Jumping For Joy Over This Tiny Steiff Prewar Mystery Rabbit

It's off to the races with this next Steiff mystery. Size defies when it comes to this bitty hare on the go. Her proportions, IDs, and detailing date her to the Roaring Twenties - but who exactly is she? Let's go down the research rabbit hole and see what we can infer about her origins. 

Steiffgal is jumping for joy over this teeny tiny running rascal. Baby bunny is on all fours and about to spring into action. She measures about 8 cm tall and 10 cm wide. She is unjointed and made from mohair that has faded over time to appear brown with silver tipping. Rabbit has a simple pink hand-embroidered mouth and nose, brown and black glass pupil eyes, and a few remaining clear monofilament whiskers. She also has "rough" stitching on the edge of her ears. You occasionally see that on some mid-1920s era items, including early Molly dogs. Running rabbit retains her long trailing "f" button and traces of her red ear tag as her Steiff IDs. 

As far as Steiffgal can tell, this item does not appear in the Sortiment as a regular line item. After a little digging, she suspects that it was made especially to be one of the passengers on the company's mid to late 1920s-era pull toy novelties. Specifically, given the rabbit's size, color, era, and presentation, it is possible that she was produced to ride on the company's Galop-Fux novelty. This is pictured here on the left; this wheeled wonder was in production from 1926-1929. This image is from Pfeiffer's 1892-1943 Sortiment.

Galop-Fux consisted of a little grey running rabbit and a red brown fox that were mounted upon an elaborate metal wire chassis. Their cart had four red wooden wheels. When pulled along, passengers on a Galop toy shuffled back and forth in opposite tandem; the rotation of the front wheels was responsible for one animal's movement, while the rotation of the back wheels was responsible for the other one's movement. The running rabbit form would be perfect for this sort of effect. 

Galop style toys appeared in the Steiff product line from 1926-1929 overall. In addition to this fox and rabbit model, Steiff also made Galop toys with a Molly and black cat; two bears; an elephant and a lion; Barney Google and a bear cub; Barney Google and Sparkplug; and two goats.

It is interesting to note that there is precedence for Steiff making unique items for their 1920s-era pull toy novelties. Like this rabbit, these rarities did not appear in any other sizes or as stand-alones in the line at all. For example, the Galop featuring a Molly and black cat version included a c. 10 cm tall standing and unjointed black Tom cat. He is fabulous for sure - but does not make an appearance anywhere else in the catalog ever, as far as Steiffgal can tell.

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this mystery rabbit has improved your day by leaps and bounds. 

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

Just Who Is This Remarkable And Rare Steiff Rodent?

In the mood for a little Steiff puzzler?  Then check out this mysterious forest friend who's keeping very, very quiet abut his identity. Does he look familiar to you?  As far as Steiffgal can tell, he does not appear in any of the standard Steiff reference books.  But, he did squirrel away a little clue about himself many years ago in a most clever way. But more about that in a bit.  But first, take a look and see what you think!
 
What is the tale behind this rare rodent?  Here we have a 22 cm, begging Steiff sweetheart.  He is made from shorter tan mohair and is unjointed.  His hands are made from double thick felt.  His prominent tail is made from very long, wavy mohair.  He is expertly hand airbrushed all over with tan, brown, orange, and black highlights.  His adorable face is highlighted with over-sized black eyes, a simple black hand embroidered nose and mouth, clear monofilament whiskers, and single sided mohair ears. 

His IDs help just a bit in identifying him.  He retains all of his original Steiff IDs including a large colorful bear faced chest tag, his raised script button, and yellow ear tag with the article number 2029/02.  This combination of IDs suggest he was made no later than 1969.  However, his actual article number doesn't translate into anything that actually describes him or his size.  This is possible because in 1968, Steiff started to give each item its own unique number, rather than relying on its traditional numbering system that had alot of redundancies to it. 

So just who is this guy?  Given his configuration, detailing, and era, is possible that he could be a squirrel, a chipmunk, or a marmot. Steiff has a legacy of creating all of these fuzzy friends, and they share many similar general characteristics.  These include body position (begging); double thick felt hands and/or feet; large and fluffy tails; and eager faces detailed with oversized eyes and whiskers. 

It took an international effort to crack this nut - oops, case!  Thanks to a tip from Steiff Super fan Alaina Russell from Canada, it appears that this example appeared in the FAO Schwarz toy catalog in 1968-1969, and is indeed a sensational squirrel! His picture appears here on the left.  It is interesting to see that he is grouped with another field and forest friend, Dormy the Edible dormouse.  

The squirrel's FAO Schwarz catalog description reads as follows...
"Tame and friendly, this begging grey squirrel in soft plush, has a long bushy tail and looks very natural. 7-1/2" tall. Ship wt. 2 lbs. $6.95"

It is not possible to tell from the information at hand if he was produced exclusively for FAO Schwarz or not.  However, regardless of his manufacturing status, it is clear that he is quite rare and was produced in extremely small numbers overall.  Have you ever seen another one?  He really is fabulous!

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on the mystery FAO Schwarz squirrel has left you bright eyed and bushy tailed.

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

Care To Play Sherlock Holmes With A Few Steiff Mystery Items?

Would you agree turn-about is fair play?  Well, Steiffgal's beloved readers usually come to her to solve Steiff mysteries.  Now she's looking for their assistance!  Steiffgal has recently acquired three most unusual Steiff items, but doesn't seem to be able to find out any history or background about them.  Can you help?  If so, please send any information to her at Steifflife@gmail.com - and she will post your insights on the blog, so we all can learn about these oddities.  

It's easy to get right to the point with this first item.  Here we has a Steiff branded name badge.  The tag itself is made of white plastic and is constructed like a frame; one can slide their name into the double walled portion of its midsection.  It measures 7 cm long by 2-3/4 cm high, and is about 4 mm thick.  The front is yellow with the Steiff Teddy bear head logo and "button in ear" tag line in red, with the words "Advice on Steiff available from" also in red.  The reverse is white, and has a safety style pin for securing the badge to a shirt or blouse.  The writing on the back reads:

B. H. Meyer's 
Kunstpraegeanstalt 
Turnplatz 2 Postfach 1266
7530 Pforzheim

It is interesting to note that the badge was made in Pforzheim, which is a town of about 120,000 residents in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in southwest Germany. Pforzheim is 90 minutes west of Giengen, the home of the Steiff company. Meyer has been in business since the late 1800's, and is best known for producing custom minted coins, medallions, and ingots. Perhaps plastic molded items are, or were, other lines of business for the Meyer Company.

So, without naming any names, do any readers recognize this ID badge as something you saw a salesperson wear at a toy or department store years ago?  If so, when, and where...?  And why is it in English, when clearly it was manufactured in Germany?  

OK, let's come clean with this next fabulous albeit cryptic Steiff treasure.  What we have here is a box of Steiff branded Teddy bear soaps in a yellow-orange corrugated cardboard box.  The box itself is 17 cm long x 6-1/2 cm wide by 4-1/2 cm tall.  The container, which has a red and yellow die-cut Steiff logo on the top, is lined in shreds of red paper, most likely to cushion the soaps.  There are three bear soaps in the box; they are sitting and 5-1/2 cm tall each.  There is a cream colored one, a mocha colored one, and a yellow one.  The mocha one has a red and yellow split style paper chest tag bearing the word "soap" where the name of the animal usually is placed.  There is a sticker on the back of the box, entirely in Japanese, that seems to suggest that there are three soaps in the box, each weighing 45 grams; this sticker is pictured here on the left.

So wonderful readers - especially those in Japan - can you scrub your minds and tell us ANYTHING that bubbles up about these Steiff soaps?  

And finally, let's get write to today's last Steiff mystery item.  Here we have what appears to be a child's stationery set emblazoned with a delightful scene of a horse drawn carriage overflowing with our favorite Steiff characters.  The fun includes Sheddy pony, Jumbo elephant, Tulla goose, Lora parrot, Pieps mouse, Dangling frog, Cosy Teddy, Dangling Tom cat, Clownie, a woolen bird and ladybug, Nagy beaver, Cosy fox, Lucki dwarf, a mohair hen and rooster, Cosy calf, blue tit bird, and a goldfinch bird.

Hold everything!  The set is contained within a 19 cm tall by 19 cm long square white cardboard storage envelope.  Within the big envelope are 10 small white mailing envelopes with green linings, and 10 sheets of kid-sized stationary featuring the same illustration that is on the front of the big envelope.  On the back of the big envelope, it reads:

Schreibe spielend
Writing is play
Ecrire est un jeu
Schrijf spelenderwijs

The first statement is in German, the second in English, the third in French, and the fourth is in Dutch - clearly suggesting that this stationery set was made for the global marketplace.  The back of the folder is also imprinted with what appears to be the logo of the manufacturer - Heyder - the code P 417, and the words, "Made in Western Germany."

Given the cast of characters featured in the illustration, it would be safe to say that this stationery set probably was made in the early 1970's.  

Dear readers - can anyone provide any more details on this sweet Steiff stationery set?  Do you perhaps recall having one as a child?  Any information, even a back of the envelope calculation, would be most appreciated!

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on mysterious Steiff items has brought out the Sherlock Holmes in you!

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

Another Stinkin' Steiff Mystery!

Yipes! Another stinkin' Steiff mystery!  But this one smells much more like roses than anything else!  Check out this little mystery critter Steiffgal stumbled upon during a random Google image search.  She was looking for photos of a Steiff skunk, and this little guy popped up.  When she traced the picture back to the host website, it turned out he was for sale at a little antique store in Maine!  What luck!  But just who is he?

In black and white terms, here's what we do know about him.  Skunk is 10 cm tall, standing in what Steiff refers to as the "begging position", and unjointed.  His hands and feet are made from double thick felt. His body is made from short black and white mohair, while his bushy tail, which is positioned at a 90 degree angle to his body, is made from very long black and white mohair.  He has a pink hand embroidered nose and mouth, and brown and black pupil eyes.  His tiny ears are rounded and made from a single layer of white mohair.

... and what we don't.  Skunk doesn't have any Steiff ID at all, nor is he mentioned in any Steiff reference books that Steiffgal knows of, including the collector's favorite Steiff Sortiment Books by Gunther Pfeiffer.  However, it is Steiffgal's strongest suspicion that he was made by Steiff.  Here's why!

1.  Mystery skunk has an uncanny resemblance to Steiff's begging Diggy Badger from 1959 through 1966.  The Diggy pattern came in 10 and 15 cm.  Mystery skunk has the same size, physical construction, body position, and facial expression as this well known pattern - except for his dramatic tail!  Here you can see mystery skunk on the left, and Diggy on the right for comparison.

2.  Mystery skunk has the same material and general design pattern as Steiff's classic standing skunk from 1962 through 1963 - except for his felt hands and feet.  Classic skunk is "barefoot" in this regard!  Classic skunk came in velvet and mohair in the 10 cm size, and all mohair in the 25 cm size.   Here you can see the 10 cm velvet version for comparison.

But following the scent of some important clues, Steiffgal is all but certain that this little skunk was made by Steiff. Mystery skunk's ears are extremely tiny, so it is very possible that the button (which would have been the raised script version which fastened on with a few prongs) just fell out over time, as there was not that much fabric to hang onto!  She also feels that he was made as a sample or prototype of a possible general line skunk, based on the already successful Diggy pattern.  

Here's why.  The standard line skunk was only in the catalog for two years.  This means one of a few things.  Either the standard line skunk sales just weren't all that good, and/or from a manufacturing standpoint, they were too complicated and expensive to make.  So the mystery skunk was most likely produced around 1961 as an option to what the standard line skunk could be, or in 1963 as an alternative for the standard line skunk which was on its way out.  Either way, this mystery skunk was not put into wide scale production, and the next skunk  - a cosy version - was introduced in the line a few years later, in 1969.  Cosy Skunk is pictured here on the left. 

Steiffgal hopes you enjoyed sniffing out this little mystery with her!

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