Rounding Out A Ball Animal Collection With This Unusual Steiff Rabbit

Things are really "hoppening" around here with the addition of this delightful rabbit novelty to Steiffgal's collection. Although not terribly vintage, this was the very first of his type Steiffgal had ever seen in person. She saw him in a booth at the 2023 Steiff Sommer Festival, and knew right away he would be one of her souvenirs from a delightful trip. Take a look at this funny bunny and see if he calls to you as well, even if in just a round-about sort of way.

This cheerful-earful is Steiff's Ball Rabbit. He is 16 cm tall (not including his ears), sitting, and head jointed. His ears add another 7 cm to his height. He is softly stuffed with foam. Rabbit is made from longer tan dralon. His ears, muzzle, and foot pads are made from shorter dralon, and his fuzzy chest is made from longer mohair. His face is detailed with round black and white plastic cartoon style eyes, a black hand embroidered nose, monofilament whiskers, and a funny little dimensional mouth made from fabric. He has stenciled footprints on his foot pads and light airbrush highlighting here and there to give him a little more dimension. He retains his original blue silken ribbon. He has a non-working squeaker in his belly. This guy appeared in the line from 1960-1961 in this size only.

Steiff made three ball style animals in the 1960-1961 time frame, and this rabbit is one of them. All were 16 cm, made from dralon, stuffed with foam, and featured a fuzzy mohair chest. The others were Ball Mopsy, a pug, and Ball Sulla, a cat. Overall, these ball animals are really hard to find, especially in good condition — because they were designed to be used as playthings and stuffed with foam, which deteriorates over time, and were made for only a handful of years. Steiffgal is happy to finally have all three versions in her collection. 

Finally, let's take a look at Rabbit's chest tag. It looks original to the item, with wear and loss commensurate to the toy, and the thread appears consistent to Steiff. It notes that his name is Hoppy, which would make sense given he is a rabbit. However, there is no indication in any reference materials that this model was given a name beyond simply "Ball Rabbit." However, the pug and the cat of the same design and era were given playful names, so it is possible that he was named Hoppy for consistency, but this never made it into the records. This sometimes happens when something appears in the line for a very short time. Hoppy was also the name of a running style mohair Steiff rabbit made in 8, 14 and 17 cm from 1950 through 1976. So there is a little overlap there with the name as well. But only Ball Rabbit knows for sure....

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this unusual rounded Steiff rabbit has been a ball for you!

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Wishing Steiff Collectors Around The World A Very Hoppy Easter!

In the mood for a handful of Easter cheer?  Then this petite post on a small scale Steiff rabbit should do the trick!  There is something so endearing, and so precious, about Steiff's teeny, tiny treasures.  Come see for yourself how size defies when it comes to this happy hopper!

Blink and you might miss this baby bunny.  He measures 8 cm tall (including his ears) and 7 cm wide.  He is unjointed and in Steiff's "lying" position, meaning his hind legs are curled under his backside.  His torso, the front of his ears, and his underside are made from short white mohair.  His body, face, and back of ears are made from tan mohair.  His darling face comes to life with a simple red hand embroidered nose and mouth, black and brown glass pupil eyes, and tan airbrushing.  This pattern was made in 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, and 17 cm from 1930 through 1943 overall.  This example has a short trailing "f" style button, dating him in approximately in the 1936 through 1943 time frame.  Another example of this pattern was sold at auction in 2014; you can see that honey-bunny by clicking here.

This tiny rabbit has a few really big details that make him quite interesting.  The first is his size.  For the most part, Steiff items are "measured" without ears and without tails, and vertically.  As such, if his ears are taken out of the equation, his "official" measurement is 6 cm.  This puts him in at the smallest size made in this pattern.  However, he is not the smallest size rabbit ever made by Steiff - not by a longshot! In the prewar era, Steiff manufactured rabbits as small as 4 cm in velvet or felt. 

His second feature has been lost to time, but not to history.  When this item left the factory in Giengen, he had two wooden dowels lightly sewn onto his legs - one between his front limbs and one between his hind limbs.  You can see a picture of this to the left; the photo is taken from Pfeiffer's 1892-1943 Sortiment book. This somewhat unusual, labor intensive step was done to keep the body position secure and in line during manufacturing, packing, shipping, and distribution.  This same process was also done on some of the company's Scotty dogs of the same era, but Steiffgal is not aware of any other examples of this dowel treatment.

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this Easter hare-binger has been and egg-cellent adventure for you.