Let Me Call You Sweetheart!

Won't you be my Teddy bear? All Steiff collectors agree - there's no better six words in the entire world! And that's just how Steiffgal felt when a new vintage friend joined her hug a few weeks ago. He was purchased at an auction in Germany sight unseen, and when he crossed the pond and arrived at his new home, he was even BETTER than expected. Don't you just love when that happens? Come meet Marshmallow, and learn why he is so interesting from the historical and product development perspectives.

This precious cub is as sweet as sugar! Marshmallow is 30 cm standing, 20 cm sitting, and fully jointed. He is made from white wool plush and is solidly stuffed with excelsior. His pads are made from flesh colored felt that has faded considerably. His simple but beautiful face comes to life with round black and brown glass pupil eyes and a brown hand embroidered nose and mouth. He has four brown claws on each of his paws. He has a non-working squeaker in his belly. Marshmallow's IDs have been lost to time, but it is Steiffgal's best guess that he was made in the mid-1930's to early 1940's, given his materials and presentation.

Now let's dive into material matters. Although wool plush is a lovely and very durable material, Steiff has usually made items from this fabric just before, during, or after periods of war or hardship. It is considered a "substitute" material, used in the place of more expensive and higher quality mohair. Sometimes these items also have linen or lesser quality felt on their pads or lining their ears as well.  Wool plush has a really old fashioned look to it, and has a "continuous" but bumpy feel on its surface - not like mohair which can feel softly "prickly" like a hooked rug. 

It is interesting to note that Steiff created many of its beloved and most popular 1930's-era designs in wool plush. Sometimes these items, like the company's Teddy baby bears, are specifically called out in the standard Steiff reference books. But others are not. For example, Steiffgal has a wool plush Jocko monkey in her hug; he is identical to the mohair version we all know and love. And as far as Steiffgal can tell, this white wool plush Teddy bear is not noted in the Sortiment books.  She handled a similar blonde wool plush Steiff bear for an auction client several years ago - so they were produced in some volume - but probably not many overall. 

Another factor that makes this wool plush bear quite the "looker" is his general appearance. His body has a distinctly long and lean look to it, and his dear face has quite a pensive expression. After studying bears from every decade, it has been Steiffgal's observation that bears from the mid-1930's to the early 1940's do indeed have this more "austere" look to them - perhaps matching the socio-economic climate of the time in Germany? Bears from this era also are usually produced in very basic hues, like white and blonde. Just for comparison, check out this photo on the left.  It features a similarly sized c.1906 Ted, a c.1929 Teddy Baby, and Marshmallow from the c.mid to late 1930's. What a difference a decade or two makes!

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this wool plush cub has been beary enjoyable for you.

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