Spicing Things Up With This Very Vintage Steiff Dachshund

You've heard the expression "age before beauty," but today's special blog guest clearly wins hands down in both categories. This delightful doggie is one of the oldest (and most handsome) canines Steiffgal has in her hug. In dog years, he's nearly 750 years old! Come see what makes him such a top dog in every way.

This precious pooch is standing and five ways (arms, legs, and head) jointed. His head, back, tail, and outer limbs are made from vibrantly hued cinnamon mohair. His chest and inner limbs are made from white mohair which has mellowed to a vanilla color over time. He has three black hand embroidered claws on each of his paws. His face and head come alive with long, floppy felt lined mohair ears, black shoe button eyes, and a black hand embroidered nose and mouth. He retains his original tiny long trailing "f" button and traces of his white ear tag. This pattern appeared in the line in 17 and 22 cm from 1911 through 1913; this is the 17 cm version. These dogs were measured vertically, from the top of their heads to their toes. 

It is so cool how his design details perfectly converge on his era of production. Four really pop here. 

The first is his color. This great cinnamon mohair color is seen once in a blue moon, and mostly on items through the 19-teens. Steiffgal has also seen this color on early bears, monkeys, and squirrels. 

The second is his jointing. Through the 19-teens, it was not unusual for Steiff to joint, or "uber-joint" its popular animals. For example, squirrels and cats were head, limb, AND tail jointed. And some rabbit models were fully jointed - plus had each of their ears jointed! This dandy Doxie is head and limb jointed, which adds to his playfulness, but also to his cost. Fully jointed dogs like this are extremely rare in the Steiff line.

The third is his eyes. This great example has black shoe button eyes, like most items produced before c. 1912 or so. Starting in the mid-teens, Steiff primarily produced their items with black glass, or black and brown glass pupil eyes, to add to their appeal, prestige, and authenticity.

And the last is his facial construction and presentation. After studying this pooch for awhile, Steiffgal noticed that his face has a center seam construction, and a shaved muzzle. These two desirable - and clearly period - design elements are most often seen on Steiff's earliest Teddy bears.

Dachshunds have always been a popular breed in the Steiff production kennel. The 1913 English catalog features eight variations of these "badger dogs." Here on the left you can see this five ways jointed example under discussion today. You can click on the photo to make it larger. He is simply noted as "jointed, fine plush, brown &white/brown." Two models are noted; one at 17 cm and one at 22 cm. And just how much is that doggie in the window? The catalog notes that the 17 cm version costs $1.40 (the equivalent of $36.28 in 2019) and the 22 cm version costs $1.90 (the equivalent of $49.24 in 2019.)

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this darling Doxie has generated a bit of puppy love for you. 

Clowning Around With This Distinctive Steiff Pressed Felt Faced Puppet

Steiffgal's not clowning around when she says she's over the moon excited about her latest Steiff acquisition. Just this week, she welcomed a delightful and most unusual Steiff clown puppet into her hug. Not only is he irresistibly adorable, he also has a really interesting place in Steiff's product development timeline. Check out this gentle joker and see what makes him so unique from the design and historical perspectives.

Please give a round of applause to this happy handful! Here we have Steiff's Kasperl Clown or Punch Clown puppet. He is 17 cm tall. His head, hands, and ears are made from felt. His body is made from a piece of red, yellow, blue, and green flowered calico fabric. He comes to life with brown and black glass pupil eyes, a dimensional face, hand painted facial features, and yellow mohair hair. His clown costume includes a blue silk neck ruff and a felt hat decorated with a red pom-pom. These accessories are quite similar to those seen on Steiff's Teddy Clown bears from 1926 through 1930. This clown puppet was made in this size only and took center stage in the Steiff catalog from 1936 through 1943. 

Steiff created a few "theme and variation" items based on this basic clown pattern.  The company often did this with popular designs and characters. As such, the clown was also produced as a 35 cm clown doll from 1936 through 1940 and as a 25 cm soft tumbling Roly Clown from 1937 through 1943.  For reference, the clown doll and Roly Clown are pictured below; the photos are from Pfeiffer's 1892-1943 Steiff Sortiment Book.

Doll version of the clown

There are several very interesting details and features about this clown puppet that should give collectors the giggles. 

The first includes his numerous "debut roles" in Steiff's product line.  This clown puppet appears to be the very first "non-animal" puppet manufactured by Steiff overall. In addition, he is the only "non-animal" puppet made by the company pre-World War II. However, Steiff did produce many "people puppets," including clowns, Santa Claus, dwarfs, and fairytale characters, from the late 1950's onward.

Roly version of the clown

The second is his actual construction. This puppet has a seamless pressed felt face head, not a center seamed head, like most early felt dolls made by Steiff.   Although Steiff’s better known center seamed dolls were popular and sold well, the company had been actively experimenting with alternative ways of manufacturing felt heads since the early 1920’s. The goal was to eliminate the center seam and substitute the "two part" face with one made from seamless pressed felt. This proved quite challenging to do, both from the manufacturing and design perspectives. The company finally solved the problem of facial integrity by reinforcing the molded felt material with a plastic backing - almost like an interior support mask. Once this process was put into production, Steiff manufactured at least 27 different full doll models with this pressed felt face design between 1938 and 1943, in addition to the clown pattern under discussion here today.

Distinct, sewn on ears

Listen up for his third design feature. Yes, this clown doll head design has very distinct ears. Unlike his other pressed felt faced doll cousins, this pressed felt faced clown has distinctive felt ears that are attached to his head via two stitches. All the other pressed felt faced dolls of his era have ears that are much smaller, less distinct, and integral to their heads. Clown's ears are more like those seen on most of Steiff's earlier felt center seamed dolls. It is interesting to note that this pressed felt faced clown design was launched on a commercial scale in 1936, one year before the general pressed felt faced doll line was launched. Perhaps the ear treatment on the clown head is a "nod" to the traditional ear treatment on the company's earlier center seamed felt faced dolls?

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this unique pressed felt faced clown hand puppet has been a one of kind experience for you!

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

This Great Vintage Steiff Doll Has Heel-Appeal!

Ok team, its time to get to work! So check out this note from a new friend who is asking about an older Steiff doll that appears to take his job quite seriously. Cherie writes,

"Hi Steiffgal, 

Mom has her great uncle John's Steiff grocer doll, and I haven't been able to find out anything about it. Time and bugs have taken their toll, but it's still in pretty good shape.  Do you know anything about it? Thank you, Cherie"
 
It's an absolute labor of love to help out here. It is Steiffgal's best guess that this doll is Steiff's shoemaker doll. He should be 35 cm, fully jointed, and made from felt. Overall, this doll was made in the 1912 through 1920 time frame. Given his black shoebutton eyes, he is most likely from the earlier end of the time frame.  It is hard to tell from the photo if all of his clothing is original to him.  However, it was not unusual for Steiff to somewhat vary the fabrics used to make the clothing on a doll pattern, especially when the doll appeared for an extended period in the line.
 

Steiff employed alot of time and effort into this doll and others like it. From around 1912 through 1920 or so, Steiff made a series of "craftsman" themed dolls. These included a stone cutter, host, tailor, butcher, and shoemaker. All were 35 cm, except the butcher who was also made in 50 cm. The shoemaker doll, as he appeared when new, is pictured here on the left. The photo is from Pfeiffer's 1892-1943 Sortiment book. These great dolls often appeared in the company's grand window and event displays, especially those depicting "everyday" town and country scenes.  

It's time to buckle up this discussion about this great shoemaker doll with some thoughts on his value. Condition is everything when it comes to Steiff dolls from this era. It's very hard to tell from the photo much about his state and even if he retains his Steiff ID. Additional information about his body, jointing, mohair hair and mustache, etc. would be needed for a more formal analysis. As always, something is worth what someone will pay for it. In general, Steiff dolls from the c. 1910 through 1920 era in very good, all original condition with ID seem to be selling for the most part in the $1,500 to $2,500 range today. From the photos, this fellow looks initially to have some wear and losses and issues with his clothing. As such, it is Steiffgal's best guesstimate that he might sell at auction in the $750 to $1,200 range or so. 

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this shoemaker doll has touched both your heart and sole. 

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

This Vintage Felt Soldier Doll Has Uniform Appeal

There's not really any uniform answers to Steiff identification mysteries, especially when it comes to turn of last century, military inspired felt dolls.  Take a look at this note from Margaret, who asks about one of her recent finds.  Over the course of several exchanges, she shares the following about a vintage soldier doll that in many ways resembles those made by Steiff.  She writes...

Hi Steiffgal,

I was very happy to come across your blog tonight. I am an antique bear collector who has many old bears and pull toys, velvet toys, felt toys and so on. I hope you won't mind if I pick your brain. With your experience, you can probably give me some good information, or at least good speculation, about an item I purchased today at an antique store.  

I have gone through my Steiff Sortiment and cannot find a match to this guy.  He seems closest to "Young Brigade" to me, p. 445, but he is not a perfect match.  He is obviously old, as old as my other Steiff dolls circa 1914.  He stands a hair more than 13" tall. He has a couple of tiny moth holes. He is jointed. He does not have a mohair wig, he has hair that is painted on.  Instead of shoe button eyes or blue glass eyes, his eyes are hand made glass humanized brown eyes, very tiny and pretty and realistic looking. He has a little mustache. He has two proper little felt ears and a little nose. He has a sweet expression.  The seam that goes up his face stops at the top of his nose and re-starts at his hairline.  And his hands are dark felt, obviously meant to look like he is wearing gloves.

The doll is wearing a uniform, maybe a field coat, made of brownish gray wool. It has little brass buttons on it with a tiny insignia that looks like a pineapple shape. His coat has a little light brown or orange-ish square sewn onto each end of his collar; the coat is fairly long and buttons hold it open at the bottom. It is finely and expertly sewn and kind of gathered in the back. The sleeves have cuffs. The front of the coat has pockets on the chest. The right shoulder has a bit of the same fabric pinned to the shoulder, as if something else might have been there at some time.

His pants are made of the same wool fabric as his coat and they tuck into the top of his black leather boots. They kind of balloon a little bit (they are not a tight fit). The black boots are leather, the uppers are two pieces, there are eyelets and laces, these boots are very intricately and accurately done. They are as good as human boots, just miniature.

Is he Steiff, but a variation of the dolls pictured in the Sortiment, so he won't match up perfectly? Is it possible someone else made him? Who is my guy?

Thank you for any ideas you can provide. 

From one Steiff aficionado to another,

Margaret" 

Let's follow marching orders and get right down to business in terms of this dolls.  Yes, in many ways, he does share some similar characteristics to Steiff's wide range of soldier and military themed dolls from the approximately 1910 through 1920 time frame. These include his materials, general proportions, detailed clothing, and body construction.  However, there are three key areas that clearly suggest that he was made by a manufacturer other than Steiff.  These are his:

• Clothing and footwear style and details
• Facial construction
• Unusual eyes shape

If it were just one of these things, then maybe it could be an exception.  But all three suggest the alternative. 

 

Steiff's Infantryman from 1914 though 1921

Let's keep things somewhat orderly by starting with the dolls attire.  Typically, Steiff's military men have very fitted, detailed uniforms that have a "crispness" to them.  The clothing in general does not feature "puffy" or "gathered" details.  Steiff's doll jackets and pants are angular and often have edging and other contrasting stitched details, and simple, plain buttons.  The soldier doll pictured to the left is a good example of this; for more information on him please click here.  The "pineapple" buttons on Margaret's doll are much, much more detailed than the buttons on Steiff's usual military dolls, and his clothing appears too "informal" to have been made by Steiff.  

Center Seam Face

Face it, Margaret's doll's facial construction is also interesting - but not typical to Steiff.  Steiff is known for both their center seamed faces (which can run either horizontally or vertically) and their seamless pressed felt faces.  The company worked for over two decades to perfect their pressed felt face techniques, and during that time produced several hybrid prototypes that never went to market.  The pressed felt faced dolls do indeed have almond shaped eyes, but they are painted

Pressed Felt Face

eyes, or glass eyes embedded into the facial mask - not sewn on the face as it appears in Margaret's case.  It is possible, although not terribly probable, that the face on Margaret's doll is one of those "half and half" experiments with only a partial facial seam.  Steiffgal sees these these occasionally at auction - but they are never noted as Steiff, just as early European felt faced dolls... and they never have a Steiff buttons in their ear, suggesting that they were not meant to leave the factory.  

 

Early Scotty, delightful photo from http://oldtoys.info/

Eye veh... and now his handsome eyes.  Collectors probably recognize the soldier doll's distinctively shaped peepers as similar to those seen on Steiff's early Scotties, Selyhams, and Skye Terriers starting in the 1930's.  Steiffgal thinks that Margaret's doll is older than that - probably no later than the early 1920's.  Steiffgal also has never seen soldier's distinctive, 3D almond shaped eyes on any Steiff doll either in person, in the Steiff archives, or in pictures.  Early Steiff eyes used on felt dolls were round black shoe buttons, while later ones were round glass pupil. According to Steiffgal's colleague Lauren Mikalov, a doll expert and columnist for Dolls Magazine, many companies - including Lenci, Chad Valley, and Norah Wellings - used more humanized glass shaped eyes on their early felt dolls.  So there is history and precedent for this design element... but just not with Steiff.     

So just who is this mysterious military man?  Without labels, it's almost impossible to tell... and like a good soldier, this one's keeping state secrets.  

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on early felt dolls has met with uniform appeal.

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