Wool You Be My Baby?

It may sound corny, but this small scaled maize wool plush Teddy baby bear has captured Steiffgal's heart in a really big way! This happy handful has seen a lot in his nearly century of life, based on his loved condition. But the world hasn't seen a lot of him - or his pattern - based on his absolute rarity and short stint in Steiff's product catalog. Take a look at this beautiful baby and see what makes him so special from the design and promotional perspectives.

Teddy baby is 15 cm tall, fully jointed, and made from fuzzy maize colored wool plush. His feet are made from slightly shorter wool plush. He has felt pads and four black claws on each paw. He has a side squeaker in his torso. Typical to his legacy namesake pattern, he has flat feet designed for standing, downturned arms, and a distinctly toddler-esque appearance and proportions. Although most Teddy baby bears are open mouthed, this particular model was produced with a closed mouth in all sizes. As such, his pensive face comes to life with proportional glass pupil eyes, a shorter wool plush inset muzzle, and a probably restitched black floss nose and mouth. He retains his long "trailing f" button as his Steiff ID.

Wool plush, closed mouth Teddy baby was produced in 12, 15, 20, 22, 28, and 35 cm (measured sitting) from 1929-1932 overall. This pattern is one of the rarer prewar Teddy baby varieties. This is the first of his kind Steiffgal has ever seen or handled. The vast majority of prewar Teddy baby bears were produced in brown, blonde, or white mohair with smiling, velvet or felt lined open mouths.

Despite his relative rarity, this wool plush Teddy baby was featured in its own Steiff print advertisement. This was produced and distributed in 1929, the year this Teddy baby was introduced. The main copy on the advertisement translates basically as: "The cute, fluffy bear child with the new expressive face, the loyal look and the cuddly paws, a great performance, fully mobile, and well-positioned." According to the print advertisement, Teddy baby is offered in maize mohair plush or wool plush. Both versions are available in 12, 15, 20, 22, 28, and 35; those at 22 cm and larger came with a growler. You can see this print advertisement here on the left. If you click on it, you can view it in a larger format.

It is also very interesting to note that the two different versions had significantly different prices as noted in Reichsmarks, the German currency of the era. You can see this in the third column of information describing each of the two Teddy baby variations. The wool plush versions generally are around 20% more expensive than the mohair plush versions. Steiffgal suspects that this likely reflected the actual costs of the fabric to make these items as the time and effort to make these two variations had to be almost identical.

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this unusual prewar Teddy baby model has helped to rejuvenate your day!

Have a question about one of your Steiff treasures? Let's talk! Click here to learn more.

All Smiles Over This Steiff Midcentury Musical Teddy Baby!

You will quickly understand why Steiffgal is whistling a happy tune over this next fantastic - and most unexpected - find. This sweet gal was found at an estate sale in the New England area in somewhat run down condition. But Steiffgal knew with a little TLC, spit, and polish (and a new spring outfit), she would be nearly her old self again. Take a look at this midcentury singing sweetie and see what makes her so interesting from the design and historical perspectives.

Can you bear it? Yes, what we have here is Steiff's Music-Baer or Music Bear. She is 25 cm tall, head jointed, and standing. Her body is a simple cylinder made from tan wool plush and her brown mohair arms are floppy. She has pink hand embroidered claws on each paw. Her head is based on the beloved and legacy Teddy baby design, originally introduced in the 1920s. Teddy has an internal Swiss music box which plays when her torso is pressed and released up and down like an accordion. When she was new, she left the factory dressed in a white cotton shirt and a red, black, and white rayon skirt with a green felt waistband and matching suspenders. 

This musical marvel was made from 1950 through 1951 only. She retains her original Steiff trailing f button, yellow ear tag with the numbers 9325 on it, and traces of a white linen "Made in the US Zone" tag in her left arm seam. All of these IDs perfectly align with her dates of manufacture - just a few years after the company opened for toy making business again following WWII. It is interesting to note that this musical Teddy baby's ID number translates to... 9=mechanical, 3=mohair, 25=25 cm tall. Steiff also made "girly" versions of this dressed music box product based on their popular Bazi the Doxie and Kitty the cat designs of the period.

This Teddy baby find really benefited from a little spa treatment. Sadly, her rayon skirt and white shirt had all but disintegrated over time; what was left of both items were in tatters. To honor her "plaid" origins, Steiffgal created a little neck scarf out of the skirt's salvageable material. You can see her factory original outfit here on the left, the photo is from Pfeiffer's 1947-2003 Sortiment. 

Music Teddy also was covered in at least a half century of dust and grime. With a little elbow grease and a gentle scrub, her original beauty and personality came shining through again! Her wool plush body and tan muzzle darkened a touch overall and evenly over time, and there's not much anyone can do about that. But her brown mohair really revealed quite a glow upon cleaning. 

As for her clothing, Teddy baby is again donning an all original Steiff outfit. Although these contemporary pieces were produced by Steiff more than a half century onward from Teddy baby's birth year, they still look great, are appropriate, and well scaled to her somewhat unusual body. She wears a green calico dress; the fabric features tiny versions of Steiff's most popular playthings and Steiff bear faced logos. And she's keeping warm with a light blue felt jacket detailed with a collar and round gold buttons; this coat was produced for a Steiff Peter Rabbit a few years ago.

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this wonderful Teddy find has been music to your ears. 

Have a question about one of your Steiff treasures? Let's talk! Click here to learn more.