Check Out All The Doggy Details On This Rare Prewar Steiff Wolfspitz!

What a prize winning beauty! Steiffgal recently had the pleasure of handling a beautiful prewar pup with the most appealing facial expression and presentation. And she really did come with a blue ribbon - but more about that in a moment! Take a look at this simply lovely sitting sweetie and see what makes her such a top dog in so many ways.

Here we have Steiff's simply wonderful Wolfspitz. She is 22 cm tall, sitting, unjointed, and made from tawny colored mohair. She is solidly stuffed with excelsior. Her face, ears, and legs are made from shorter mohair while her back, tail, back legs, and torso are made from very long matching mohair. She has lifelike brown and black shading on her back and tail. Wolfspitz has three hand embroidered black claws on each paw. Her face comes to life with felt lined ears, brown and black glass pupil eyes, a black embroidered nose and mouth, and brown airbrushed highlights. You can feel her nonworking squeaker in her belly.

This lovely lady was made in 17, 21, 22, and 25 cm from 1934 - 1943 overall. She was also made standing on all fours in 22 and 35 cm from 1934 - 1943 overall, and standing on eccentric wheels in 22 cm from 1934 - 1943. You can see a picture of the Wolfspitz on wheels as pictured in a 1938 company brochure here on the left; she is in the middle row and on the very right hand side of the page. Just click on the image to make it larger. The caption under her reads Wolfspitz, Mohair, 1322 ex, 6.-. The ex refers to her eccentric wheels and the 6.- refers to the price in German marks. Today, 6 marks in 1938 is ROUGHLY the equivalent of $50 in 2022, according to the US Inflation Calculator.   

Besides her striking good looks, this Wolfspitz also is in wonderful condition and retains her long trailing "f" button as well as her all original red ear tag as her IDs. Her article number is 3322,2. This stands for 3=sitting, 3=mohair, 22=22 cm tall, and ,2=squeaker. According to Pfeiffer's Steiff Sortiment 1892-1943 book, this particular Wolfspitz with this exact numbering only appeared in the line from 1934 - 1936.

Now - what's with her blue ribbon? Wolfspitz retains her all original red leather collar. She also has a light blue ribbon tied to a metal ring which is part of her collar. When Steiffgal first saw this, she thought maybe a previous owner had put that onto her as a decoration. It turns out that all the Wolfspitz dogs pictured in Pfeiffer's Sortiment also are decorated with a blue ribbon. You can spot the blue ribbon on the photo from that book her on the left. As all collectors can attest, it’s very exciting to find an "almost" antique item which retains this sort of factory original accessory!

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this stunning Steiff Wolfspitz has added a beautiful spot to your day.

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