Steiff Sweet Foxy Wire Hair Fox Terrier Puppy Dog All ID AMAZING COLORING

I am delighted to offer this wonderful puppy to you! As you can see from his chest tag, this wirehaired fox terrier’s name is Foxy. He joins two of his brothers in my shop, one smaller and one larger. I admit that my record keeping was not as thorough 25 years ago, when I started to help Steiff animals find new homes, but I believe that I only have helped six 17-cm Foxys relocate. And since I have had my Ruby Lane shop, (more than 13 years, and with accurate records!), I have had only one other Foxy of this size.

Foxy’s size is indicated by the “17” in his article number, 4220/17, and he is just about right on with the catalogue, or 6 5/8 inches tall. This size Foxy’s series was produced from 1968 to 1975. I can narrow down that span of years in both directions. Foxy’s flag is anchored by a “lentil,” incised script button, which means that he was not made before 1969. Going to the other end of his series, Foxy was not made after 1971. I know that because he is wearing a bear’s head chest tag, which was replaced by the red and yellow circular tag in 1972.

Even assuming that Foxy is as young as he could possibly be, he has passed the half-century mark. You would never have guessed that by looking at him! I was hovering between saying he is in excellent condition and near mint condition. Because I tend to be conservative in my evaluations, I will stay with “excellent.” 😉 As you probably know if you have looked at any of my other Steiff animals, I make my condition evaluation an absolute statement, no matter when the animal was made. I believe the expression “for his age” used by others makes no sense as part of a statement of condition. It is possible to find an antique animal in pristine condition, as well as one made 10 years ago that looks awful. If you want to bring age into it, you can say that Foxy is in excellent condition DESPITE his age.

I often have occasion to compare an animal living in my vitrine with one in my shop. It is often the case that the one in my vitrine is in slightly nicer condition, which I mention in my description. That is a useful method of comparison, since my animals usually have defects that are so minor that they would not be evident to someone who had nothing to compare them to.

That is not the case for this Foxy and his vitrine brother. This doggie is in MUCH BETTER CONDITION than his vitrine counterpart! Because my main collecting interest is Steiff cats, I was only briefly temped to keep this Foxy and sell his brother; I resisted the temptation. 😉

Foxy’s detractions are few and minimal. The seam that divides the two sides of his face has a bit of wear, which really does not detract from his spectacular sweet presentation. Importantly, the wear does not impinge on the fullness of the longer hair that surrounds Foxy’s muzzle (and while you are noticing that, notice the healthy dab of rose-colored airbrushing above and below Fox’s black floss nose).

Likewise, the two seams on the back of Foxy’s tail join at his tail tip, which results in some of wear in that area. This wear is not noticeable because the color of the underling fabric is the same snow-white color as the rest of his tail—and of the rest of Foxy, period!

Not only is Foxy’s white coloring gorgeous, but his orange and black spots are as intense as they must have been when Foxy left Giengen all those decades ago.

This always happens to me. I start a paragraph telling you about some detraction, but it leads to a positive statement. I started out with Foxy’s slight seam wear, and I ended by raving about his coloring!

Although all of these things should be obvious to you from my pictures (assuming the view on your monitor is like the one I have on my monitor), one thing you can’t see (except from my insert in my second image composite) is the SECOND lentil button under Foxy’s collar strap. My vitrine Foxy does not have one!

Finally, another thing you can’t see is the sound that Foxy squeaker no longer makes. But because his silence—AS WOULD his ability to “bark”—would not be known to an admirer looking at Foxy in your vitrine, I give essentially no importance to his lack of working squeaker. When you, or any other admirer, sees Foxy looking out from his vitrine (or other display area), you would not know whether he made a sound or not!

OK, I think I have covered everything you might want to know, but please write if you still have a question. If you are a Steiff doggie fan and/or a fan of terriers—or you know someone who is—this sweet, rare gem should join your (or your loved one’s) collection. And if dogs, in general, are your favorite Steiff animals to collect, you will find many other wonderful canines elsewhere in my shop, including Foxy’s two brothers.

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT FOXY 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.