Rare Tiny Steiff Bendable And Poseable Miniature Mecki Hedgehog Doll As A Boy All ID ’61-’64 Only

This is Mecki, the boy (“Bub” in German) version of the adult patriarch of the Steiff hedgehog doll family, whose wife, when she is an adult, is Micki and whose children are the girl, Mucki and the boy, Macki. Mecki joins his childhood sweetheart, already in my shop.

This family has a long and interesting history in which their earliest ancestors are traceable to characters in the Grimm brothers’ 19th century fairy tale based on Aesop’s fable “The Tortoise and the Hare.” Starting in the 20th century, these hedgehogs are most associated with two media, the Diehl brothers’ films with stop animation puppets and as graphic print cartoon characters in the German TV magazine, “”HörZu !,” a reference to which is printed on the back of Mecki’s chest tag. As Steiff did successfully on other occasions—probably the most known instances in the USA are with Walt Disney animated characters like Bambi and Perri the squirrel—it acquired licensing rights from Diehl to produce dolls and figures based on the original Diehl puppets.

I can’t put a URL in this description, but if you look at my last image, you can see a picture of the YouTube link to the 1952 Diehl film “Mecki Introduces Himself.” You should easily be able to find it using Google. Even if you don’t understand any German, you will get a kick out of the film and the amazing Diehl artistry.

Mecki is in wonderful condition, and the fact that he has all ID makes him even more desirable. As you can see, Mecki’s article number on his complete-with price section flag is 8709,70, in which the “09” part indicates his height in centimeters. If you moosh down his spiky hedgehog hair, Mecki comes fairly close to that catalogued size, measuring about 9.5 centimeters or 3 3/4 inches high. Don’t let my tiny hand mislead you; Mecki is small! This mini Mecki was made ONLY from 1961 to 1964.

You may wonder how I can rave about Mecki’s condition, given the disheveled look of his clothing. Part of the charm of the figures in this hedgehog family is their dirty and patched clothes (and bodies) and their outfits seemingly unraveling everywhere and in other ways unkempt. Ordinarily, when I have put one of these dolls in my shop (and there are several others there now), I have taken to snipping off a much of (what I find to be) the excess of strings. Starting with little bendy Micki, whose apron is unraveling, unpressed, and dirty, I decided to resist the urge. I have continued my non-intervention with Mecki and have left the unraveling threads of his shirt remain just as they were when he arrived.

As I just mentioned in passing, little Micki is bendable, and, as you can see from the various poses I have had Mecki assume, he, too, has flexible arms and legs. The fact that Mecki’s legs can be posed is a good thing in terms of helping him retain a standing pose. His legs are not absolutely the same length; his left leg is ever-so-slightly longer. If I pointed both of his feet in front of him, he would fall over. What I did was to make him slightly pigeon-toed on his left side (right as he faces you), thereby compensating laterally for the slight extra length on that side. Even if Mecki’s legs were exactly symmetrical, his feet/shoes are very small, and they don’t give him much surface area for stability. He will certainly keep in a standing pose—as he has done on my desk as he watches me write about him—but he is more prone to fall over than most Steiff two-legged figures are. Of course, this instability is inherent in Mecki’s design and should in no way be thought of as damage.

I can’t think of anything else to tell you. All serious Steiff collections should have dolls and/or figures, especially containing members of this beloved hedgehog family, and this one is one of the rarest you will find. It would be wonderful if you welcomed both tiny Mecki and tiny Micki to take up housekeeping with you.

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT MECKI 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 JANUARY, 2023.