Bird's the word with this next great Steiff find! Literally! This perky little parrot is really the best of all words, and was produced during the heyday period for Steiff woolen miniature pets. Let's take a bird's eye view of what makes him so interesting from the design and historical perspectives.
Look who arrived on a wing and a prayer! This woolen miniature Steiff parrot measures 8 cm long and 12 cm long including his tail feathers. He is sitting, head jointed, and made from red, blue, green, yellow, and grey Nomotta wool threads. His tail is made from delicately cut, single-thick red, blue, and orange felt fabric. His tiny, irresistible face comes to life with brown and black glass pupil eyes and a double thick grey felt beak. He truly has the most appealing presentation and personality!
Now let's take a seat and check out his great accessories. Parrot is perched on a 23 cm tall wooden and metal stand. The base and his perch are wood and the rest is formed and shaped rods. The base is 8 cm in diameter. Everything is painted the same shade of light green. The little silver chain connecting him to the perch is all original. A few stitches connect the parrot to his perch, which can swing gently from side to side. Parrot's button and tag have been lost to time. They could have been located his felt tail feathers, around a metal rod, or embedded in his circular base - only he knows for sure, and he's not talking! Parrot on a stand was produced in this size only from 1936-1941. The company also made the almost identical parrot standing on metal feet from 1936-1940; his tag and button would have been located like a little bracelet around one of his legs.
Steiff began creating their line of woolen miniatures in the early 1930s. In response to geo-political, economic, and social pressures of the time, Steiff was looking to produce smaller items at accessible price points that a broad German audience would find desirable. The woolen miniature concept fit that strategy perfectly, as they were ideal as collectibles for adults as well as playthings for children. Birds and rabbits translated especially well to this new product format, given their natural shapes, body positions, and textures. Because they proved so popular, Steiff would go on to introduce animals from practically every category as woolen miniatures through the late 1930s.
This parrot novelty perfectly marries the company's strengths in woolen miniature production, authentic design, decorative use of felt, and it's lesser known core competencies of woodworking and turning. Other Steiff factory original woolen miniatures in "vignettes" with accessories such as this one included a bird tree decorated with flowers and birds, a bird's nest with babies and a proud mama, and a series of congratulators - charming dressed miniature animals mounted on round wooden bases that could be "personalized" with a greeting or inscription for the lucky recipient.
Steiffgal hopes you've enjoyed hanging out with this great antique Steiff parrot today!
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There is no question that size defies when it comes to Steiff's wonderful woolen miniature animals, especially those produced before World War II. It is absolutely amazing how much personality and detailing the company was able to include in the design of these tiny treasures - some no more than a few centimeters tall or wide! A few of these charming, larger scaled pets also featured internal wire skeletons, so they were practically as posable as the company's standard line Teddy bears and animals. Steiffgal recently added one very special palm-sized example to her collection, and she's sure you'll be all ears to learn more about him. Check out this handsome hare and see what makes him so special!
This petite treat deserves a standing ovation! He is 9 cm tall, begging, and made from Nomotta wool. His head, upper body, and tail are made from tan colored threads, while his lower body is made from red colored threads. His ears are made from tan felt and his arms, which have been lot to time, would have been made from the same material. He is fully string jointed, meaning that he can move his head and body side to side. His face come to life with brown and black glass pupil eyes and traces of a pink airbrushed nose and mouth. He had clear monofilament whiskers when he left the factory in Giengen, Germany eight decades ago. Rabbit's legs are made from metal and he retains his adorable, all original tan felt slippers, which you can see here on the photo to the left. He retains his tiny, long trailing "f" style button-in-ear. This happy hopper was made in this size only from 1936 through 1941.
This boy bunny was actually produced as a hare pair - really! Steiff launched this little Romeo as half of a "his and her" rabbit couple. The girl, who was the same size and had the same construction as the boy, differed in her coloration. Her upper body was made from red colored thread and her lower body was made from tan colored threads - just the opposite of the boy. And her slippers were red instead of tan, like the boy's footwear. You can see this cute couple on the photo here on the left, it is taken from Pfeiffer's 1892-1943 Sortiment.
Given their popularity, the number of woolen miniature bunnies in Steiff's pre-war line multiplied like, well, jackrabbits. They were produced in all sorts of sizes and configurations, including lying and hopping versions. A great rarity is the company's "ski rabbit," a 17 cm woolen miniature bunny wearing a scarf and accessorized with wooden skis and ski poles. Others were made into "congratulators" which were designed as gifts to be personalized with messages from the giver to the recipient. A tumbler featuring a 10 cm white or brown woolen miniature begging rabbit was also produced from 1936 through 1941. You can see a few of these variations, along with the rabbit under discussion today, in this page from Steiff's 1938 catalog. You can click on the image to make it bigger and easier to read.
Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this woolen miniature rabbit in slippers has made you smile from head to toe.
Have a question about one of your Steiff treasures? Let's talk! Click here to learn more.
And we're off! The first major Steiff auction of 2015 is just around the corner! And as always, our good friends at Teddy Dorado have done a marvelous job of gathering the most interesting Steiff treasures for this upcoming event, which will be held on March 21st, 2015 in Bonn, Germany. The sale certainly has something for everyone. Although it's always hard to pick highlights when there are so many fun choices, here are three Steiff temptations that truly set Steiffgal's heart all-aflutter!
Steiffgal's first Teddy Dorado auction favorite is lot #14-7004, a Teddy Baby bear from 1934–1936. His description, roughly translated from German, reads: "This cub is made from corn colored mohair and has brown and black glass eyes. His nose and claws are hand embroidered in brown and he has an open, felt lined mouth. His four original paw pads are in good condition and are made from flesh colored, felt like material; his flat feet are lined in cardboard. He is five ways jointed, firmly stuffed with excelsior, and has a squeeze voice. He retains his original blue leather collar with a bell and a ff button in his ear. In terms of condition, his left arm is dirty and he has some play wear to him, but is otherwise is in well maintained shape. He measures 27 cm tall and 22 cm sitting."
And just what makes this such a beautiful baby? He is a great size, and also from a very interesting time in Steiff's manufacturing timeline. Starting in the the mid-1930's, Steiff started experiencing shortages in basic materials including felt, which was being used for uniforms and other military purposes. As such, items from this time through the very early 1950's often had substitute materials as part of their construction. Such is the case here with this Teddy Baby with "flesh colored, felt-like material" in the place of wool felt pads, the traditional material for pads. You can see a close up of this material here on the left.
The next Teddy Dorado auction item that really catches Steiffgal's eye is lot #14-7015, a brown silk plush bear from 1941-1948. His description, roughly translated from German, reads: "This Teddy Bear has brown and black glass eyes, and a brown, hand embroidered nose, mouth, and claws. His four paw pads are made from coarsely woven, felt like fabric. Teddy is five ways jointed and firmly stuffed with excelsior. He has a press voice and a shiny ff button in his ear. It is suspected that he was not produced with a chest tag. This item does not appear in any Steiff catalog. His fur is in nice condition. He has a small home-repaired cut to his right hand paw pad, but is otherwise in very good to excellent condition. He measures 30.5 cm tall and 21 cm sitting."
Because Steiff and celebrations go hand in hand, this final top pick from the Teddy Dorado auction takes the cake - literally! Here we have lot #14-2006 a set of five woolen miniature birds from 1968-1974 dressed up as a wedding party. This set, and sets like it, were very special in-house productions for Steiff employee weddings, and were designed to go on the top of a wedding cake! The set consists of two Finches (article number 7103/04) as "bridesmaids" wearing lacy bow head wear; one Finch (7113/08) as the bride in a bridal veil with flowers; and two Sparrows (article number 7115/08) as the groom and best man. Both are wearing black felt hats. All the birds are made from colorful Nomotta wool, are head jointed, and are detailed with black button eyes and plastic legs and beaks. The entire set is in excellent condition with each bird retaining its tiny Steiff button and yellow label; these are worn like bracelets around their tiny legs.
From the collector's perspective, one thing that is really cool about this auction house is that they often get really interesting things to sell from current or former Steiff employees. These are fabulous items that might have been made as samples or in-house gifts, or company recognition items - not made for collectors. Steiffgal has the wonderful pleasure of owning two of these special treasures - a set of elephants from the Teddy Dorado 2012 Steiff Sommer Auction. The bird wedding set is clearly an example of these "Giengen Specials!" This completely adorable grouping is most likely based on a much earlier Steiff edition called the Vogelhochzeit or Bird Wedding. This item, which was produced from 1936-1940, consisted of four standard line woolen miniature birds mounted on a green oval shaped board. The "bride" wore a long white veil; the "groom" wore a black felt top hat; and the two attending "bridesmaids" wore flowers and carried the train of the bride's veil in their beaks. All had charming, tiny felt slippers. A picture of the pre-war wedding party is pictured here to the left; the photo is from Gunther Pfeiffer's 1892-1943 Sortiment book.
Steiffgal hopes this review of the March, 2015 Teddy Dorado Steiff auction has been an event in itself for you!
Have a question about one of your Steiff treasures? Let's talk! Click here to learn more.
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