This Steiff Teddy Bear From 1964 Is One Merry Mash-Up!

Talk about hiding in plain sight! Steiffgal was checking out the latest listings on eBay to see if she could find a hidden treasure. And lo and behold, the shopping gods aligned and this rarity appeared out of nowhere! He doesn't look like much - and could be easy to miss. Check out this merry mash-up of a bear and see what makes him so distinctive from the design and marketing perspectives. 

 

Cosy Teddy is 28 cm, unjointed, and softly stuffed. His body shape and proportions are a bit like the company's childlike Lully baby bear. Cozy Teddy is made from white dralon. His paw pads are made from pinky-peach colored dralon. He has four brown dimensional felt claws on each of his paws. His face comes to life with smaller scaled black and white cartoon eyes and a hand embroidered brown nose and mouth. This pattern of facial stitching is similar to that seen on the company's postwar Original Teddy bears. He also has a little airbrushing around his peepers to give them some depth. When he left the factory, Cosy Teddy was decorated with a blue ribbon. This guy was produced in this size only in 1964. He retains his raised script button and bits of his yellow tag as his IDs. Given his washable construction, size, and simplicity, it is quite possible he was designed a hands on plaything for kids. 

 

This bear has two key design elements that make him quite distinctive. First, he has wool felt claws, which is most unusual in the Steiff line. A few other bears from his mid-1960s era, including Zooby the zoo bear, Cosy Nauty the polar bear, and Zipper Nauty the PJ bag, also have this detailing... but the vast majority of Steiff's cubs from all eras have embroidered or painted claws. And second, he sports round black and white plastic cartoon eyes, which are somewhat too small for his face. This configuration is also an outlier in Steiff's bear production. The only other example with this style and scale of eyes Steiffgal can think of is the company's Cosy Bruni Collar bear; he was made from 1965-1966. 

 

Steiff clearly had big plans for Cosy Teddy, as he was the "cover bear" for its 1964 "New Models" catalog. You can see that cover shot here on the left. Like Cosy Teddy, this four page catalog introduced a significant collection of new editions made from dralon materials. This publication is also very interesting because it debuted a number of items that were only produced for a year or so. Steiffgal refers to these now hard to find treasures as "One-derfuls" to note their single year appearance in the line. Cosy Teddy is one of these 1964 "One-derfuls"; others pictured in this brochure include Reinhold the Rhino, Loopy the Wolf, Zipper Cockie, and Sneba the Snowman puppet. Today, many of these rarities top enthusiasts' wish lists given how few were produced over a very short period of time. 

 

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on Cosy Teddy and his discovery has added a soft spot to your day. 

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

This 1960s-Era Steiff Polar Bear Is Footloose And Fancy Free!

Is it possible to be naughty and nice at the same time? And no... this isn't a trick question or have anything to do with Santa Claus! It is in reference to a little known, but very interesting, 1960s era Steiff polar bear. Take a look at this cold weather cutie and see what makes him so cool from the design perspective.

This polar pal's name is Cosy Nauty. He is standing, unjointed, and measures about 15 cm tall and 27 cm wide. He is made from longer white dralon plush, while his inset muzzle is made from shorter white dralon. His paw pads are made from peach colored felt. His face comes to life with black button eyes, a black hand embroidered nose and mouth, and a touch of airbrushed highlights. His feet are detailed with tiny white felt claws in the shapes of triangles. Nifty Nauty appeared in the line in this size only from 1963-1966.

This polar bear pattern has two really interesting details associated with it. The first is its unusual claw detailing. Steiff most often indicates claws by stitching or paint. In this case, Nauty's claws are three dimensional and made from white felt. You can see a close up of that detailing here on the left. Steiff may have been experimenting with this treatment in the mid-1960s. It is curious that their beloved Zooby Circus bear - produced in 1964 and 1966 - also had white felt triangular claws, while its 28 cm white Cosy Bear from 1964 only featured brown felt triangular claws. These three bears with this similar design element were all the line for only a handful of years. This suggests that this feature was not terribly attractive to buyers, and/or was too costly from the manufacturing perspective.

The second noteworthy thing about Nauty is that he was also produced as an even lesser known novelty item. In 1964, Steiff produced a series of smaller scaled pajama bags. These included a Zipper Cockie (a cocker spaniel) Zipper Zotty (a Zotty bear) and Zipper Nauty (a polar bear). All were 30 cm. Cockie and Zotty were made from mohair while Nauty was produced in white dralon - similar to the full bodied version. And like his namesake, this polar bear PJ bag also featured felt claws. You can see Zipper Nauty and Zipper Zotty pictured here on the left. These Zipper animals appeared in the line through 1966 overall.

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on Steiff's little known Nauty polar bear has helped you to chill out just a bit today!

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

This Exceptional and Early Steiff Bear Is Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

Well, hello handsome! Yes, it's OK to stare... he's used to it! This week's blog special guest is not a Hollywood hunk, although with some Steiff collectors, his good looks are on par with many of the leading men of the big and little silver screens! Steiffgal recently had the opportunity to spend some time with a magnificent and early Steiff bear, and wanted to share his perfect and period (and irresistible) detailing with you. 

This sweet and all original cub is sugar and spice and everything nice! He is fully jointed, solidly stuffed with excelsior, and measures 16 inches tall standing and 11 inches tall sitting. His felt pads are tan and he has four hand-embroidered claws on each paw. You can't help but notice his unusual color, which is a magnificent cinnamon hue. Although it is challenging to absolutely capture almost any color on film and on screen, his eye-catching color really does match the deep orange-brown glow of a cinnamon stick!

Ted's proportions make him one sexy senior citizen. Steiff's early bears have a relatively consistent scale. As such, its no numbers game to determine if a vintage Teddy bear may have been manufactured by Steiff many years ago. For the most part, Steiff’s early 1900’s bears have torsos (measured from neck to crotch) that are twice as long as their heads (measured from crown of head to neck.) This bear's torso and head measure 8" and 4", respectively. Steiff's bears from this era have relatively large feet, in a ratio of 1:5 to the bear’s height, measured standing. This bear stands 16 inches tall, and his feet, measured heel to toe, are c. 3-1/4" long. And these bears have extra long limbs, with their arms extending to their "knees” when standing. And why is this? Because they were originally designed to stand on all fours, as illustrated in the photo to the left. This Cinny seems to fits the mold to a "T" here!

Let's face it, you can't help but fall in love with this bear's handsome expression. His face comes to life with several features that have captured collector's hearts for over a century. His black wooden shoe button eyes, faded black nose and mouth stitching, and trimmed muzzle area are delightful and so typical to Steiff. And heading off any doubt about his authenticity, this bear also retains his still shiny "trailing F" style button and traces of his white ear tag as his Steiff IDs. It is interesting to note that his mohair coloring inside his ears, as well around other areas "where the sun don't shine" is an even more vibrant cinnamon color. This is likely because these places were protected from any light or other environmental conditions that trigger fading.

Although it is impolite to ask about age, it is Steiffgal's best guess that this terrific Ted was born in the 1908-1910 time frame. Here's why. From his provenance, it is known that he was given to a little girl who was born in 1903. Ted's classic detailing, including his curved wrists, pronounced back hump, and long thin feet with narrow ankles are clearly early 20th century. His black shoe button eyes, for the most part, date him no later than 1910 or so. His button and ear tag are also completely consistent with this dating. Ted's prominent, hand-sewn chest seam also hides a clue to his date of manufacture. He has a non-working growler in his torso; these were invented by Margarete Steiff's nephew Paul Steiff and debuted in the company's bears starting in 1908.

Steiffgal hopes this introduction to this delightful and rare cinnamon Steiff bear has spiced up your day just a pinch!

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

Stand and Deliver With This Huge And Unusual Steiff Surprise

Panda-monium has absolutely broken out in Steiffgal's house over the most recent addition to her ever growing hug.  Here's the story of the arrival of a larger than life new Steiff companion worthy of the red carpet treatment!

 

Good things come in all size packages... and the courier arrives around 10:00am with one extra-large sized delivery!  He personally drove the item from Indiana to Massachusetts, so the two of them got to be good friends crossing the country together. 

 

The anticipation builds as the surprise makes its way towards the house...

 

Just bear-ly fitting up the narrow, curved staircase....

At last landing at its final destination, the bedroom (which is in the process of being painted in honor of his arrival.) 

Now for the great unveiling... just what do we have here?  Click on the arrow on the photo above to view the video and find out!

This bit of advice doesn't suck... always thoroughly clean your new Steiff arrivals carefully, including a light vacuuming...

...and a gentle scrub with a white cotton washcloth and a dilute solution of Woolite in warm water. 

So just who is this prehistorically sized panda?  In reality, Steiffgal isn't 100% certain, as she can find no reference to him in any Steiff reference book.  And his previous owners don't know a thing about him either; they found him in a storage bin in Indiana and put him up for auction shortly after.  Here's what we DO know about him:  he's 190 cm, standing, unjointed, and made entirely from long shaggy mohair - except for his ears, which are made from black dralon.  His face, which is made from slightly shorter white mohair, is detailed with large brown and black pupil eyes and a hand embroidered black nose and mouth.  His mouth has a little additional grey airbrushed highlights around his jaw.  Panda's foot pads are made from heavy plastic material, while his paw pads are made from trivera velvet material.  They are carefully airbrushed with authentic looking hand prints.  He has four rubber claws on each of his hands and feet.  Panda keeps his standing balance via a metal support stand attached to his backside. 

It's not so black and white when it comes to identifying a rarity like this.  However, it is Steiffgal's best guess, given panda's size, appearance, and body shape, that he is a modification of Steiff's Studio standing Braunbaer or Brown Bear that was in the line from 1972 through 1980.  Brown bear is pictured above; his full story can be found here. Brown bear is also standing and 190 cm tall.  His body is made from a brown knitted fur material.  His face is made from short tan colored mohair and is detailed with brown and black pupil eyes, a black leather-like nose, and a few airbrushed highlights.  And, like Studio panda, his paw pads are made from a trivera velvet like material, have airbrushed "paw prints" on them, and are complemented by lifelike claws.  Studio Brown bear was made from 1972 through 1980; in 1972 only he was sold exclusively in the United States.

 

And, just in case you were wondering, ALMOST everyone here was excited to welcome new Studio panda to the hug.  

Steiffgal hopes this unveiling of her Steiff studio panda has been a larger than life experience for you!

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