug.  Let's take a look at this colorful cub and check out his special design and period features.  

Oh baby, it's hard not to just fall in love with this adorable Steiff bear.  Teddy Baby is 22 cm, five ways jointed, and made from long maize mohair.  He has a working squeaker in his belly.  His muzzle and the tops of his feet are made from short, tan colored mohair.  His paw pads are made from peach colored felt. His collar and pendant are not original to him but were made by Steiff; this bear would have left the Steiff factory wearing a leather collar and bell. This cub shares all the characteristics of Steiff's beloved and classic Teddy Baby bears:  flat, cardboard lined feet designed for standing; downward curved arms; toddler-esque proportions; and a smiling, open mouth (in the medium and larger models.) Post war, this model was produced in maize, honey, and brown mohair in 9, 22, 28, 30, and 40 cm from 1949 through 1957.

Many people believe good things come in threes, and that's just what's happening with this Ted's interesting features. 

First, orange you curious about his most unusual color?  His hue, called "maize" is very seldom seen in the Steiff line.  It is hard to describe - sort of a tangerine or orangutan color.  Pre-war, Steiff did produce Teddy Baby bears in maize (9, 12, 13, 15, 20, 22, 25, 30, 35, 38, 40, 45 cm from 1930 through 1943), as well as a few other products in the 1930's including a "Ball Teddy" (9 cm from 1935 through 1940), "Ball Chin-Chin" (15 cm from 1932 through 1935), and a handful of rabbits.  Post war, in addition to this Teddy baby, maize items included a wool plush Chow Chow dog (produced in 12, 17, and 25 cm from 1951 through 1959) and a Mini Teddy Baby Replica 1930 (produced in 6 cm from 1998 through 2001; he is pictured here on the left sitting with his vintage brother).

Second, let's button things up with his great knopf-im-ohr!  This Teddy Baby has the great and really rare early post war blank button.  This ID was used from 1948 through 1950, right after the company resumed production post WWII.  This button is made from nickel and measures 5 mm in diameter.  And just how rare is this button?  Steiffgal has less than a handful of items in her vintage collection of 800+ items with this very special IDs.

Third, well, for this one, we must discuss it with a bit of modesty.  Like most Steiff items produced in the 1947 through 1953 time frame, this bear has his US Zone tag.  This tag was traditionally sewn into the seam on the right arm or leg.  However, in this case, Ted has his US Zone tag sewn right in the center of his crotch!  Steiffgal has never, ever seen anything like this!

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this maize Steiff Teddy Baby has been a colorful experience for you!

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