This Marvelous Prewar Steiff Girl is Made of Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

A "rosa" by any other name... would ALMOST be as beautiful as this sweet Steiff doll! Steiffgal recently had the pleasure of handling a very vintage button-in-ear doll that came from a fine and well curated collection down south. Take a look at this lovely lady in red... and be tickled pink, for sure!

Here we have Steiff's charming Rosa girl. She is 28 cm tall, fully jointed, and made from felt. She has a short blonde inset wig, proportional blue and black glass pupil eyes, and a prominent vertical facial seam. Her perfectly to scale nose is dimensional and she has painted eyebrows. Rosa wears a red felt dirndl style dress with black trim, a white cotton blouse, white apron, a white underskirt and underwear, knit socks, red shoes, and a red felt hat that perfectly matches her dress. Steiffgal believes the tan lace on her dress is probably replaced. Rosa retains her tiny long trailing "f" Steiff button in-ear. This beautifully attired doll appeared in the line in 28, 35, 43, 50, 60, and 75 cm from 1908-1926 overall. So this example is the smallest standard sized produced.

Rosa has a few features that make her particularly interesting from the timeline and product development perspectives.

First is her facial stitching. In addition to her vertical center seam, she has small horizontal seams near her eyes. Steiff specifically added in this design feature to their line of proportional and endearing "children" line, starting around 1908. These extra seams gave the face a pleasing roundness and further emphasized its youthful symmetry.  

Second are her hands. Rosa has simple, rounded embroidered style hands, suggesting that she was made at the earliest point in her production timeline. Steiff's first dolls had hands that looked more like fists; "fingers" were indicated by embroidery stitches. You can see this in the photo here on the left. By 1910 or so, most Steiff dolls had "conventional" style hands, with prominent and individual fingers.

And finally is her blouse. Her white cotton shirt fits perfectly, and is correct to her period and design, but is slightly different than the one pictured in the standard Steiff reference books. Rosa's shirt has lace and lots of tucks and details; the one pictured in Pfeiffer's Sortiment is much plainer. Rosa's shirt may be a replacement, or not. This doll model appeared in the line for nearly two decades. Over the years, clothing styles on dolls tended to be updated a bit, and generally were simplified over time. This was usually for cost savings, labor savings, and/or supply chain management issues. Because Rosa was probably "born" around 1908-1909, it is possible that she is wearing a fancy, original blouse that was streamlined to a more simple version over time. Only she knows for sure!

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on Steiff's Rosa has brought a bouquet of happiness to your day.

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

Isn't This Amazingly Rare Steiff Bear Pretty In Pink?

This next Steiff inquiry has Steiffgal tickled pink. And chances are, you will be too, after learning about this fantastic Steiff find. Fabienne from Europe shares the following...

"Hello, I have bought an antique Steiff and can't find anything about it in the Pfeiffer catalogue. He is about 38 cm standing, many bald spots but the remaining hair is fair blonde and long mohair. He is excelsior stuffed, some is showing through small holes near the nose etc. He still has his button. His covering is light pink, the mohair looks a very light blonde, but it could be faded. His glass eyes are a bit different than the others I have from that same period, they are a bit oversized. The nose stitching is light brown and still in good condition.

I live in Belgium and bought this bear on a local online marketplace, not only for bears, but everything someone wishes to sell, sort of an online fleamarket ;) I immediately noticed him and saw he was a bit different than my other Steiffs. He lives now happily ever after in my private museum (I have more than 500 bears) not all of them are Steiff. Yours sincerely, Fabienne"

A rose by any other name... just might be this terrific Ted! Based on the photos provided, it is Steiffgal's best guess that this beautiful bear is a rare example of Steiff's Teddy Rose. As her name suggests, she was made from long, luxurious light pink colored mohair, but also appeared in bright gold mohair. She was manufactured in five sizes, ranging from 23 to 36 cm, measured sitting. These sizes were different than Steiff's standard line bears, possibly as a way to show that her pattern was a new direction for the company. Teddy Rose was stuffed with excelsior and kapok or just excelsior; had a hand embroidered nose, mouth, and claws; and oversized brown and black glass pupil eyes. She had a chunky build and a less prominent back hump. All of these design elements gave her a distinctly youthful appearance. Given her era of production, all Teddy Rose bears would have left the factory with a long trailing "f" Steiff button, just like this one has. According to company records, 5,271 yellow and 4,794 pink versions of Teddy Rose were manufactured in the c. 1925-1930 timeline. 

Today, examples of Teddy Rose are extremely rare on the secondary market. A fine example traded hands at about 19,000 euro (including buyer's premium) at the June 30, 2018 Ladenburger Spielzeugauktion GmbH Steiff Special Auction. The bear had a presale estimate of 2,200-4,400 euros and received an astounding 92 bids. Her cataloging read as follows, "teddy Rose, 44 cm, mohair, pink dyed, caused of old age faded, c. 1928, felt was at 1 paw retouched, mohair is except of minimally places in good condition, rare." She is pictured here on the left; the photo is from www.Liveauctioneers.com.

The Teddy Rose pattern plays a significant role in Steiff's 1920s-era product development and business expansion strategies. It evolved in part from a directive from Richard Steiff, who was in America from the early 1920s onward growing his family’s business in North America. He noted that by the early 1920’s, the company’s legacy designs - which were almost two decades old by this point - had run their course and did not match the aesthetic or culture of the roaring 1920s. On February 6, 1925, he wrote to his family in Germany, “I am asked almost daily for new products; and I always have to answer that we do not really want to develop new products, since we can hardly cope with the delivery orders we receive for our old toys. However, the stiff competition here means we must be on our toes.”

Also in 1925, he notes, “…Our teddies, in the show room here in New York, appear colorless, sober, and insipid. I feel inclined to decorate all the teddies we have left with huge, colorful silk ribbons; only then can we ask a slightly higher price.”

The folks in Germany took Richard’s directives seriously, and the company's design team started working on entirely new Teddy Bear patterns. For the most part, these patterns were softer and rounder than the company’s legacy patterns; incorporated longer, often playfully colored mohair into their designs; had larger eyes and childlike personalities and presentations;  and had distinctive facial or paw detailing. Some were distributed with collars, ribbons, or other accessories. And, for the first time ever, these new Teddy Bear designs were given appealing “real” names. They included Happy, Teddy Clown, Petsy, Teddy Baby, Dicky, and the cub under review here today - Teddy Rose. Several of these beloved friends are pictured here on the left; the advertising image is from Carsten Esser's 1920-1929 Steiff Kataloge.

Steiffgal hopes you've found this discussion on the company's Teddy Rose as joyful as a colorful bouquet of spring flowers!

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