Hop-ping To Find Answers About This Fantastic Steiff Prewar Rabbit On Wheels

Orange you glad you checked in with this blog today? Well you will be for sure after learning more about this super cool prewar rarity living with a new friend from far away. Alena shares...

"Hello from the Czech Republic,

I have a question about my toy - rabbit on the wooden wheels. I couldn't find any information whether the Rabbit has been produced in Steiff factory in this color. Toy hasn't got any button neither any else marking. 

Thank you very much in advance for the answer and maybe some more information about that."

This happy hopper is the wheel-deal indeed. It is Steiffgal's best thinking that he is one of Steiff's standard line rabbits on wheels from the late 1920s. Here on the left, you can see the photo from Pfeiffer's 1892-1943 Sortiment illustrating what Steiffgal believes is this exact item. He is in a "hopping" position, meaning he is on all fours and about ready to take off! The name of this body position was later changed to "running", which also makes alot of sense.

Alena's treasure is one beautiful bunny. Here you can see him relaxing with some WAH-HOO good vintage friends in the photo on the left. Rabbit is unjointed, solidly stuffed with excelsior, and features large brown and black glass pupil eyes, a hand embroidered pink and black nose and mouth, and clear monofilament whiskers. He has once vivid orange mohair. He rides upon four asymmetrical wooden "eccentric" style wheels. As such, he appears to sway back and forth as he is pulled along. This item was produced in 12, 15, 18, and 23 cm (measured vertically, top of the head to toe, not including ears or wheels) from 1927-1930 overall in this stunning color. He was also produced in an almost identical pattern in brown tipped mohair in 14, 17, and 22 cm in 1928.

Brightly colored animals, including rabbits, dogs, cats, and bears - were a delightful feature of Steiff's late 1920s to very early 1930s product line. These sweet pets appeared in orange, pink, blue, green, gold, or other "jellybean” colored mohair or velvet fabrics, and usually had playful, youthful personalities to match! Tipped mohair - meaning mohair with just the ends or tips dyed a complementary or eye-catching color - also had its heyday in the product line around the same time. You can see a number of these colorful rabbits in the photo on the left, the image is from the company's 1929 product catalog. 

Steiff also produced a few other fun novelties featuring "larger than life" colors like Alena's wheeled rabbit. One of particular interest is a delightful orange and white begging style rabbit on eccentric wheels. In July, 2023, the auction house Ladenburger Spielzeugauktion GmbH of Ladenburg, Germany sold this 20 cm tall rarity from 1926-1932 for nearly $4,000. He is pictured here on the left, the image is from Ladenburger Spielzeugauktion.

Steiffgal hopes you enjoyed learning about this darling, 24 carrot gold prewar novelty!

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