Who Is This Tall, Dark, And Handsome Steiff Stranger?

Please say "howdy, partner" to this remarkable Steiff rarity! Steiff's turn of last century dolls have always been Steiffgal's passion. So when she got to handle this rarity, things got pretty wild - but in the best way possible. Check out this mustached marvel and see what makes him WAH-HOO good for so many reasons.

Well, hello handsome! This fellow is named Mexican Cowboy. He is 40 cm tall and fully joined. His head and lower arms are made from felt, and the rest of his body is made from a linen-like material. His weathered face is detailed with black button eyes, a black mohair mustache, a little pink highlighting, black painted eyebrows, and a prominent center facial seam. His fabulous black curly hair is an inset wig and is made from mohair. He retains his long trailing "f" button in ear as his Steiff ID. 

Mexican Cowboy is dressed to the nines in his (almost) all factory original outfit. It includes a red cotton shirt with tan stitching, wide tan mohair chaps with an open back, and really well made black leather boots. His leather belt with silver detailing is replaced, but perfectly scaled to him. He also wore a blue chambray bandana around his neck, but this has been lost to time. This hard working hunk was produced overall in 40, 45, 55, 70, 100, and 150 cm from 1912 through 1921 overall. The largest ones were most certainly made as display dolls, as they would have been too large and heavy for a child to play with. 

Mexican Cowboy is noted in Pfeiffer's 1892-1943 Sortiment as to be in "national costume" and representing a category called "nation types." Steiffgal suspects that he was produced in conjunction with the company's c. 19-teen era Schlopsnies Circus project. This large scale, dynamic, and extremely popular exhibit was designed and executed by Steiff doll freelancer Albert Schlopsnies. It consisted of over 30 circus themed dolls and acrobats, based on real life performers at the world famous Circus Sarrasani of Dresden, Germany. This amazing display garnered a worldwide following and certainly helped in elevating Steiff's dollmaking reputation to global status. 

One of the elements that made the Circus Sarrasani so popular, and unique, was its roster of international talent. Original posters, broadsides, photos, and other promotional ephemera from the Circus Sarrasani spotlighted ethnic performers in native costumes, including South American Cowboys, Asian gymnasts, and American Indians, among many others. You can see an example of this on the left. This important detail was noted by Schlopsnies, who included authentic versions of these global ambassadors in his Steiff doll interpretation of the Circus. Steiffgal suspects, given the production timeline of the Mexican Cowboy and the Steiff circus project, that he was in fact produced as part of circus project to bring its important "international" angle to life. And, given all that, it is entirely possible that this doll is based on a real life Mexican Cowboy who appeared in the Circus Sarrasani around 1912 or so.

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on Steiff's Mexican Cowboy doll has been a stampede of fun for you!

 

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Boys Will Be Boys With This Midcentury Steiff Cowboy Doll

Winston Churchill once said, "No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle." And Steiffgal's certain this rare Steiff cowboy would agree wholeheartedly! Take a look at this marvelous mid-century Steiff doll and see what makes him so interesting from the design and product development perspectives.

Boys will be boys with this precious Steiff "Cowboy." He is 17 cm tall and arm jointed. He has a molded rubber head and a cloth body. His face comes to life with realistic and well contouring painting and details. His handsomely tailored and coordinated shirt, pants, vest, hat, and bandana are made from felt, calico, and leather. These items are not removable from his body. His accessories include a wooden gun housed in a leather holster; these are suspended on his original leather belt. This particular doll design was made in 12 and 17 cm from 1954 through 1957. The smaller size has a rubber body and head, while the larger size has a rubber head and cloth body. The larger one - the one under discussion here today - has the product number "117." This translates to 1=standing and 17=17 cm tall.

Cowboy made his home on the range at a really interesting time in the Steiff product development timeline. Prewar, Steiff''s doll line was primarily felt-centric. From the turn of last century through the mid-1930s, the vast majority of Steiff's standard line dolls had a felt face with either a prominent horizontal or vertical seam. Starting in the mid-1930s, the company produced its dolls with seamless, pressed felt faces.


Postwar, dolls with rubber heads (like Cowboy) took center stage at Steiff. This new way of manufacturing dolls enabled the company to introduce a great number of brand new, contemporary models in just a handful of years. These debut rubber headed models, including a series of dwarfs (Gucki, Lucki, and Lucki), Santa Claus, clowns, and of course the Horzu hedgehogs Mecki and Micki, were far more economical to produce than their labor intensive forefathers, and had a "modern" (for their era) look and feel. It is interesting to note that the dwarfs and Santa share the same facial detailing.

One of the strategies that Steiff adopted to regain its prewar prominence in the toy world postwar was to produce unique offerings exclusively for the US market. Postwar, the company employed two US distributors, Reeves International and the Loucap Company, to insure that their button in ear treasures were represented in as many high quality retail stores as possible. Both Reeves and Loucap created special Steiff exclusives for their retailers. Steiff had also been working with F.A.O. Schwarz in the US since 1906. Geopolitical and trade issues put a huge damper on this relationship from the mid-1930s onward. However, this relationship was reignited in the late 1940s/early 1950s, and a series of delightful Steiff/F.A.O. Schwarz exclusives emerged as a result. A little known one is the “Cowboy Tramp Set” exclusive introduced in 1954; it consisted of the 17 cm Cowboy doll under discussion today and a sweet mohair pony. You can see the catalog photo for this dynamic duo here on the left.

The cataloging for this Cowboy Tramp Set noted, "No rags or cutaways for this young fellow, but a cowboy outfit of matching brown felt chaps and vest, checkered shirt, slouch hat, gay kerchief, felt, and holster. Has molded face with bulbous one and roguish grin - strictly and individualist. Body of his chubby little pony is firm, covered with brown spots. Has a white mane and long white tail. Sports a red leather bridle."

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on the company's 1950s era cowboy doll has been a pleasant ride!

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