Gorgeous Rare Sweet Steiff White Partially Jointed Cosy Teddy Bear One Size Only All ID

This gorgeous and sweet bear is a first for me. I helped one other Cosy Teddy (hereafter “CT’) find a new home several years ago, but he was a different, fully jointed, version. That CT was unable to stand on his own because his feet were too rounded. He looked really cute seated, so his factory-given anatomical problem was no big deal.

This CT is partially jointed—his head rotates, and his arms move up and down; but his legs are stationary. He was DESIGNED to be seated—note his wonderful painted foot pads. He was made in only this one size, 22 centimeters, as the “22” article number, 5622,00, on his crisp and darkly-printed flag indicates. As is so often the case, CT is smaller than his catalogued size, measuring 18 cm to the top of his head, about 7 inches. CT was made with this number between 1959 and 1963.

When CT arrived, he really could not sit too well because his foam stuffing had disintegrated, and he had a severe forward lean that deprived his potential admirer of the opportunity to see his sweet face, including his wonderful glass eyes. I don’t know chemically what causes foam to disintegrate, and virtually every foam-filled animal I have helped relocate had to undergo surgery before he entered my shop. This sweet cub was no exception!

CT’s supposed-to-be plump body was more like a shell; it looked and felt terrible when you squeezed it. He had the same problem in his arms and legs. The disintegrated foam in his arms is not immediately detectable, so that was no big deal, but his diminished thighs just added to his all-over deflated look.

The above two paragraphs set the stage for Dr. Rosalie’s report of her successful surgery! I made a small (about a centimeter) opening in CT’s back seam, which was hard to find because his Dralon covering is dense (and almost impossible to detect after I restitched it). I then used the tiny pieces of cut foam I save for just such occasions, and one at a time, I pushed them through the small opening in CT’s back into his torso and down to his legs

I have no idea how may little cubes of foam I used, but the process took me an hour! Because foam is so mooshable, I think I could have continued this process for quite some time. However, I quit when it appeared to me that CT had reached his original plumpness. It was amazing to see the transformation that made.

As I said, CT’s arms were also deflated, but because they are jointed and separated from his torso, I would have needed to open a seam on each arm. I decided such further surgery was unnecessary, since unlike his body and legs, which contributed greatly to his pose and appearance, his arms were not visually distracting. Thus, the intrusion of further surgery on each arm would really have done very little, if anything, to improve CT’s appearance.

I really could have skipped the discussion of my successful restoration of CT, but I like to give detailed information about all the Steiff critters in my shop, AND it gives me an opportunity to brag! The only other things I want to tell you about CT’s condition are minor, and one of them is probably the way he left the factory.

Going in reverse order, the factory issue is CT’s sparsely covered chin, as you can see in my 10th (composite) image. I think CT left the factory that way because his similarly-designed Zotty cousins almost always have the same chin sparseness. In any case, it is inconsequential, and gives me no reason to alter my view that CT is in excellent condition.

The (maybe) after-factory issue is the slight wear of the felt in each of CT’s paw pads. Even though I try to show you this slight diminution from perfection, it is not detectable in my images (see my next-to-last one).

You can tell (in person) that there is wear in his pads, because the thinner felt is translucent, making part of each pad look darker than the rest because you get a visual hint of the filling underneath. The felt is not even near tearing and will not suffer any further thinning when, as I suppose will be the case, that CT joins the hug of an adult collector and is placed on display.

Everything else about CT is gorgeous, and you should be able to see this from my pictures. Not the least of his many wonderful attributes is his wonderful full and uniform white dralon covering. To the extent CT’s color may look different from image, the fault is in my photography. ;-).

Of course, please write if you have a question. If you are CT’s new owner, you will be delighted, as will the lucky person whose hug he will join if he is meant as a gift.

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT COSY TEDDY OR ANY OF MY OTHER STEIFF ITEMS, PLEASE BE SURE TO SEE THE ARTICLE I HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT STEIFF ID FRAUD—INCLUDING COUNTERFEIT CHEST TAGS—(AND OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR COLLECTORS). YOU WILL FIND THE LINK ON THE BOTTOM RIGHT OF MY SHOP HOME PAGE UNDER “FAVORITE LINKS.” IF YOU HAVE NOT LOOKED AT IT RECENTLY, I UPDATED AND EXPANDED IT IN MARCH, 2023.