This Amazing Steiff Prewar Treasure Is No Optical Illusion!

Eye, eye, eye... look what we have here! Steiffgal just got an inquiry about an eye-popping rarity and she could not wait to share this exciting find with you. Let's not monkey around and jump right into the details of this precious prewar primate right away!

What we have here is Steiff's Mimocculo Orang Utan. This example is about 35 cm tall, fully jointed, and made from long, fuzzy red-orange mohair. His hands, feet, ears, and face are made from felt. He features an open, dimentional mouth as well as really unusual and abundant facial seaming. This is because he has a remarkable moving eye feature imbedded in his head. These seams hold his facial fabric, and in turn his eye-movement hardware, securely in place. With Mimocculo, when you pull gently on his ear, his white, brown, and black round glass eyeballs move left and right, as well as up and down. This great example retains his long trailing "f" button and traces of his red ear tag as his Steiff IDs. 

This nifty novelty was produced from 1930 through 1936 in 8, 10, 12, 14, 17, 22, 25, 28, 35, 43, and 50 cm. Sizes from 17 cm had the distinctive rolling eye mechanism and deep eye pockets; the smaller ones had standard, stationary glass pupil eyes and closed mouths. Given Mimocculo's charm and collector's appeal, Steiff created a 35 cm tall rolling eye replica of this treasure in 1998. It was produced in an edition size of 3,000 pieces overall and very closely resembled the prewar version.

In the early 1930s, when Mimocculo debuted, one of Steiff's business development strategies was to produce high end items with distinctive mechanical features. Other products with amazing jointing or advances from this era included the company's snap jointed tail moves head Circus Elephants (made in 24 and 30 cm from 1931-1940 overall) a snap jointed tail turns head Circus Bear (made in 32 cm from 1935-1939), and a series of press and release music box animals based on Steiff's most popular prewar pet designs. Mimocculo, with his fabulous flirty eyeballs, fit perfectly into this exclusive club of mechanical marvels.

And just how rare are these outrageously outstanding Orang Utans?Steiffgal has only seen a handful come up for public auction over the past decade or two. Most recently, Ladenburger Spielzeugauktion offered a 10 cm version at their Special Steiff Auction held on June 29th, 2024 in Giengen, Germany. You can see this happy handful here on the left, the image is from Ladenburger Spielzeugauktion. This "mini Mimo" had a starting bid of 180 €, hammered at 3100 €, and was cataloged simply as:

"Monkey, orangutan, MIMOCCULO, made 1930-1933, 10 cm, rust-colored mohair, small glass eyes, felt feet, hands and face as well as ears in very nice condition, unusual."  

Orange you glad you checked out this discussion on Steiff's Mimocculo Orang Utan?

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Getting All Ruffed Up Over This Steiff Studio English Bulldog

Dog-gonnit! It's safe to say you're barking up the wrong tree if you feel you've seen everything ever made by Steiff! A reader shared this supersized, smiling rarity and asked about his background and history. Jennifer writes,

"I have been unable to find this piece (except for smaller versions.) He is 36" long and 24" tall. He's got wooden eyes and teeth, appears to be hand painted, and has scrunched up mohair wrinkles on his face. Thank you in advance for any insights!"

As Jennifer suggests, this proper gentleman appears to be a larger-than-life version of Steiff's English Bulldog. Many collectors are familiar with the "pint" sized version of this very desirable Steiff canine, pictured here on the left. Steiff's standard line English Bulldog is 18 cm, standing, and head jointed. He is made from tan mohair that has been hand detailed with multicolored airbrushed "spots" over his body and tail end. His face is also painted with "wrinkles" on his forehead. He has black and white googly eyes, a black stitched nose, and outstanding mouth-area "jowls", much like a real bulldog. He has an open, peach colored felt mouth with two lower pointy canine teeth. He left the factory in Giengen donning a red leather collar and a horsehair ruff. He was made from 1956 through 1961 as a US exclusive, appearing on the shelves of high-end retailers such as F.A.O. Schwarz.

It is no bull that Steiff's US exclusive English Bulldog was based on the company's post war, standard line Bully Bulldog. This dog, pictured here on the left, was produced in 10, 17 and 22 cm from 1951 through 1974. The company's English Bulldog has the same basic body as the standard line Bully, but sports a far more elaborate head. It was not uncommon for Steiff to make design tweaks to its standard line, postwar dogs and present them as exclusives to F.A.O. Schwarz. Among others, Steiff produced a standing Dally Dalmatian (the standard line version was sitting) and an open mouthed Biggie Beagle (the standard line version had a closed mouth) as specials for this high end retailer.

Now let's try and figure out big Bully's age in dog years. Shortly after the conclusion of World War II, the company was determined to regain its prewar status as a premier, global toy maker. One arm of this strategy was to produce a number of very interesting (but not cataloged) "over the top" display pieces for trade fairs - including a lifesized, "begging" zebra Steiffgal has recently learned of. It is possible that Jennifer's large English Bulldog was produced during the very early 1950's as part of Steiff's "let's wow them!" production emphasis. If that was the case, it is likely that Jennifer's English Bulldog has, or had, a linen US Zone tag sewn into his leg seam like other items produced in the c. 1948-1952 time frame. 

It is also possible that Jennifer's model was made in the 1960's - often considered Steiff's "blue ribbon" period of display animal production. Given the standard sized, 18 cm version was available from 1956 through 1961, it would not be out of the question that this display version was made at the "tail end" of that timeline. From around 1960 through 1967, the company produced dozens and dozens of different types of lifesized animals, often in different sizes and positions. For example, Steiff's 1967 Display Animal Catalog has almost 80 individual pages of these marvels, including five "kingsized" canines! Like big Bully, several of these 1960's era patterns had prominent hand painted eyes (like the Basset Hounds) or open, felt lined mouths with wooden teeth (like the the lions and tigers). Many of are simply hugely scaled up versions of the smaller pieces many of us have in our collections. Others, like the display open mouthed Snobby Poodle pictured here on the left, look quite different than the closed mouthed, standing Snobby we all know and love. 

So let's paws and consider all of this and what we can fetch from it. First, given the facts surrounding this uber-dog's design and historical context, it is Steiffgal's best guess that Jennifer's Bulldog was made sometime in the very early 1950's through the mid-1960's. Second, it is clear from its elaborate design, detailing, and features that big Bully was extremely labor and time intensive to produce (read: EXPENSIVE and COMPLICATED), reducing its manufacturing appeal and business/sales potential.  And third, Steiffgal also knows of one other example of this pattern, located in Connecticut. So this Big Bulldog is not a one of a kind, but probably one of a handful produced at the time.  And that's about all that Steiffgal can dig up on this top dog. 

Steiffgal hopes you enjoyed sinking your teeth into this great Bulldog mystery.

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Feeling A Little "Tipsy" Over This Remarkable Steiff Tipped Bear Cub

So what's on your Steiff "bucket list?"  Those items that you hope and pray you may own someday during your lifetime?  Well, for Steiffgal, that would definitely include one of Steiff's original and child-like "Petsy" baby bears from the late 1920's.  So imagine her delight when she came across this remarkable Petsy, for sale at the upcoming June 12, 2012 London Toy Auction!  Take a look at this blue-eyed beauty below and see what you think... could he be on your list as well? 

A handsome Steiff Petsy baby bear from the late 1920's

According to his catalog description, what we have here is...

"A rare and fine Steiff Petsy centre seam Teddy bear.   With white brown-tipped mohair, rare blue and black opaque glass side-glancing googlie-eyes, pronounced muzzle, pink stitched vertical nose [pictured below], mouth and claws, large wired ears, swivel head, jointed elongated limbs with felt pads, hump, inoperative growler and large FF button in ear [pictured below], circa 1929.  19in. (49 cm) high (needs a light clean, ear wires broken, slight staining to pads and gap in nose stitching.)

Provenance:  This bear belonged to the vendor’s late aunt, who was born in 1910. She would have been given him (or bought him) when she was 18 or 19, perhaps as an 18th birthday present, this would explain his amazing condition.  Steiff Catalogue inventory number probably 5335,2.  Page 30 of Steiff Sortiment, 1892-1943. Following Richard Steiff’s suggestion, that they make their bears more appealing to the American market; Steiff came up with this new design with wired ears, blue eyes and softer expression. Originally he was patented in January 1928, as Bushcy, this name was not a success and in November 1928 he became the bear cub Petsy." 

Petsy's pink vertical stitched nose and large FF button in ear

Oh baby, what's not to love about this little bear cub?  Petsy had a very short, but very sweet, appearance in the Steiff catalog, only appearing from 1928 through the very early 1930's.  What made him different than past designs, among other factors, was his prominent middle facial seam which ran vertically from his forehead across his snout.  During his years in the line, Petsy was produced in two versions.  The first was a brown tipped mohair version with blue eyes (like the example under discussion) with pink/red facial and claw stitching.  The second was a brass mohair version with brown and black pupil eyes and black facial and claw stitching. The tipped version appeared in ten sizes ranging from 15 to 50 cm sitting (or 22 to 75 cm standing) while the brass version was only produced in one size:  22 cm sitting or 32 cm standing.  Tipped Petsy was also produced as a musical Ted in 17 and 20 cm (or 25 and 30 cm standing), on a four wheeled rolling cart in 20 and 25 cm, as a 17 cm puppet, and as a 17 cm purse. 

Steiff's late 1920's-era Cheerio and 1950's-era Lulac rabbit

Of course, the eyes are windows to the soul and you cannot help but notice Petsy's most playful peepers.  They are made from turquoise and black glass, and can be tilted to the left and right to create funny and varying facial expressions.  These eyes can also be found on Steiff's comical dog Cheerio, who coincidentally - or not - appeared during the same time frame as Petsy.   Interestingly, these silly eyes were again featured on Steiff's 1950's era Lulac rabbit models.  Cheerio and Lulac are pictured above. However, most original Petsys featured conventional blue or brown round glass pupil eyes.  

Steiffgal hopes that this discussion about Steiff's Petsy bears hasn't made your brown eyes blue.

For more information on the upcoming London Toy Auction click here!

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