Rare Earliest Post WWII Model Steiff Baby Jocko Chimpanzee Hand Puppet Button US-Zone Flag

I have offered a number of Jocko puppets over the years, but only once before did I have this earliest post-WWII model. He looks a little different from the later models, and I am sorry that I can’t show him side by side with a later one. The Jocko puppet who lives in my vitrine is this one, so that would not help.

I guess the best way to describe the difference is that these early post-war models are smaller, and they have a baby-like presentation. Their heads and faces are smaller, with commensurate smallness in their finger tubes, and their ears are larger in proportion to their heads. These days, parents are much more cautious about letting young children play with certain toys, and a toy like a puppet would be handled by the parent to entertain a child who looks on and perhaps interacts with the puppet, but the puppet is controlled by the adult. In contrast to the usual current parenting philosophy, I believe this Jocko was designed to be USED by the child to entertain himself.

This brings me back to the topic of Jocko’s finger tube. I often mention my tiny hands when I am holding a toy for display to potential buyers. I bring this up because the way a toy looks when I am holding it could mislead people about its actual size, i.e., making them believe it is bigger than it actually is. I usually say something like “He would be lost in an adult palm.” I believe that any adult, even a woman, with “normal” sized hands, would be unable to bring this Jocko to life for a child. He is just tooooooo tiny!

As it happens, Jocko was missing his original cardboard finger tube when he arrived, and I fashioned a new one for him, which is indistinguishable in feel and fit from the one he lost. I am telling you this, since I want to be honest, but there would really be no way for you to know. In fact, I think the way the original tube disappeared was because an adult with much too big a hand tried to make Jocko come to life, and when she realized this was not going to happen, she withdrew her finger from its partially-inserted position in Jocko’s head—and took the tube with her! More than once, as I was trying to fit a tube of precisely the right circumference into Jocko’s head, I did the same thing. That is because even my fingers, as tiny as they are, are really too big to fit comfortably inside Jocko’s head. Finally, I succeeded, but it was no easy task. 😉

Jocko is in good condition, showing signs of wear, but nothing terrible. I make that comment despite his probable near 70-year age, not “FOR his age!” His felt is still vaguely a cross between pink and orange, but the color is faded from what it was when he left Giengen. Likewise, subdued, are the airbrushed accents on that felt. You can still see Jocko’s “goggles” and his pink nose and brown nostrils. You can also see the lines in his ears and his fingernails, but all of these embellishments are now subdued. What is not subdued is Jocko’s gorgeous deep brown/auburn color; I doubt it looked any different all those decades ago.

While Jocko’s mohair is nicely colored, he does have a touch of wear. The most significant wear is along the seam that runs down the back of his head. He also has some wear in the area dividing the hair on the left front of his head from the felt on that side his face (right as he faces you). Finally, he has a touch of thinning in his white beard, but it was not so egregious that I thought you needed to see a closeup of that area.

Now a word or two about Jocko’s IDs. I can tell you about the ones he still has and the ones he used to have. The fact that his raised script button is attached on the back of his ear tells you immediately that Jocko is early. The kind of button he wears means a probable birth date no earlier than 1951, although his series was made starting in 1949. This is the way the buttons were attached on the ears of Jocko’s antique relatives. Of course, you know he is not antique, since he has a raised script button and a US-Zone flag on his right arm (printing complete but hidden by mohair), but, as is the case with many immediately post-war animals, there is very little difference between them and their prewar relatives. Another thing that a prewar Jocko would have, and that this Jocko once had, is a chest tag with his name printed in red/brown letters. The shape of the tag would not quite be as angular as that worn by a prewar Jocko, but it would also not be as rounded as the tags worn by later series of this post-war Jocko. Even the article number that would have been printed on the flag of a 1930s Jocko would have been the same as the one that was printed on this Jocko’s flag: 317.

I do want to mention one thing about Jocko’s button. You can see that it is only attached by one prong. I don’t know if he was allowed to leave Giengen that way, or whether the other prong worked its way free due to later play. The reality could actually be a combination of both scenarios: the button might have been just loosely inserted, but not enough to be noticed, and then, after being handled and played with, it worked its way totally free. The good news is that the other prong is really tightly in place, and I believe it will stay that way for another 70 years, or however many subsequent generations will call Jocko their own.

I believe there is a strong chance that Jocko will become part of an adult’s collection and will be displayed and not played with, but If you are a parent with small hands and fingers, or you have an older child in mind for a gift, you might like some ideas for making Jocko come to life, and I have provided a few for you.

I can’t think of anything else to tell you (of course, Jocko’s expressive eyes are glass), but please write if you have a question. Jocko in his puppet form is relatively uncommon, and it is so nice to find this special early one.

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT JOCKO OR ANY OF MY OTHER STEIFF ITEMS, PLEASE BE SURE TO SEE THE ARTICLE I HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT STEIFF 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.