Little Brother Rare Steiff Seated Mohair Baby Lion Jungloewe Wild Cat ID 1956-1961 Only

This rare little Jungloewe (“young lion” in German) is the smaller (10 cm) of the two seated mohair lion cubs Steiff made in this pattern. He and his 17-cm brother are the more recent seated lion cubs. Their slightly earlier cousins were covered with wool plush. Because Cub has only his button, I can’t be too precise in dating him. On the other hand, he was made for so few years, his date range has built-in precision. His flag could have had one of two numbers; the earlier series, with article number 3310, was made between 1956 and 1958, and the other, with article number 3310,00, was made between 1959 and 1961. The ”10” in either of those numbers denotes Cub’s size in centimeters, measured to the top of his (swivel) head. He is almost precisely in accord with the catalogue, about 4 inches high.

I would say that Cub is in good-plus condition, and because I rate condition absolutely, I would say he same thing about him no matter how old he was, but you know he is at least 60. Rating a Steiff animal “for his age” is meaningless, since you could (if you were lucky!) find a pristine antique, but you also could find an animal made 10 years ago who is one step away from the trash. If you want to bring age into it, you can say that Cub is in good-plus condition despite his age!

The only reason I am rating Cub as I have is I can compare him to his near mint brother, who lives in my vitrine. Cub still has nice coloring and lots or baby spots, but the airbrushing on his vitrine-living brother is far more intense, not only his spots, but the brown airbrushing on his face. One place where Cub’s airbrushing seems every bit as dark as it must have been 60 years ago is the black airbrushing inside his ears. How that managed to endure while the rest of his airbrushing lessened is a mystery.

Cub’s mohair coverage is very good. He has just a touch of wear, and most of that is along his seams. He has a bit more wear on his chest and his underside than on his other areas, but at least one of those areas has no effect on his display appeal because he is seated on it! Even the wear on his chest is not a serious detraction.

As you might have guessed, because of his age, Cub’s amber eyes are glass. There is a teeny tiny bubble on his left one, which is much smaller than the head of a pin, and that, too, has little, if any effect on his display appeal. I am just telling you these things because I want to be complete.

Speaking of “complete,” that word characterizes Cub’s whiskers. He has the original 4 on each side of his nose. They are a little disorderly, but otherwise totally fine.

I can’t think of anything else to tell you, but please write if you have a question. Cub joins several relatives in my shop, including four other cubs, two of whom are puppets; so, if you are in a lion frame of mind, be sure to see the others too.

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT CUB 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.