What can be tiny and larger than life at the same time? Steiff's utterly charming, miniature sized pets on wheels from the 1920s! Check out this teeny tiny Bully dog on the go. His proportions, presentation, and personality are simply perfect!
This happy handful is the wheel deal indeed. Bully is standing, 10 cm tall, and head jointed. His body is made from black and tan mohair. His face has a velvet inset muzzle. It comes to life with oversized black and brown glass pupil eyes, a black hand embroidered nose, a few airbrushed freckles and highlights, and dimensional jewels. His factory original accessories include his all original horsehair collar and little brass bell. Some came with this horsehair style collar while others had a studded leather collar. Bully is connected to a metal chassis and rides upon four red wooden eccentric wheels. He retains his long trailing "F" button as his Steiff ID. This adorable rarity was produced in 10, 14, 17, and 22 cm from 1927-1935 overall.One feature that makes this Bully dog design so timeless, and eternally appealing, is that it scales up or down in size so well. This tiny version really does look like an impish pup, ready to get into marvelous mischief. Larger sized Bully dogs take on a more adult personality and presentation. Admit it, you are having a hard time not falling in love with this petite pooch!
It is also interesting to note that this Bully on eccentric wheels novelty was introduced in 1927 - the same year as his general debut. Usually, form and variation items - like versions on wheels, with music boxes, as puppets, and pincushions, for example - come out a year or two after a new design is launched. Clearly, Steiff knew they had a winner on their hands with this beautiful Bull dog, and wasted no time in presenting numerous novelty temptations based on his core pattern. And the numbers rang true - over 250,000 Bully dogs were produced and sold within five years of his introduction.
Steiff's page from their 1929 catalog features a charming illustration featuring a number of Bully dogs - including the one under discussion here today. This image can be seen here on the left, and the photo is from Carsten Esser's Steiff Kataloge 1920-1929. You can click on it to make it bigger. The copy on the page roughly translates to... "The character Bully dog has found many admirers in both children and adults." The model was designed as a toy - for children - but also as a companion and collectible for adults. He did a great job in both roles. The catalog page notes Bully as a standing model, on eccentric wheels, as a riding toy, in velvet and a variety of mohair color combinations, as a long limbed car or boudoir doll, as a puppet, as a purse, as a pincushion, and as a musical dog, among others. Steiffgal hopes that size defies when it comes to this discussion on this itty bitty buddy.
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