Less Is More When It Comes To Steiff's Early Felt Doll Production

Size defies with today's blog special guest. Steiffgal tries to adopt at least one special Steiff bear, doll, or animal tied to major Steiff events, auctions, and happenings she attends. Here is the little button-in-ear buddy that made his way home to the United States with her via the recent Steiff Special Auction held in Giengen, Germany on July 1st, 2023. Read on to hear his story and to see what makes him so precious from many perspectives.

Like many Steiff collectors, Steiffgal poured over the Ladenburger Spielzeugauktion GmbH Special Steiff Auction catalog from their July 1, 2023 sale. A million things caught her eye online and on the printed catalog pages... but not this tiny treasure for some reason. However, that all changed when she attended the live auction preview, held in the gallery adjacent to Steiff's museum and gift store, right on the company's campus. Here on the left you can see a photo of Steiffgal attending this auction preview the day before the big sale.  

It was an amazing experience touring this preview room filled with world class treasures - in a world class space! All the auction items were stored in rectangular, glass and wooden cases. You could walk all the way around them and see every angle of the treasures on display. Of course, all eyes were on the 1912 black mohair Titanic Mourning Bear and the google eyed Petsy bear - the stars of the show who were displayed right at the entrance to the room.  

Steiffgal saw this little guy sitting on a shelf and she could not look away. Yes, he was in the catalog, but he presented so differently in real life than in his pictures. This happens a lot, and a good reason to attend live previews! He was TINY! And his size was further in the spotlight as he was posed with medium and larger Steiff felt dolls. His scale and presentation were so adorable, and so unusual, that Steiffgal immediately decided he was the one! Here on the left you can see this little guy as he was displayed for the auction preview event. 

So this little doll, who has since been named Little Eddy, stands a mere 22 cm. He is made from felt, fully jointed, and comes to life with a blonde inset wig, blue and black glass pupil eyes, painted eyebrows, prominent dimensional ears, and distinctive horizontal (near his eyes, to give him a youthful, rounded look) and vertical (right down the middle of his face) stitching. His hands are simple and fist style. He wears a red and white sweater and shorts set, with white socks and black felt shoes. This outfit is period appropriate but not original to him. Steiff's 22 cm dolls are few and far between, and this is the first one Steiffgal has ever seen - and now owns! They were produced from 1917-1919 in several boy and girl models over that time frame. You can see Little Eddy standing next to his 28 cm big brother and big sister here on the left - that's the best way to highlight his scale and proportions. 

Little Eddy is also very interesting from the design perspective for two quirky reasons. First, he has typical early Steiff style fist hands with stitched digits. Steiff's dolls from his late 19-teens era production usually have fingered hands or at least hands with prominent fingers. Perhaps his scale made it difficult to give him more detailed hands. And, second, his amazingly tiny silver button - which looks original to him based on its placement and condition - also appears to be more of a short trailing "f" button than a long trailing "f" button. The long trailing "f" button appeared the line through the mid-1930s, and the short trailing "f" button appeared in the line from the mid-1930s through the early 1950s. So his ID is bit of a mystery there as well.

This petite prince is the perfect size to be a special traveling companion. And, he jumped at the opportunity as soon as his adoption was finalized! He fits snugly in a purse or backpack and makes friends wherever he goes. His big first adventure was an eight hour train ride from Heidelberg, Germany to Prague in the Czech Republic. Here you can see him in his "first class" train seat enjoying the scenery as it whizzed by. He looks forward to many more sightseeing trips in the future. 

Steiffgal hopes this story about Little Eddy has brought you big joy!

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

This Earliest Steiff Cub On Wheels Is A Little Rough Around The Edges

Which comes first.... age or beauty? In this case, it's a tie for sure. Check out this very vintage, legacy Steiff bear on wheels. This old man has circled the sun in three separate centuries, and is hardly any worse for the wear. Come see what makes him so interesting from the materials and product development timeline perspectives.

This cheerful cub is standing, head jointed, and is 17 cm tall (measured vertically). He is made from brown short pile plush. His paw pads are made from tan felt. His face comes to life with black button eyes and a black hand embroidered nose and mouth. He also has black hand embroidered claws. He is mounted on two metal axles and rides upon four metal wheels - each is about 1 inch in diameter. You can see a close up of his "ride" at the end of this post. When he left the factory in Giengen, he would have been wearing a leather collar. This accessory has been lost to time. He was made in this brown short pile plush fabric in 10 sizes ranging from 10 to 100 cm from 1894-1926 overall. There is no indication on his ear that he ever had a button; as such, it is entirely possible that he was made in the prebutton era - c. 1894 through 1903/04. 

This bear's fabric represents a materially important time period in Steiff's history. He is made from a somewhat rough to the touch cloth consisting of thicker brown woolen threads woven with thinner tan cotton threads. The way they come together gives the bear a bit of texture and visual interest. Steiff used this material on some of their earliest bears as it was available, affordable, and was probably the best alternative at the time. Because parts of this fabric are woolen and other parts are not, it ages and manifests losses in an interesting way. When the brown woolen threads are lost to time or insect damage, only the tan thinner cotton threads remain. Unlike mohair, there is no backing to this short pile plush - so you can see the excelsior stuffing between the threaded areas of loss. 

Mohair was really a game changer for Steiff when it became available on a commercial scale in 1903. This "newfangled" fabric caught the eye of Richard Steiff, who brilliantly realized how well it would translate to the toy making world. And, just a few months later, he would unveil his 55PB bear at the 1904 Leipzig Spring Fair! This cub, which measured 55 cm tall, was made from long, reddish brown mohair, five ways string jointed, and detailed with black boot button eyes and a gutta percha nose. He was very heavy and solidly stuffed with excelsior and made to look like a real bear, not a playful toy. Although 55PB was not a commercial success - his mohair "grandson"... a cardboard disk jointed cub debuting around 1905... would go on to make Steiff one of the most recognized and beloved toy companies on the planet. 

It is interesting to note that the short pile plush bear under discussion today remained in production for more than two decades after the introduction of softer, more playful mohair items in the Steiff line.  This suggests that he sold well and was profitable enough to hold his place in the company's catalog. There's certainly no denying his charm and appeal - almost 130 years onward. 

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this legacy bear on wheels has come full circle for you.

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

This Antique Steiff Doll Is Just A Kid At Heart!

Oh boy! Literally! That was Steiffgal's reaction when she laid eyes on this charming character. Check out this extremely early Steiff doll and see why he's alot more than snips and snails and puppy dog tails.

It's hard to outfox this turn of last century "Foxy Boy." He is 28 cm and arm and leg jointed. He has a felt, center seamed face and felt hands. His feet are very large in proportion to his body. His hands are early and primitive, like fists, with embroidered digits. His body is primarily made from velvet. His simple, integral outfit consists of a green velvet shirt and black socks, red felt pants and tan laced shoes, and a leather buckled belt. He comes to life with an inset blond wig, black shoe button eyes, and painted facial features. This is one of Steiff's earliest doll designs. He appeared in the line from c. 1904 through 1924; given his details, Steiffgal suspects he's from around 1909 or so. The earliest "Foxy Boy" dolls produced were string jointed and had elephant buttons as part of their branding. Unfortunately, this example's IDs have been lost to time.

Foxy Boy is one of the characters from the turn of last century American cartoon series “Foxy Grandpa.” The strip was introduced in 1900 and penned by Carl E. Schultze. It ran through the 1930's. The strip told of the adventures, and misadventures, of a grandfather and his two grandsons. The strip was wildly popular with readers throughout its run.

In the early 20th century, Steiff took much inspiration for its doll line through popular cartoon strips, as the characters and their presentations translated so well into the Steiff aesthetic of the times. This look included exaggerated facial features, big feet, and very fat or very thin torsos. In addition to the Foxy Grandpa crew, beloved Steiff cartoon character dolls from the early 1900s included Happy, Alphonse, and Gaston from Happy Hooligans and Mama (often produced as a tea cosy) and the Fat Captain from the Katzenjammer Kids. 

Age was just a number when it came to Steiff's interest in the Foxy Grandpa cartoon strip. Steiff produced the "star" of Foxy Grandpa, the actual Grandpa, from 1904 through 1915, and the the two grandchildren as dolls in the overall 1904 through 1924 time frame. Here above you can see the catalog page for Foxy Boy in 1913; you can click on it to make it bigger. According to listing, Foxy Boy weighed .10 kg, his item number was Bu28, and he cost $0.85, which is equivalent to $22.10 in 2020. It is interesting to note that "Foxy Boy" was offered as an “aviator doll” in the French catalog, probably because the French were not familiar with him in the context of the American comic strip.

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on Steiff's Foxy Boy has been a blast from the past for you.

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