What's The Tattle On This Unexpected Steiff Rattle?

Don't you just love a good surprise? Like when you buy something online, and when it arrives, it's even BETTER than your wildest hopes? That just happened to Steiffgal today, and she can't wait to share this auspicious treat with you. So 'ears what's happening....

Steiffgal took a leap of faith with this purchase. The electronic pictures weren't so great, and the description wasn't glowing. Yet, it called to her!

What we have here is Steiff's late 1920s sitting rabbit. He is head jointed, about 13 cm sans ears and 19 cm with them, and made from faded purple and cream colored velvet. His pert ears are lined in wires and are posable. His darling face comes to life with oversized brown and black pupil eyes, a wide forehead, and Steiff's legacy 1920s era rabbit nose and mouth embroidery. This consists of a horizontally stitched, triangular shaped nose, outlined in a slightly different color floss, and a simple "v" shaped mouth. He retains his long trailing "f" button and bits of his red ear tag. These hoppy handfuls were produced sitting in 11, 15, and 18 cm (measured without ears) in blue, purple, maize, orange, and white velvet from 1927-1933 overall.

So just what makes this purple bunny such a royal find? Two things come to mind. 

The first is his monarchal color - lilac - which is so lovely and typical to Steiff's 1920s era production. In the late 1920s through early 1930s, Steiff made a series of "jellybean" colored velvet and mohair rabbits. In addition to this sitting, velvet version, the company also produced sitting mohair and begging velvet or mohair rabbits in playful colors including orange, pink, yellow, and light blue, among others. These were made to match the aesthetics of the "Roaring 20s." You can see a Steiff catalog image from 1929 featuring a number of these "jellybean jumpers" at the bottom of this blog post. Today, many of these items have faced a bit, much like this rabbit. You can usually tell their original color by looking in their cracks and crevices. In this case, the folds in his ears retained their vivid violet color.

And now let's make some noise over his second highlight. Believe it or not, this beautiful bun is also a RATTLE! Yes, when you shake him, he makes a happy plink-plinka noise! This feature was not noted in his listing, which makes it even more thrilling to discover.

To keep things moving and shaking, Steiff sometimes tucked a rattle into some of the smallest or almost smallest versions of its most popular prewar models. As far as Steiffgal can tell, there is/was no formal numbering or ID system to identify those items specifically produced with a rattle feature. In her personal collection, Steiffgal has a velvet sitting Pip dog rattle, a lying wool plush rabbit rattle, a white mohair Teddy rattle, and a velvet and mohair begging squirrel rattle. All were discovered to be rattles by accident... in the best possible way. Next time you handle a small, prewar item, shake it gently.... and you may happily surprised as well!

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this princely purple rabbit reigned supremely well with you.

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

Steiff Bucket List Beauty.... Or Not?

What's on your Steiff bucket list? An item or two that has gained nearly mythical status in your mind due to its elusiveness? In Steiffgal's case, that would be a mid-1920s Schlopsnies doll. A new friend writes about what she's looking for... but does it really exist? Joyce shares,

"I'm wondering and would be interested in the Steiff Clown Replica in blue or red. I've never seen it in those colors. Did they make them in the blue and red? They are not even listed in the Steiff Sortiment book, but are pictured on the original tag of the light yellow Circus Dolly bear, article number 0164/30. I have the green, yellow and purple. I don't want to keep looking if they don't exist. thanks much!"

So let's take a deep dive here and see if we can solve this Steiff mystery. What Joyce is describing is a series of colorful, 32 cm Teddy bears Steiff produced in the 1987-1989 timeframe as exclusive products for the US market. They are pictured here on the left; the photo is from Pfeiffer's 1947-2003 Sortiment book. They were based on Steiff's "Dolly" Teddy bear pattern that was introduced in 1913 in honor of the inauguration of Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the USA. Unlike Roosevelt and Taft, Wilson did not have an animal mascot associated with him. Roosevelt of course had the Teddy bear, and Taft had an opossum. To welcome the new President into office, Steiff designed its Dolly bear, and launched this novelty at the 1913 Leipzig Spring Trade Fair.

Legacy Dolly bears were known for their distinct coloration and novel neckwear. All had a white head but their bodies and limbs were made in jewel tones including red, blue, yellow, and green. Apparently there was a violet version that was produced as a prototype, but it never went into full production. Dolly bears were detailed with a festive neck ruff, black shoebutton eyes, and brown facial stitching. Brown facial stitching was traditionally used on early white bears, so that color choice here makes sense. Each had a "hug me" voice in its belly. The original Dolly bears appeared in the line from 1913 through 1918 in 25, 30, and 32 cm. Here you can see a blue and white version from the early 19-teens; the photo is from Christies. 

Today, original Dolly bears are extremely rare and seldom seen on the secondary market. Steiffgal is aware of maybe one or two that have come up for sale at auction in memory. Steiff has produced them a few times in replica form, most notably in the late 1980s as part of the company's circus theme of that era. These are the bears Joyce is referring to in her note. In 1987, the company mistakenly produced a Dolly bear as part of this series in very pale yellow and white mohair. Very few were made and this particular color combination is considered really collectible. This pale yellow was replaced with a brighter yellow, and the company would go on to make these Teds in white and bright yellow, green, and violet mohair from 1987-1989. You can see this pale yellow Dolly bear here on the left.

As Joyce notes, the hang tag on the pale yellow version of the 1987 Dolly bear features this design in red, blue, yellow, green, and violet. But the in the company catalog for this series, shown here, only the bright yellow, green, and purple versions are featured. So were red and blue examples ultimately made as part of this 32 cm series? Steiffgal thinks not. But here are three loose speculations why these bears were pictured on the tag.

First, it is entirely possible that Steiff had the intention to produce the replica Dolly bears in five hues as part of this late 1980s series. The company's photo of these five bears on the tag suggest that all five colors were produced, at least in prototype form. However, in terms of commercial production, perhaps reality got in the way after this marketing photo was taken. Maybe the blue and the red mohair were not available or too expensive or somehow diluted the line a bit. Archival paperwork from Reeve's International, Steiff's distributor partner here in the USA at the time, note only the yellow, green, and violet versions were actually ordered for the North American market in 1988. 

Second, it is also possible that the tag is trying to show the original 1913 range of production, when these colors were (mostly) in the line. So the tag was intended to be a reflection of historical, not current, production. 

And third, the pale yellow version in itself was a mistake. It appears there were several issues and problems over time with this product introduction and marketing, including its IDs and collateral, and this inconsistent tag was just part of that mix. 

Steiffgal hopes this round-about sleuthing has added a bright spot to your day.

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