Steiff ’60s Midsize Gold Standing Cockie Spaniel Puppy Dog 2 IDs

This doggie is a first for me. In all the years I have been helping Steiff animals find new homes, I have only had the pleasure of introducing the closed-mouth version of the gold Cockie (a cocker spaniel, of course) a few times, and one of those is in my shop now. I believe that this is the middle Cockie sister, whose catalogued size is 19 centimeters. Those nominal dimensions are often not in accord with reality, and this Cockie is a case in point. Supporting her size identification is her flag. It is very faded, but knowing the number I am looking for makes it a little easier to read (and it is much easier to read in person, by the way). You can definitely see the first “1” in my image, and it is followed by “319,03.” In addition to the confirmation her flag gives, there is no other size that Cockie could be. She is way too big to be the small, 12-cm size, and the only other size she came in was a huge 29 centimeters! Cockie’s actual height is just over 6 inches to the top of her (swivel) head.

Cockie was born sometime between 1960 and 1967, excluding 1965. maybe Steiff brought her back in 1966, since there was still lots of interest in her after the earlier edition ended. I cannot narrow down the date any further because of two contradictory indications. The thing that indicates to me that Cockie was in the 1960-1964 series with her article number is the early version of the raised script button she wears, with skinny letters. The thing about her that suggests she may be in the later, ’66 to ’67, series is her plastic googly eyes. I don’t think either of these things is definitive one way or the other, and I don’t think it matters very much since the total number of years a Cockie with this ID number was made is not very big.

Being very unfamiliar with this version of Cockie (I don’t have one in my own collection, and I have never seen one of this size in person before), I have to go by her pictures in Pfeiffer’s book, Steiff Sortiment. Based on those pictures, I would say that Cockie is faded, since she has very little of the dark airbrushing those pictured Cockies have. There are hints of the darker accents on Cockie’s face and head, but, for the most part, she is a uniform gold color.

Obviously, her coloring is a reason to downgrade my assessment of Cockie’s condition, as is Cockie’s non-working squeaker, but I would still rate her as good to very good. By the way, although her squeaker does not respond to pressing her belly, it is not totally dead. If you give Cockie a big punch in the belly, you can elicit a yelp of sorts. You’d yelp too, if someone punched you in the belly, and it is something I would not recommend. I just wanted to let you know that her squeaker is not ABSOLUTELY dead, although it is certainly dead for all practical purposes.

Cockie’s mohair coverage is complete, including those long tufts of hair sticking out from the backs of all four of her legs. I don’t know if they have a technical name in dogdom; I am a cat person myself. Also complete is the floss stitching on all four of Cockie’s paws; there are 3 toes separations on each paw. Her floss stitching, by the way, is another indication that Cockie could not be the smallest size. Finally, Cockie is wearing her original red leatherette collar, which is in excellent condition.

I can’t think of anything else you’d want to know, but please write if you have a question. This is a not too commonly seen dog, and she is in nice, if not perfect, condition. You will be happy if you are Cockie’s lucky new guardian (or she will be joining the collection of someone you love).

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT COCKIE OR ANY OF MY OTHER STEIFF ITEMS, PLEASE BE SURE TO SEE THE ARTICLE I HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT STEIFF 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.