Best In Show

Steiffgal has seen alot of Steiff, but nothing quite like this "blue ribbon" buddy sent in from a curious reader. After much "digging and sniffing" around for what seemed like dog years, she finally figured out who he is and the remarkable story behind him. Take a look at this note from Marvin, who writes from Texas:

"I have spent a lot of time from past to present trying to learn more about a family piece I own. I have an obviously, very rare, Steiff puppy or dog tail-turns-head dating Ca. 1920's-30's.

Like many of the early Steiff pieces that were made and sold in Germany, this is impossible to find anywhere! From what I know, this dog was not an import or mass-produced Steiff. What is also unusual is the open mouth. I will now provide all of the information you requested at your website/blog.

• Age: (eartag) According to the 8mm iron nickel plated button with f drawn back to E, this piece dates to 1925-1934; also has Steiff button tags on leather collar.

• The size of this dog measures 13" long excluding the tail. The full (L shaped) tail measures about 8". There is a thin metal rod that runs through center for turning.
  

• The dog is made of mohair and is oatmeal-like in color. It could be a golden retriever puppy like Marley from "Marley & Me".

• The eyes are glass. Brown with black pupils. Each eye measures about 11mm in diameter. The nose and claws are both stitched and black in color. ...he has an open mouth with pink felt lining.

• This Steiff dog is stuffed with straw.

• The tail and both front legs have a thin metal rod than runs through the center of them. The front legs have the same connected rod running through both of them, so that they will move at the same time if you move one of the legs. Probably U shaped iron rod connecting both front legs. The front legs are not jointed, neither are the hind legs either. This puppy dog may have originally stood taller on its front legs, in the front. It may need a little adjusting of iron rod in legs or just to have the seam re-sewn and positioned. This is a tail-turns-head dog, so it has a mechanical turning mechanism on its rear end.

This puppy dog was brought to the U.S. by German immigrants. I have never seen another like it anywhere! I tried to do my homework to assist you by saving time, but I have reached as far as I can go! I am sure this will be interesting for you and your friends! My last word is HELP!!!!!!!!!!"

Hi Marvin; Steiffgal would be more than happy to help out here! What you have here is truly a remarkable piece, both for what it is and the story behind it.

First the piece itself; Steiff calls your item Chinook Byrds Arctic Expedition Dog. The picture here on the left shows what he looked like brand new. Chinook is sitting (your piece got a little "bent out of shape" over time); made from cream colored wool plush that is airbrushed with light brown and black detailing; has an open pink lined felt mouth, brown glass pupil eyes, black stitched nose and claws; and sports a leather color. As you note, he features a tail-turns-head mechanism. Steiff manufactured this particular model of Chinook in three sizes: 23, 29, and 35 cm in 1931 and 1932 only.

In addition to this sitting heads-turns-tail Chinook, Steiff also made three additional Chinook models in the 1930 through 1932 timeframe. These included standing (17, 28, and 43 cm), lying down (22, 32, 35, and 50 cm), and just sitting (22, 28, and 35 cm) versions. All have the same general look and sport elaborate leather collars studded with Steiff "ff" style buttons; only the two sitting up models have open mouths.

So what's a Chinook, and what does it have to do with Byrd's Antarctic Expedition? A Chinook is a relatively recent breed of dog that was created by Arthur Walden of Wonalancet, New Hampshire in 1917 as a working dog. This breed was carefully and strategically derived from crossbreeding dogs from the Peary North Pole Expedition with other breeds with great stamina, strength, and cold weather tolerance.

Walden was an experienced dog driver with years of experience in the Yukon. For that reason was selected as the lead driver and trainer on the 1929 Byrd expedition, even though he was close to 60 at the time! Walden brought along his original Chinook, now 12 years old, and fifteen of his dog sons to provide surface transportation on the Antarctic ice for this critical exploratory mission.

Of Chinook, Byrd wrote: "...there was no doubting the fact that he was a great dog. ...Walden used him as kind of a "shock troop", throwing him into harness when the going turned very hard. Then the gallant heart of the old dog would rise above the years and pull with the glorious strength of a three-year-old."

On the night of January 17, 1929, after an especially hard day of work, old Chinook wandered away from the base camp and was never seen again. Walden and the entire team were devastated; a highway in New Hampshire is named the Chinook Trail in honor of this dog and his heroic contributions.

And what does this mean in terms of Steiff? It is not uncommon since the turn of last century for Steiff to use "celebrities" as inspiration for new products. The world was in love with Chinook; why not make him as a plaything? The precedent had already been set with a series of delightful and popular dolls and toys honoring Peary's North Pole Expedition in the 1908 - 1919 time frame.

Marvin, Steiffgal hopes this information is helpful and gives you some background on your exceptional family treasure. Like the original Chinook, your collectible is simply Top Dog!

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

Sitting On Top Of The World With This Great Prewar Steiff Find

Steiffgal's fostering a sweet Steiff pup - at least for a few days! A local friend came across this great button in ear pooch amongst a bunch of other items in a boxed lot from an auction. When Steiffgal checked out the dog in person, he was even better than her friend described. But he needed just a little work to bring out his best self. Check out this cute canine  - he's certain to warm your heart, in the best possible way. 

Here we have Steiff's Chinook Byrds Arctic Expedition Dog. He is sitting, head jointed, and 28 cm tall. He is made from blonde wool plush. He is very authentically rendered with great curves and proportions. His sweet long tail curves upward and hugs his body. He has black hand embroidered claws on each of his paws. His face comes to life with brown and black glass pupil eyes, a black hand embroidered nose, and a happy, smiling open felt lined mouth. His airbrushing includes overall shading, pads on the bottom of his feet, back striping, and facial highlighting. He wears a red leather collar that closes with two Steiff buttons. He has a large bell which may or may not be original to him. He retains his button in ear. This dog was made in 22, 28, and 35 cm from 1930-1931 only. He was also made in a lying configuration in 22, 32, 35, and 50 cm from 1930-1931 and as a tail moves head version in 23, 29, and 35 cm from 1931-1932.

Although he's simply gorgeous now, that's not how he arrived at Steiffgal's home. His original eyes were replaced with glass eyes that were clearly way too small, broken, and not original to him. He had a few open seams, and his tail was not attached to his body. And he was FILTHLY! Like stored in an attic and wrapped in old newspaper for 50 years dirty. But these things can easily be addressed. First, Steiffgal gave him a soft, gentle cleaning. She followed this process and it worked really well. After a few go rounds, he went from dark grey to light blonde. Wool plush cleans up well, and is sturdy, so much of his natural beauty came to life again. This cleaning also revealed traces of his once prominent contour and highlight airbrushing which were hidden under his dust. 

Next, she replaced his eyes with ones that were more proportional to his face. He presented with broken glass eyes that measured about 3 mm. After studying his face, and consulting with similar sized dogs from his era, Steiffgal determined that the right size eyes for him would be 9 cm. So she ordered them from www.glasseyesonline.com; this website has tons of options for restoration projects like this. She inserted them into his head in the "traditional" Steiff way, using a long needle to secure the eyes to the head via a knot at the back of the head. 

And finally, she simply added a few stitches to bring him back to good form. She gently tacked his tail into place, matching the curve noted in photos of this item when it was new. And she closed a small loose seam on one of his slightly folded over ears. 

Now let's take a quick look at the history of the Chinook breed, and its relationship to Byrd's Antarctic Expedition. A Chinook is a relatively recent breed of dog that was created by Arthur Walden of Wonalancet, New Hampshire in 1917 as a working dog. This breed was "formulated" from crossbreeding dogs from the Peary North Pole Expedition with other breeds with great stamina, strength, and cold weather tolerance. You can see a photo of a real life Chinook here on the left.

Mr. Walden was an experienced dog driver with years of experience in the Yukon.  For that reason was selected as the lead driver and trainer on the 1929 Byrd expedition, even though he was close to 60 at the time! Walden brought along his original Chinook, now 12 years old, and fifteen of his dog sons to provide surface transportation on the Antarctic ice for this critical exploratory mission.  

And what does this mean in terms of Steiff? It is not uncommon since the turn of last century for Steiff to use "celebrities" as inspiration for new products. The world was in love with Chinooks and the role they played in Byrd's operations; why not make him as a plaything?  The precedent had already been set with a series of delightful and popular dolls and toys honoring Peary's North Pole Expedition in the 1908 - 1919 time frame.

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on Steiff's polar pups has you sitting on top of the world!

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

Valuing The Gift of Legacy

It was like Christmas in July when Steiffgal opened this gift of a question from a reader concerning some now familiar "cold-loving canines." Janet from California writes...

"Hi!

I just read your blog entry about my Chinook pair. I have attached photos. My sister needs to sell them they were left to her by her 94-year-old German mother in law who fled to the US in 1940... where might she turn to find an honest price for them?...

Thanks so much for ANY info!"

Well, when it rains it pours, or in this case, when it snows it's a blizzard! What a stunning pair of unusual vintage Steiff dogs. Steiff named these canines Chinook Byrds Arctic Expedition Dogs. Readers may recognize this model from a recent My Steiff Life blog posting; click here for the entire history and legacy of this remarkable and rare collectible.

Janet asks a really good question about how to determine a fair value for her Steiff heirlooms. First of all the disclosure: Steiffgal is not in any way an appraiser, just an avid collector and someone who follows auctions closely, so she cannot say with any authority how much any given Steiff item is "worth." This is also the WORST time to be selling collectibles due to the current economic situation, so if you can hold onto your items for awhile it would be good in terms of possible future sales value. That being said... here's Steiffgal's best advice for determining "ballpark" value in a nutshell:

If you have a Steiff item that was manufactured before WWll:

If the article is in pretty good shape, and you cannot find anything like it online or on eBay, you may want to contact a REPUTABLE major auction house about the item. These include Sotheby's, Christie's, and Skinner, among others. Make sure they have a person on staff who specializes in older toys and playthings; this is critical for an accurate appraisal. DO NOT use a smaller local firm that does not understand the legacy and value of Steiff, even if this seems more convenient at the time. The larger houses may have doll or teddy auctions that will attract the type of buyer who would recognize the value of these items if you are looking to sell.

If you have a Steiff item that was manufactured after WWll:

In general, these items are in greater supply and much easier to value using online sources. Exceptions include very early postwar Teddies, studio (life-sized) animals, and really "oddball" items that were produced only for a few years through the mid 1960's. If you are confident that you have one of these exceptions, see above advice for pre-war items.

There are a few online sources that can help you find approximate value for "newer" vintage Steiff items. These include Ladenburger Spielzeugauktion; a German auction house, and Vectis, an English auction house; both have frequent Steiff auctions and list sale prices after the event. It is safe to say that something is "worth" what someone else will pay for it, so a hammer price is a good starting place to assess current value.

However, Steiffgal always goes to eBay.com first. There she does an "advanced search" and looks under "completed listings". There you can see what similar items have SOLD for in the recent past. (It is interesting to see what things are listed for pre-sale; but this doesn’t really tell you anything about the market value of them). After reviewing completed listings on the US eBay site, she then goes to the German eBay site for information on international completed listings.

You can do the same, here's how:

1. Go to www.ebay.de
2. Click "Erwiterte Suche" on the top toolbar; you will be taken to a search page
3. Type the name of the Steiff item in the field right under the words "Suchbegriffe oder Artikelnummer eingeben" on the search page
4. Click the box next to the words "Beendete Angebote"
5. Press the blue box with the word "Finden" on it
6. You will be taken to a sign in page
7. Enter your eBay user name in the field labeled "Mitgliedsname" and password in the field labeled "Passwort" on the sign in page
8. Press the blue box with the word "Einloggen" on it

You will now be looking at what sold on the German eBay site. Prices in green indicate that the item was sold; use the green figures as your pricing benchmarks. The prices listed on the German eBay site are in Euros; as a rule of thumb multiply the number of Euros by 1.4 to get the equivalent price in US dollars.

There are also a number of print reference books concerning Steiff. The most comprehensive include The Steiff Sortiment books; Steiffgal tends to use these for identification more so than valuing. Teddy bear books by Jurgen and Marianne Cieslik, Linda Mullens, Sue Pearson, Ken Yenke, and Leyla Maniera are all highly credible and great sources of information. At last check, Amazon had a healthy selection of titles from all these experts.

Janet, Steiffgal hopes this information is helpful to you as you determine the value behind the two "cold noses and warm hearts" of your precious Steiff collectibles.

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