Rare Steiff Puppy Dog MAIDY Big Brother Miniature Poodle ID MADE ONLY IN 1959!

BowWOW! I am delighted to present Maidy to you. This sweet pup is a miniature poodle. I am a cat person, so until I looked up “miniature poodle” on Google, I did not know the existence of this breed. As a matter of fact, given that I saw that miniature poodles range in size from 10 to 15 inches tall, Maidy is close to the low end of his actual, in the flesh, relatives.

Maidy is the larger of the two sizes Steiff made, ONLY IN 1959, and his article number was 1330,06. The “30” in that number refers to Maidy’s catalogued height in centimeters. He is a shorter than that, measuring 27 cm to the top of his head, about 10 3/8 inches.

Originally, I believed my Maidy was a really big, 25-cm, version (with “25” instead of “30” in his article number) of this dog. However, I have changed my mind. I found two other Maidys for sale online (one MUCH more expensive than mine and the other not as nice ;-)), but both significantly smaller than mine. Although my Maidy’s height falls somewhere between the two sizes in which he was made, he is a good deal taller than his online brothers. Apparently, he runs very small in relation to his catalogued size, a common occurrence among Steiff animals.

Maidy’s curly mohair coat is reminiscent of the larger sizes of Swapl, Steiff’s black Persian lamb (The smaller Swapls are covered in wool plush.) Black is the only color Maidy was made in, and, as far as I can tell, it is not at all faded—and it has a wonderful luster. Two parts of Maidy are regular, straight, mohair; he has a long beard that extends under his chin and to each side of his muzzle, and the backs of his ears are the short-cropped mohair you typically see on Steiff animals.

Speaking of his body parts, Maidy has glass “humanized” eyes; a vertically-stitched glossy black floss nose; an inverted “v” line of red floss depicting his mouth, and the same red floss separating his toes. He has three lines of floss on each paw, and the middle one on his rear left paw has broken, as I am indicating in my images.

Maidy originally had a red leather collar, but he arrived without it. I acquired a real doggy leather collar as a substitute, and it fits him so well that unless you were unaware of what Steiff-factory leather collars look like (much thinner leather for one), you might think Maidy’s collar is original.

Other than the broken thread on his left rear paw, Maidy has very little in the way of condition issues. He has a few tiny areas of wear, which are hard to find because of his lush curly covering. To be absolutely complete in reporting Maidy’s condition, I will note that the curls of his mohair show signs of handling. There are tiny little “hairs” of mohair emanating from the large curls. You may be able to see what I mean—and then, again, maybe not. Swapls often display the same characteristic, and although it is obvious if you stick your face right into Maidy, these hairs are not going to impact his gorgeous presentation on display.

Another thing which will not impact his wonderful display appeal is the fact there is a little “give” to his tail at the point it joins to his body; you can make his tail “wag,” but it is upright and perky. Even if I thought that giving his tail a bit more excelsior to make it really stiff was worth doing (and I don’t), I would have trouble finding the way to accomplish that. His deep curls hide any seam from which I could gain access to his tail.

Finally, what is usually at the very bottom of my condition-reporting hierarchy, is the fact that Maidy no longer “barks.” Interestingly, he has two side squeakers instead of one belly squeaker, so you have more ways to hear his excelsior crunch. 😉 There is no way to know that just by looking at him, hence the low importance of his muteness.

I think I have covered everything you’d want to know, but please write if you have a question. This is the place I would say that Maidy should be a part of every serious Steiff collection, but I can’t. There is only one of him, and someone reading this will be his lucky new owner (or the gift giver to his lucky new owner)! You other serious collectors—or Steiff doggy fans—will have to wait for another Maidy to come onto the secondary market.

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT MAIDY 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.