Timecapsule Treasures On Offer At Ladenburger Spielzeugauktion's 2024 Steiff Special Auction

What's old is new again at this year's Ladenburger Spielzeugauktion's Steiff Special Auction on June 29th, 2024. This sale tempts collectors with almost 230 amazing and well curated lots of century-spanning button-in-ear treasures. One especially noteworthy category in this sale is items from the company's earliest production period - just before and just after the turn of the 20th century. Here are three "golden oldies" definitely worth checking out!

 

Let's start this trip back in time with lot #10. This is an extremely early dressed Steiff monkey, with an opening bid of 850 €. It is cataloged as:

"Steiff monkey, crouching, around 1900, pre-button era, felt, shoe button eyes, for shirr (missing), height: 17 cm, original felt clothes, smaller faults in the felt, nice original condition."

This sitting sweetie would love to hang out with you! It is Steiffgal's best guess that this is an example of the company's turn of last century felt monkey designed as a catch and release toy. If you notice his well formed hands, they look like they were designed to be holding something. Steiffgal thinks this would have been a piece of elastic string. So, someone could bounce him around as a toy on this cord. According to Pfeiffer's 1892-1943 Sortiment, this novelty was produced in 17 cm from 1897-1911 and was described as, "felt, brown, begging, elastic cord, tailcoat and slippers of felt." You can see the photo from this reference book here on the left for study and comparison. 

This next very vintage selection will have you moving and grooving. This is lot #6, a Steiff dancing bear, which carries an opening bid of 1800 €. It is cataloged as:

"Steiff dancing bear, around 1900, pre-button era, short plush, in very good condition, attending, dancing on a metal disc, casting wheels with spokes rubber coated, rubber is very worn, therefore the turn function isn't possible, squeaker, length: 68 cm (catalog proof 70 cm), shoe button eyes, one eye is a bit scratched, nose chain and stick, original pull rod, black and white picture in the Pfeiffer catalog page 37, and picture in the Steiff catalog from 1900, book Jürgen & Marianne Cieslik "Knopf im Ohr" page 27, an unusual piece from the beginnings of the Steiff-production, is a museum piece."

This amazing and little known mechanical bear, which was produced in 70 cm from 1898-1907, has a key role in the history of the development of the jointed Teddy bear as we know him today. In the late 1890's, Steiff produced a number of circus bear novelties. These were considered "action toys" as they designed to give movement to the toys. These included this dancing bear on a circular wheeled cart; bears on platforms with bristles supporting them; a bear on a cart with metal wheels; and tumblers in different configurations and sizes. The bears on the platforms with bristles would move when someone tapped the table on which they were standing - so they would sort of "shimmy" about. You can see a few of these early examples here on the left, the photo is from Cieslik's Button in Ear: The History of the Teddy Bear and His Friends.

Richard Steiff wanted to create more playful, dynamic, and child-friendly versions of these static/moving bears, and he took this challenge seriously. He studied the way real bears move at the zoo. Mohair became available on a commercial level around 1902. He married those two facts, inserted his creativity, and came up with the patterns for a series of fully jointed bears, starting with string jointing, then rod jointing, then disk jointing. Steiff's disk jointing system has not changed much since its introduction over a century ago. 

At the tail end of this discussion is lot #9, a very large and early monkey. He has an opening bid of 1800 € and is cataloged as:

"Steiff monkey, 1904, length: 80 cm, mohair plush, velvet ears, face and hands, PPB, shoe button eyes, elephant head, nice full mohair, velvet is a bit worn, small open place at the head mounting in the back, the wire mounting is visible, very expressive, an early unusual piece from the beginnings of the Steiff production."

This big boy is a fine example of Steiff's early - but not earliest - monkey patterns. This basic design debuted in 1904 and appeared in the line through the 1920s in a variety of slightly modified versions over time. He was produced with and without a tail, in a number of fabrics including brown and white mohair, and with felt or velvet hands and facial features. Given his elephant button, the one under discussion here was produced in the c. 1904-1905 time frame. 

One super interesting thing about this marvelous monkey is the company he keeps. This monkey appears in a 1903/04 catalog photo used to debut the company's new editions at the annual Leipzig Spring Fair. But what's so special about that? It's the same picture that debuted PB55... the world's first jointed Teddy bear. Talk about being at the right place at the right time, eh? A snapshot of this catalog page is shown here on the left. You can spot this monkey in the very far back right of the picture - just click on the image to make it bigger. The photo is from Cieslik's Button in Ear: The History of the Teddy Bear and His Friends.

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on these time capsule treasures has brought history to life for you. 

 

For more information on this June 29, 2024 sale, please check out the company's website at https://www.spielzeugauktion.de/.

 

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

Bleating With Happiness Over This Marvelous Moving Steiff Goat!

Could this next Steiff discovery be the GOAT (greatest of all time)? Well, it depends who you ask, but he certainly qualifies by genetics! Check out this absolute rarity from the early 1930s and see what makes him so delightful in multiple ways!

What we have here is Steiff's tail-moves-head goat. He is standing, head and tail jointed, firmly stuffed with excelsior, and made from tan mohair. The backs of his ears and the underside of his tail are made from black mohair. He has gorgeous teal and black slit glass pupil eyes and a simple black hand embroidered nose and mouth. When he left the factory nearly a century ago, he had lovely and realistic hand airbrushing over his body to give him texture and dimension. His bow and bell are not original to him, but he also sported these accessories when he was new. 

This adorable barnyard buddy was produced in 18, 23, and 29 cm from 1931-1934. This guy is the baby of the bunch at 18 cm. His precious presentation plus his tail-moves-head feature really put him in a class all by himself. 

So what are the deets behind this mechanical marvel? When you very gently twist his mohair covered tail in a circle, his head follows in tandem. He has an internal metal jointing system which enables this. You can often tell tail-moves-head items because they have an especially long and thick and somewhat undefined neck area. That is necessary to hold the jointing apparatus as well as allow for room for the fabric to move a bit. And more times than not, tail-moves-head items are missing the mohair covering on their tails. You usually see just a naked metal loop or tag, but in this case goat has managed to retain his mohair tail over all of these years. Guess he was good at protecting his assets!

It is interesting to note that this guy, and other Steiff tail-moves-head items from his era had an additional ID tag. This was a round, Steiff branded cardboard tag that read "turn here and I will move my head" in three languages. It was attached on or near the animals rear end. Unfortunately, goat's extra tag has been lost to time in this case. 

They heyday for Steiff's tail-moves-head production occurred in the years leading up to WWII. The mechanism, which consisted of a metal apparatus, was patented in the early 1930s. Over 25 different animals were produced with this feature. These included cats, dogs, rabbits, penguins, goats, and lambs, and an elephant, among others. They were considered "luxury toys" at their time and even appeared on the cover of one of the company's 1931 catalogs for their debut. They were promoted as, “The year 1931 has presented us with the animals with the new head movement… The simplicity of the mechanism, though which the splendid movement is produced, cannot be beaten, yet it is unbreakable and allows lifelike play, full of variety and mimics… When buying new supply in plush toys please be sure to include the STEIFF animals with the new head movement; all numbers equipped with it are marked ‘H."

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this delightful tail-moves-head goat has you jumping for joy.

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