Handsome And A Bit Goofy Rare Steiff Lulac Dangling 5xJointed Rabbit Hase Bunny ID

This gorgeous bunny’s name is Lulac, and although he is always a popular and sought-after Steiff critter, this is the time of year interest in him tends to be at his highest.

Lulac retains his incised script “lentil” button, so that tells you his article number was 3140/43. That series was made from 1968 to 1974, but Lulac’s button came into use in 1969. Even if he is the very youngest he could possibly be, Lulac would be approaching the half-century mark, and, of course, he might have reached it already! That is really hard to believe in light of Lulac’s spectacular condition. There are very few things about him that are not perfect, but I have no problem with telling you that he is in excellent condition.

Lulac has some thinning in his long gold mohair—the hair covering his cute bunny tail, his “hands” and feet, and surrounding his head in kind of a “collar” that extends to either side of his face, ending at the corners of his mouth. Most of the thinning is along the seams of this longer hair, which may look worse than it is because of the lighting. By the time his “collar” of hair comes forward to the sides of Lulac’s face, it is full and thick. You can see that the inside of Lulac’s mouth and the bottoms of his feet are a wonderful ripe cantaloupe color. The felt covering his feet has a pinkish tinge, whereas the inside of his mouth is more orange. You should be able to see that Lulac also has substantial rose-colored accents in his mouth, and the color gets even redder toward the back. I don’t think there is very much fading in his mouth, and because it shows so nicely in most of my pictures, I have not bothered to show you a separate image.

Although it is mostly gone, Lulac has slight vestiges of the rose coloring that decorated his inner ears, You see the biggest hint of that at the bottoms of his ears, extending for about an inch up each ear. Although most of the rose is gone, the mohair lining the insides of Lulac’s ears is a deep orange, also what I would call the color of ripe cantaloupe. His face is that same wonderful color—but it has the addition of fantastic brown airbrushing! You see that same brown on the backs of Lulac’s ears, about an inch and a half down from the tips in a crescent shape.

Another great thing about Lulac’s ears is the fact that they retain their stiff cardboard inserts. His right ear, as you can see, is pretty much vertical, while his left ear bends forward a bit. I believe that may be the intentional design, since the cardboard is stiff and unbroken in that ear too. Whether it is intentional or not, I think Lulac’s ears look great, just as they are.

Speaking of stiffness, I also want to note how tight and healthy Lulac’s joints are. Of course, I cheated a bit to showing you his “standing” poses by having the background as his support. But Lulac would not have been able to stay standing at all, if he just had the back “wall” to support him. If his hips were not tight, if would have been impossible to get him to stay up. Not only are his hips tight, but all of his stuffing is nicely compact. Likewise, Lulac’s arms stayed wherever I posed them, and unlike his long lanky legs, his arms will, indeed, stay wherever you put them, irrespective of the presence or absence of support.

This is a good time to tell you Lulac’s size. The “43” in his article number denotes his height in centimeters, well, his length in any case, since you may not want to display him “standing,” as I have done. Lulac is only about 13 1/2 inches to the top of his head, about 14.5 centimeters. He is just about that full 17, if you measure to the tip of his upright ear. Assuming you will display Lulac sitting, you will still have some variability depending on his posture. If you sit him with a straight back, he will be about 10 1/2 inches to the tip of his right ear, so allowing for about a foot of clearance should give you all the space you need to display Lulac comfortably.

I come to a condition issue that is almost always the last on my list, and that is the fact that Lulac is mute. In fact, I tried to squeeze his chest and belly, and I did not detect the springiness of an inoperative squeaker. It is possible that was an oversight at the factory, and Lulac was never given one. Whatever the reason is for his muteness, Lulac’s silence has no effect on his display appeal. In any case, have you ever heard a rabbit say anything? 😉

I have two other things to tell you, one of which you might argue is also a detraction, but I don’t think so. Lulac’s bow is a gift from me, but it is 100% rayon, not polyester, and it is almost the same color as the bow he wore when he left Giengen. In any case, he looks quite dashing in it.

The last thing to tell you is that Lulac has all twelve of his original whiskers. They are a little wild, but that only adds to his charm

Oh yes, there is one last thing; Lulac’s wonderful blue and black eyes are glass.

I can’t think of anything else you’d want to know about this spectacular and rare bunny, but please write if you have a question. You or the bunny fan in your life (if you can give Lulac away once you see him) will be delighted!

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT LULAC 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.