Middle Sister Rare Steiff Early Post WWII Model Gold Cockie Cocker Spaniel Puppy Dog W Happy Open Mouth 2 IDs Plus US-Zone Flag

I am delighted to offer this rare puppy up for adoption. I know, I have often mentioned that I am a “cat person,” but I can’t resist it when I see a cute and rare doggie like Cockie. There are other dogs with the same name in my shop but the names of the others (except her baby sister!) is the end of any similarity to this sweet pup.

Cockie has most of her IDs, including her US-Zone flag. The only thing she lacks is her chest tag, which, I can tell you, had her name printed in red letters. And although Cockie was made from 1952 to 1957, I can also tell you that she was born during the first year of production. I know that because her flag is the early kind, with the the name “Steiff” printed (not cursive as in later flags) at the top. Under the name are the words “Original geschützt,” the latter of which does not appear on later flags, although it does appear on pre-war flags. That word means “protected,” which is like the trademark ® for “registered” we see all the time. Of course, you can see her darkly-printed article number, 1317,0, in which the “17” denotes her catalogued size in centimeters. She comes really close to her “official” designation, measuring 16.8 centimeters tall, or about 6 1/2.inches.

This Cockie is the middle sister the family; the baby (now also in my shop!) was 10 centimeters tall, and the big sister was 25 centimeters tall. I have never before been lucky enough to help a 17-cm gold Cockie of this design find a new home in the 25 years that I have been doing this, and I am delighted for the opportunity. I was tempted to keep her for my own collection, but I received a lot of angry meows from my Steiff kitties when they perceived my wavering, and I decided to keep peace in the house.

I want to return to the topic of Cockie’s (yellow) flag, and I do want to mention a slight issue. The flag is torn around part of the bottom of Cockie’s button. The attachment is secure, but you can see a tiny sliver of the button showing through on the left of my third composite image. It is easy to see how that happened, since you have to fold the flag over to see Cockie’s number. Holding the flag steady and pulled down to get a good picture only put additional stress on it, but I wanted to show it to you. I assume that Cockie will be living in the vitrine of an adult collector, and that her flag will not be the subject of play and handling by a child.

OK, enough about IDs. Cockie is somewhere between “very good” and “excellent” condition, but, as I often say, want you CALL her condition is not what matters; rather it is how you evaluate her collection worthiness for you after seeing her pictures and reading this description. In any case, her condition is what it is absolutely, not “for her age.” If you want to bring age into it, whatever positive thing you say about her condition is DESPITE her age.

Cockie’s mostly-long mohair is a combination of two colors—a very deep gold, or cognac, and a light gold, which occurs mostly on her underside but is present in a shaved form on her muzzle. The very long hair of her ears (much longer than the hair on her body) is a combination of the cognac and light gold. Part of the lightness of her ears is not from the color of the mohair but the light-colored burlap backing that shows through the mohair, which has thinned to some extent (more on her left ear than on her right). The thinning is not egregious, nor does it look egregious, since it fits in with the coloring of her ears.

I do want to mention one other thing about Cockie’s ears, which is not damage, but a characteristic she obtained at the hands of the seamstress who made her. Her ears are not the same size. Her right one is wider and longer than her left one. Also, Cockie’s ears were not symmetrically attached to the sides of her head. Her right ear comes more forward toward her muzzle than the correlative placement of her left ear. That probably is because that ear is wider.

The wildness of the hair on her ears pretty much camouflages the left-to-right disparities, 😉 and how you pose her cute swivel head can help to make her side-to-side appearance look more symmetrical. In any case, most of the asymmetry of Cockie’s ears is a “birth defect,” and, as I say, not damage.

Cockie’s ear hair thinning, as well as thinning at the very tip of her tail are pretty much all she has, and that thinning is about it when it comes to detractions. The rest of her mohair coverage is thick, lustrous, and beautifully colored, with no evidence of fading. Also showing no evidence of fading are the wonderful dark brown airbrushing on her forehead and the black airbrushed freckles on her muzzle. The airbrushed details of the velveteen lining of Cockie’s happy open mouth are probably as strong as they were on the day she left Giengen, 70-plus years ago. The rose airbrushing on both her upper and lower palate is even stronger than my pictures reveal, and both the black airbrushing just under her jowls and surrounding her open mouth are undoubtedly as black as they ever were. In addition to the wonderful coloring of Cockie’s mouth, you should also be able to see that there is no evidence of soil.

OK, here are some final details: Cockie’s blue silk bow is original, and the ribbon is in excellent condition, with just a hint of fading and no fraying; it is still anchored to her neck. She retains all of her black floss-stitched toe separations, three on each paw. Her sweet expression is created both by her amber glass eyes and their very placement in her face. And, while I hate to end on a negative note, it is the least important thing I could think of to tell you. That is the fact that Cockie no longer “barks.” You can feel her squeaker depress when you push in on her belly, but the only sound you hear is the crunching of excelsior. As I always point out, when Cockie sits in your vitrine, staring back so sweetly at you or any other passing admirer, you would not know whether she made a sound or not.

That’s it! The pictures can do the rest of the talking, but, of course, if you still have a question, by all means, write. This sweet doggie is a rare find, and she should be in any serious Steiff collection—whether it is yours or that of the Steiff collector in your life. You will be absolutely delighted if you are Cockie’s lucky new guardian (or she will be joining the collection of someone you love). And you should consider adopting the baby too!

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT COCKIE 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.