Rare Middle Brother Steiff Koala (NOT) Bear ’55-’61 Only!

I am so delighted to present this rare “bear” to you. He is only the fifth middle size koala I have ever had in all the years I have been helping Steiff animals find new homes, and his same-size predecessor left way back in 2016. Koala’s arrival in my shop means that there is a family reunion; he joins his smaller and larger brothers.

You may know that calling Koala a bear is a misnomer, since he is a marsupial. I say “he” because Koala has no pouch. Koala is certainly as cute as any teddy bear I have ever seen, but he is a lot more special since he was made for such a short time. He is very rare in all of his sizes, but the larger ones are particularly hard to come by. I have seen this size in person only five times before—those four previous temporary residents of my shop and the one who lives in my vitrine.

Since Koala has lost his IDs, I cannot tell you his article number, but because he was made for so few years, it doesn’t matter. He was made in two series, spanning 1955 to 1961. If he was made in the first series, between 1955 and 1958, his article number was 5322, and his article number was 5322,00 between 1959 and 1961.

The “22” in Koala’s article numbers denoted his size in centimeters—which is a little misleading. He is fully jointed, but his legs don’t swivel down very much. In my 10th and 11th images, I have posed him with his legs as far down as they go. Unlike jointed teddy bears, for instance, whose legs are straight, so they can stand (either on their own or helped by a stand) Koala’s legs remain bent at his knees—in the same way that the Jocko chimpanzees’ legs do, and since he is displayed sitting, those extra centimeters don’t amount to much in the real world. However, Koala’s fully (as fully as you can make him) extended length is 9 inches, which puts him close to his catalogued size. Since you will want to know how you can comfortably display him, his seated height, is variable, depending on how you pose him, but with good posture, he measures about 7 inches to the top of his head.

I will refrain from assigning a condition to Koala, but I will tell you about his issues, and you can decide how to rate him using your own criteria for which things are the most important. I will list them in descending order according to the things I think are most serious down to what I believe is inconsequential.

My first two concerns are pretty-much tied, and they both have to do with Koala’s coloring; I will list them in alphabetical order, starting with the letter “f” for fading. Although you can still definitely see the contrast between Koala’s front side (including the insides of his ears and the short-cropped “heart-shaped” area around his eyes and nose) and his back, there have been color changes in each area, with more significant fading in his back than darkening of that heart-shaped area of his face.

The color of his back looks a bit too orange in some of my pictures; I would characterize it as gold. Of course, I have no idea how he looks on your monitor.

Koala also had a dab of rose-colored airbrushing between the line separating the bottom of his felt nose and the “smiling” line of floss depicting his mouth. You can see a remnant of that, but it is mostly gone.

Koala also had dark brown airbrushed accents on his ears (front and back) and on his “hands” and feet. There are still hints of that dark brown on his face (notice his expressive eyebrows and his nostrils!) and between his fingers and toes. Since Koala’s face is what constitutes his all-important sweet expression, the most important airbrushed areas remain.

Alphabetically down from “fading” is “s” for stains. Although Koala has several stained areas, happily you can’t see them (including the largest one on the back of his ear) when he sits facing front (as I assume he will in your vitrine), and because he is seated, you don’t see the very light stain under his left thigh, which I am pointing to in my 11th image. While you are looking at that image, you will also see the note I wrote in red across his feet. That note also mentions moth nibbling, but the few nibbles Koala has are below color in my issue hierarchy. One area on Koala’s back fits into both the stains category and the moth category. I am pointing to that in my third image, but actually my picture makes that nibble/stain look far worse than it does in person (as does the stain on his ear)!

Actually. although the moth nibbling is next down in my hierarchy, it is way down. The nibble on Koala’s back is probably the biggest one, and despite the way my image makes it look (because the stain is included), it is only barely bigger than the size of a pencil eraser.

Finally, my hierarchy ends with what is almost always my least significant condition issue, the fact that Koala’s squeaker no longer makes a sound. This, even more so than the happy circumstance of the location of his stains, will not affect his wonderful display appeal. No matter WHICH way you want to pose him, you will not “expose” his silence! 🙂

Having a koala is a must for any serious Steiff collection, and one of this size would be a spectacular addition to yours. Or If Koala is meant as a gift, he would enhance the collection belonging to that (lucky) special person in your life. In whose ever vitrine he ends up, he will absolutely delight his new owner. AND you can now adopt the whole family!

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT KOALA 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.