Rare Gray Steiff Seated Tabby Cat Kitten Susi Early Continuous Striping Design ID

Sweet Susi is among the Steiff striped cats who completely changed their appearance in the late 1950s. This little girl (actually, the middle of five sisters) has the continuous stripes one associates with the earliest Steiff tabby-striped cats, going back to the 1920s. Rather than sparse stripes encircling a basically white body, Susi’s stripes are dense and continuous, radiating from a vertical line extending the length of her dark-colored back. Despite Susi’s somewhat changed condition, elaborated upon below, I would rate her as good-plus. If you have ever dealt with me, you know I tend to be more conservative than most in evaluating the condition of my items. And you also know that I think the typical way most people rate condition “for an animal’s age” is meaningless. I always rate condition on an absolute scale. If you want to bring Susi’s age, which could be over 70, into it, you can say that she is in good-plus condition DESPITE her age

I have called this kitten a “gray” Susi in my title to distinguish her from her later sisters. While her background color is now more tan or taupe, it is a solid color, and her black stripes (still pretty dark) are continuous. There is no way she would be taken for a Susi made in the 1960s.

While you are considering Susi’s uniqueness, note, too, the different texture and cut of her mohair. It is close-cropped and uniform in length, rather than the longer mohair to be found on most other cats. Speaking of her mohair, Susi has some all-around wear, but most of the wear is along her seams, as you should be able to see from my pictures. She has one area of concentrated wear, which is largely out of sight when she sits so sweetly on display. The wear is on her chin, which I am showing you in an enlarged inset in my image of her underside, the next to last image.

Susi has most of her whiskers, even her “eyebrows.” The original number was 6 on each side of her nose and 6 in front of each ear. She has the full complement on the left side of her nose; 4 1/2 on the right side; 5 in front of her left ear, and 3 1/2 in in front of her right ear. Actually, all the whiskers in this last group look less than what would have been their original length. As old cats go (or even not so old cats), I think the large number of Susi’s remaining whiskers makes her much better than average.

The underlying color of Susi’s back and tail are faded, but her white (now more cream-colored) inset muzzle, inner ears, and front lower legs and paws still show contrast to the rest of her. Although the contrast is not as strong as it once was, it is still quite appealing. And, finally, I will tell you that Susi’s bow of gorgeous and lustrous dark salmon silk/rayon ribbon is a gift from me. My vendor tells me it is from the ‘30s/’40s and was made in France. It wasn’t cheap, but a wonderful rare kitten like Susi deserved no less. 🙂

Susi has her raised script button and a few threads from her flag, which had either 3314 or 3314,2 printed on it. In either case, the “14” denoted her height in centimeters. Susi measures about 5 1/2 inches high to the top of her head, so she is right on with her catalogue designation. This model of Susi was made in two series, which spanned the years 1949 to 1958. Her raised script button makes it fairly likely that she was not made earlier than 1951.

Despite my nitpicking, I believe you can see that Susi’s sweet presentation remains. Considering her rarity, you will be delighted if she joins your Steiff kitty collection (or the collection of someone you know, if Susi is meant as a gift). The only other thing I can think to mention is the fact that Susi’s sweet expression comes from her glass eyes—but then, you probably knew that just based on her age. If there is something else you’d like to know, by all means write.

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT SUSI 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.