Little Sister Rare GOLD Flossy Fish Made Only 1960 To 1964 All IDs

Rare little gold Flossy joins two relatives in my shop: her equally rare big sister and their same-size blue cousin. This girl is the smallest size of the three that were made. Flossy has all ID, with her flag showing her article number, 2310,07. The “7” is partly cut off by the edge of the flag, but I believe you can see enough of it to confirm what I am saying.

It is interesting that the “10” in that number, which would typically indicate an animal’s size in centimeters, conflicts with Pfeiffer’s categorization of Flossy’s size as 13 cm. Actually, he more accurately describes her size than her flag does; she measures 5 inches from her puckered felt lips to the indentation of her tail fin, which is just under 13 cm. Just so you know all her measurements for display, Flossy is about 2 1/2 inches high to the top of her dorsal fin.

All three gold Flossys were made for five years only—from 1960 to 1964, and although you also don’t see the other colors very often this Flossy is really scarce—and it is rarer still to see her with all ID!

Flossy is in excellent condition—maybe followed by a minus—but I am sure others would not be so hard on her. I am hedging because the airbrushing of the felt seems to be a tiny bit lighter on her left side, particularly on her dorsal fin. If what I am seeing came from the way Flossy was displayed, perhaps with her left side to a window, you would expect the stripes on the mohair on the left side of her body to be faded as well, and they are not! Both the brown and the gold are vibrant.

Another reason I believe the slight color disparity could be the way Flossy left the factory and not caused by her display position is the fact that her IDs are on that side, and you would think that her owner wanted her IDs to be displayed. In any case, you can see how nice Flossy’s colors are.

Now that I have mentioned Flossy’s IDs, I want to bring your attention to something else. You can see that one of the prongs on her button did not make it through her fin, but closed upon itself on the back of the flag. To the extent that felt fins are like felt ears, the failure of one prong to reach its aimed-for location is quite common. I am sure there is at least one animal now in my shop whose button met a similar fate; I just can’t think of one as I am writing this. The main thing to know is that the button is absolutely secure; the one prong that holds it in place is thoroughly embedded in her fin.

One more thing I want to note about Flossy’s mohair color—in addition to the strong gold and brown—is the fact that her white parts are absolutely white; I can’t imagine them having been any whiter when she left Giengen maybe 60 years ago. And one more detail, as you might imagine because of Flossy’s age, her amber eyes are glass.

I can’t think of anything else, but please write if you have a question. All Steiff collections should have some Flossys, and this would certainly be the one to choose if you wanted only one.

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT FLOSSY 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.