Rare Sweet Big Sister Reclining Steiff Fiffy Tabby Kitten Cat 2 IDs Not Made After 1962

This almost-life size cat is the largest of three sisters. You know that from Fiffy’s article number 2325.00, in which the “25” indicates her size in centimeters. That entire number is totally legible on Fiffy’s flag, even though it has faded somewhat.

This is the later of the two series Fiffy was made in, which spanned from 1959 to 1962— that’s it; 1962 was the final year of her production. Even at the youngest she could be, Fiffy has passed her 60th birthday.

Fiffy is in very good plus condition—NOW—with my help. (See below.) My assessment is made DESPITE her age, not the meaningless “for her age.” I judge condition as an absolute, not dependent on when an animal was made.

I always have trouble coming up with a way to measure the reclining animals that yields the number that designates their size in the catalogue. The closest I could get to 25 cm is the approximate diagonal “line” you could draw between the tip of Fiffy’s left front paw and the place where her tail joins her body. That comes to approximately 30 centimeters, or about one foot. Fiffy’s height, from her sitting surface to the top of her head, is about 6 1/2 inches. That is NOT the way Fiffy arrived,

Although I did not even bother to measure Fiffy, her head drooped badly, as is often the case with reclining animals. Fiffy’s chin, when you swiveled her sweet head to her left side, was , because of her deflated chest, almost at her right rear leg (left as you look at her). You can see her new position in the upper right of my seventh composite image.

I included that example to make a point; you make want to keep her this way. I have my own big-sister Fiffy displayed with her head cocked much less extremely, which might might choose to do as well. But you now have an almost infinite number of posing choices, any one of which will look sweet.

Because I wanted to work both on Fiffy’s chest, front legs, and her back, her bottom seam was my point of entry. I have a closeup picture of the new seam closure, but it looked ridiculous when I tried to add that closeup to my image of her underside. Rather, I am pointing to the seam with an arrow in the full image. I believe my work closing the seam is almost identical to the way it looked with a factory closure (which, like mine, was done by hand.) And, because the seam is covered when Fiffy lies on display, I could have sewed her with thick black thread, and it would not have mattered!

Fiffy’s head and tail are filled with excelsior, but her body and legs are stuffed with kapok. It is amazing how the kapok compresses when you work with it, and its easy compression—from handling and play—was the cause of Fiffy’s posture problem. All I know is that I kept filling her with more and more kapok, mushing it and inserting it tightly together, until I created a posture for her that could not have looked any better when she was new. It took me about an hour and a half to get her to the posture I wanted!

I hope you agree that Fiffy now looks fantastic, and even counting her few minimal detractions, I do think she is now in the range of “very good-plus.” Because Fiffy has a few minor remaining issues (none even close to her deflated look), I decided to rate her conservatively, but feel free to say she is “excellent” when you see her. 🙂

Fiffy’s underlying color below her tabby markings was once closer to white, and her current color has mellowed to “ecru.” I am not totally happy with my photography, since I don’t think I did a good job in keeping Fiffy’s background color consistent from image to image, nor, for that matter, the rest of her coloring. On top of the ecru is a layer of gray, and on top of the gray are Fiffy’s stripes. The gray is now taupe, not the brown it looks in some of my images, and the stripes are ever-so-slightly less than the intense black they once were. I am being really nitpicking about this because I have a ready comparison; Fiffy’s near-mint sister lives in my vitrine. I am sure Fiffy’s new owner will think she looks gorgeous.

My next bit of nitpicking is addressed to Fiffy’s whiskers. She is missing two whiskers from the original six she had on each side, and she is missing one whisker out of her four original ones in front of each ear. I think retaining most off those “eyebrow” whiskers” is an accomplishment for a cat of Fiffy’s age. Her lack of a few whiskers is minor and does doing nothing to lessen Fiffy’s wonderful display appeal.

Finally, also thinking about display appeal, is what typically comes at the bottom of my list of condition issues and is lowest in my importance hierarchy; I am referring to Fiffy’s silence. Even while I had her opened for surgery, I did not come upon Fiffy’s now-inoperable squeaker, so it must have really been buried in her kapok. Fiffy’s silence has no effect on her wonderful display appeal, and I am pointing this out because I think she will be going to the home of an adult collector who will display her out of reach from the curious prying and poking hands of a child.

When Fiffy is looking back at you with that sweet face, a condition those big light green glass eyes create, you would not know (or care!) about Fiffy’s ability to make a sound. I can certainly say that about the animals who live in my vitrines. I can vaguely remember that some have working squeakers and some don’t, but I don’t know now which do, and I don’t care. 🙂

I am happy to end on a positive note, even though each of Fiffy’s previously-discussed characteristics is only slightly negative. I am delighted to tell to you that Fiffy retains her original red (silk, I believe) bow, which has only minor fraying at the ends. The ribbon is neither faded nor discolored, and it is still tacked in place on her back. With all of these features, I rate Fiffy’s bow 9.9 on a 1-10 scale.

I can’t think of anything else to mention. You should be able to see how gorgeous Fiffy is, and I think she could become the star of any Steiff cat collection. If you are not the collector yourself, and your intention is to give Fiffy as a gift (if you can part with her once you see her), she would make the Steiff kitty lover in your life purr with delight.

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT FIFFY 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.