Dog-gonnit, where did the summer go? And just like that, it's September, and all things turn to pumpkin spice. Steiffgal's final summer find turned out to be one happy handful indeed. Check out this charming prewar puppet and see what makes him so interesting from the design and historical perspectives.
This delightful Steiff puppet is certainly of royal status! Here we have Steiff's Punch Charles, or earliest King Charles Spaniel puppet. He is 17 cm tall and made from black and tan mohair. He has a hollow puppet body and arms. His head is solidly stuffed with excelsior and has a cardboard finger tube in it. The tips of his paws have a little excelsior in them to give them form and dimension. Typical to the dog breed, he has adorable, long, and floppy mohair ears. His face comes to life with proportional brown and black glass eyes, a prominent forehead and muzzle, and a black hand embroidered nose and mouth. His IDs, which were a long trailing "f" button and either a white or red ear tag, have been lost to time. This cheerful Charles appeared in the line from 1911-1929 overall.
Like many prewar puppets, Punch Charles is based on a popular, full bodied animal design. He is a novelty item inspired by Steiff's precious King Charles Dog. This canine model was fully jointed and also made from black and tan mohair fabrics. He appeared in the line in 17, 22, 28, and 35 cm from 1908 through 1927. Although these were in production for a relatively long time, Steiffgal has only handled one example in decades. She suspects that is the case as they were so adorable, and lifelike, that kids simply loved them to death! You can see the full bodied King Charles Dogs here on the left, the photo is from Pfeiffer's
1892-1943 Sortiment.
Steiff's black and white, fully jointed King Charles Dog pattern was truly a legacy design for the company, appearing consistently in the line for nearly 20 years. In 1924, Steiff introduced a very similar looking brown and white mohair standing King Charles Spaniel in 17, 22, and 25 cm. This head jointed pattern was only produced through 1927.
In 1928, Steiff debuted its named, and totally fantastic, Charly the King Charles Spaniel pattern. The 1924-1927 model seemed to be a transitional design between the earliest black and white King Charles Dog pattern and Charly. Charly was very typical to late 1920s introductions, and featured fluffy mohair, oversized eyes, puppy like proportions, and a distinctly childlike personality. Charly would go on to be made as a puppet in 17 cm from 1928-1939, overlapping Punch Charles production by two years... 1928 and 1929. These two cousins are pictured here. Punch Charles is on the left, and Charly is on the right. Good looks certainly run in the family!
Steiffgal hopes you are all hands in the air over Steiff's prewar King Charles Spaniel puppet production!
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