Rare Gorgeous Exotic Middle Brother Steiff Llama Lama All ID

I am thrilled to offer this rare handsome guy to you! He is the middle size Steiff llama (the German’s leave off an “l”) of the family of three, and he joins his little brother elsewhere in my shop.

Lama’s article number is hard to read because it is stamped on top of the “Made in Germany” part of his flag. The number is 1328,00, where the “28” denotes his size in centimeters to the top of his head. Lama has indications of being in each of the two series that had this number. His button has the earlier kind of raised script, with skinny letters, but his eyes are plastic. Those two series spanned the years of 1959 to 1967. Lama was made in only one additional series, and that series was produced only until 1969, so you can appreciate how rare he is!

Lama is a little shorter than his catalogued size, measuring 26 cm, about 10 1/4 inches high (and a little less if you moosh down his hair). You should plan his display using his height to the top of his ears (actually, his left ear, since that one is higher). Using that measurement, Lama is 11 inches tall, and, of course, it would be good if he had a little vertical clearance in your vitrine.

This is only the sixth time I have had the opportunity in well over two decades to help a llama of this size find a new home, and he is the only one who has/had all ID. It is especially nice to have found him, because he is in wonderful condition too. As you know if you follow my items and descriptions, I assess condition on an absolute basis, no matter when an animal was made. Lama is in excellent condition DESPITE his more than half-century age, even at his youngest.

Lama’s mohair could not have been any whiter (or more lustrous) when he left Giengen, and his airbrushing, both on his short mohair areas—his face and his legs—and his long mohair, which accounts for most of his coverage, is wonderful. He also retains some rose coloring on the insides of his (ripe-cantaloupe color) felt ears—more on the left, having been shielded from fading by his flag.

If you compare the edge of Lama’s face on his two sides, you will see that only the left side has that black airbrushed section dividing the short mohair of his face from the long mohair on the side of his head. I have two things to tell you about this left-to-right disparity. First, there is NO EVIDENCE on the right side of his face that there was EVER a similar black dividing line between his two types of mohair. It is not as if it were once there but faded. I assumed that someone at the factory just forgot to give him that airbrush spritz. I decided to see what that demarcation looked like on the near mint 28-cm llama who lives in my vitrine, and HE ALSO has that left-to-right disparity! Therefore, I rescinded my opinion that they let Lama leave the factory unfinished. The disparity is obviously part of his design!

Except for two teeny/tiny exceptions, Lama’s mohair coverage is fantastic too. I have marked the two less-than-perfect areas with arrows. In my third image, I am pointing to a probable moth kiss on Lama’s right front leg. It is about two millimeters square. If you can’t really see it, that is not surprising. 😉 In my fourth image I am pointing to an area of mohair next to Lama’s left eye that has worn down completely, exposing the excelsior. This is about one square mm, and it can be almost totally hidden by brushing some of Lama’s long hair over it. That area is so small, that I knew if I attempted to repair it, his eye was very likely going to end up looking worse!

I have two last things to mention. The first is a design defect in both Steiff llamas and dromedaries. They stand on their tiptoes, which does not give them stable support from their standing surface. Lama suffers from this to a very small degree; he left rear foot is raised above the ground by a couple of millimeters. You have to look closely and very low to see this, but, because the rest of Lama’s feet make reasonable contact with his standing surface, his stance is quite stable. Because this is both a “birth defect” and, I believe, a design defect, I don’t count it against him at all. AND, as I said, it has little impact on his stability in any case.

The last thing I want to mention is Lama’s voice. I am not “screaming” that his squeaker works in my title, because I don’t know what will happen when you try. His squeaker DECEMBER soon give out totally, since it is very weak and requires a hard press in just the right location on his underside. I tested it several times, and I always got it to work, but, as I tried it, I realized that each time might be the last. Whether he squeaks or not is really not very important anyway, since you (or anyone) would not know whether he talked as you admired him in your vitrine.

I think I have covered everything you might want to know, but please write if you still have a question. If you are a fan of exotic and unusual animals, Lama should be in your collection. If he is meant as a gift, the llama fan in your life will be delighted. Don’t forget to check out his little brother; it would be great if they could stay together.

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT LAMA 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 DECEMBER, 2022