Walking the Runway With Steiff's Early And All Original Minnie Mouse Disney Doll

Girl power! No mouse rocks a short skirt and great shoes better than Disney's Minnie Mouse! This great prewar design, seen far less often than her better half Mickey, continues set the hearts of Steiff and Disney collectors aflutter. Check out this great example and see why she truly owns the runway.

Here's one mouse you definitely want in your house. Pretty Minnie is 17 cm tall, standing, and unjointed. She is primarily made from black and white velvet. Her black pie-style eyes are glued on, and she retains her original black string style whiskers. Her face comes to life with delicate hand painting and an open, velvet lined, smiling mouth. She wears white cotton bloomers, an orange felt hat, and her original red, white, and blue calico skirt. Her oversized yellow gloves are made from velvet. Her fabulous orange felt heels are detailed with black bows. Minnie retains her long trailing "f" button in ear and co-branded Steiff and Disney chest tag as her IDs.

Like most all original Minnie Mouse examples, this sweet gal is missing her tail and the flower that decorated her hat. These details were both quite ephemeral in their materials, as well as how they were attached to her body. As such, finding a Minnie with these parts and pieces is like hitting the Disney lottery.

Marvelous Minnie was produced from 1932 - 1936 in 12, 17, 24, 31, 37, and 49 cm from 1932 through 1936. Before launching Minnie, Steiff was producing Mickey Mouse under the Disney license; he appeared from 1931 - 1936 in 11, 16, 23, 30, 36, and 48 cm. A tail moves head Mickey, a Record Mickey, and a 24 cm Mickey puppet were also produced in the early 1930s. Over the five year time frame from 1931 through 1936, Steiff made about 53,000 Mickey Mouse dolls but only 13,000 Minnie Mouse dolls, which explains why Minnie is so much rarer than Mickey. After 1936, the worldwide geopolitical situation made it too difficult to conduct business between the US and Germany, and the collaboration ceased. 

One thing that is very interesting about Minnie is the length of her skirt. It could best be described as "Mini!" Given the length of this garment, it is clear that her white bloomers were meant to be seen. Although Minnie is clearly wearing a mini skirt, it was not until nearly 30 years later that short skirts came into mainstream fashion. London designer Mary Quant is primarily credited for championing knee-skimming skirts and dresses in the 1960s. It is suspected that Quant named the skirt after her favorite make of car, the Cooper Mini.

Steiffgal hopes you enjoyed skirting all the issues that makes this Minnie so charming!

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