Good golly - this is NOT a Steiff Molly! But she is adorable nonetheless, and a great example of how the toy industry has always capitalized on good ideas and best sellers. Take a look at this sweet girl... you can't help but notice several similarities between her and Steiff's beloved prewar puppy matriarch!
This darling, prewar doggie is sitting, unjointed, and stuffed with excelsior. She is 15 cm tall and made from off white and brown tipped mohair. She has black hand embroidered claws on her front legs, a black hand embroidered nose and mouth, a long narrow tail that sticks straight out, and brown and black glass pupil eyes. Her ears are lined in chocolate brown velvet and are stitched to her head. Her ID is a tan cardboard tag printed in red; it is sewn into the seam in her ear. It has the stylized letters M and P on it, and the words "Made in Germany." The M and P are for Moritz Pappe, a toy company that was started in 1869 in Liegnitz, Germany.
So what is the story behind this mysterious pup? Let's name her "Polly", as she was made by Pappe and most likely inspired, at least in part, by Steiff's Molly design. It is Steiffgal's best guess that this Polly was made in the mid- to late 1920s as Pappe used this distinctive, initialed ear tag as its product ID at that time.
Many Steiff collectors are familiar with Pappe's Teddy bears, which often had sweet, babylike qualities to them. However, this company did make a full range of stuffed mohair playthings, and was especially active in the prewar era when Steiff was also taking a worldwide leadership role in soft toy production. Apparently, Pappe just focused on "local" and not global distribution. According to the Cieslik's German Teddy Bear Encyclopedia, "There is... no indication to overseas (i.e., not European) partners or customers so that one can assume that the companies were only concentrated on the European market."
Molly the Puppy design debuted in 1925. She is pictured here on the left. She would become the grand-matriarch of Steiff’s vast dog world. Steiff's first Molly dogs were sitting, made from long white and brown tipped mohair plush, had a swivel head, proportionally large brown and black pupil eyes, and a hand-embroidered black nose and mouth. All left the factory in Giengen wearing a ribbon and jingle bell. Pre-war, this sitting model was produced in 12 sizes ranging from 7-80 cm. Sitting Molly was one of the very first models reintroduced post war, reappearing again in 1949 in five sizes through 1969. Molly was a smashing success from her introduction, and is still universally beloved nearly a century onward.
There has always been alot of "borrowing," as well as form and variation, amongst the toys produced by manufacturers over the years. This is especially the case with best sellers. So it should be no surprise that factories in addition to Steiff would market a two colored, tipped mohair, gentle looking puppy dog. As a matter of fact, it is thought that Molly's design may have been inspired in part by an early 1920s-era puppy named “Beauty” produced by the English company Farnell. It is quite possible that Pappe saw how well Steiff's Molly and/or Farnell's Beauty were selling, and decided to design their own version... with just enough differences to avoid patent infringement.
Here are a few basic design and construction variations between Pappe's "Polly" (pictured on the right hand side of the comparison photos) and Steiff's "Molly", pictured on the left hand side of the comparison photos.)
1. Pappe's version has a long, thin white tan mohair tail; Steiff's has a very short, tipped mohair tail.
2. Pappe's version had simple hind legs with no claws; Steiff's had well formed hind legs with claws.
3. Pappe's version was unjointed with velvet lined mohair ears; Steiff's version was jointed with full mohair ears.
Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this dog made by Pappe has made you quite happy.
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