Rare Tiny Adorable Steiff Seated Baby Tiger Wild Cat One Size Only

Little Tiger joins several relatives in my shop. Unlike all his relatives, Tiger is not anyone’s big brother or little brother. He was made only in this size and only from 1951 to 1961. Those dates account for two series—one made between 1951 and 1958, with article number 3310, and the other made from 1959 to 1961, with article number 3310,00. Because he has lost his IDs, I cannot be more precise about his date of birth. I guess it doesn’t matter all that much because that span of years was so short. In either case Tiger has passed the 60-year mark, and the two series have the same “book value.”

The “10” in either article number denotes Tiger’s height in centimeters. He is a whisker or two taller than that, about 4 1/4 inches high to the top of that adorable swivel head.

I am conflicted over what to call Tiger’s condition. Although his absolute sweetness inclines me to say that his condition is “very good,” I will conservatively say he is “only” 😉 in good-plus condition. However, I am saying that absolutely, not “for his age.”

Tiger has a tiny touch of wear under his chin, but that’s about it. Most of his orange and black coloring has only slightly faded, and I would not even have known this if his near-mint vitrine brother were not available for comparison. I don’t know how he would have been displayed or stored, but his head does have some more-noticeable fading. Despite that, Tiger still has quite-apparent rose-colored accents on his face—under each eye, at the tip of his nose, under his black-floss mouth, and even a tiny, minimally-detectible, application on the insides of his ears.

Although some of Tiger’s orange and black coloring is faded, I am guessing that his white areas did not look much different 60-plus years ago when he left Giengen.

I have two additional things to report, both of which are inconsequential, and one of which is invisible unless you look on Tiger’s underside. I am showing you the invisible one in my next to last image. You can just barely see that the string attaching his tail to his left side has come slightly into view (but not at all threatening to come undone!). I am pointing that out with an arrow. The exposed attachment is about 2 millimeters long, and, as I said, this would not be noticeable when he sits on display.

The final inconsequential thing I want to mention, which is noticeable if you look closely, is the fact that Tiger’s whiskers are both disorderly and, some, in any case, are broken. If anything, Tiger’s whiskers even add an element to his appeal, but if you won’t go that far, 😉 I trust you’ll agree that the state of his whiskers is no big deal.

I can’t think of anything else you’d want to know—you probably realized that his eyes are glass—but please write if you have a question. You will be absolutely delighted if this rare little wild cat takes up residence in your den, as will be his new guardian if Tiger is destined to live in the den of the lucky person who receives him as a gift.

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT TIGER 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.