Sweet Little Brother Rare Steiff Walking Bear Cub Jungbaer ID

Is this guy cute or what? He is the smallest of the three sizes made of this “Jungbaer,” which looks and sounds very much like “young bear,” or “bear cub” in English, which is precisely what he is.

Jungbaer has only his chest tag, but his glass eyes suggest that he is from either of the earliest two of four series. If Jungbaer was made between 1950 and 1958, his flag would have had the article number 1312,0 printed on it. If Jungbaer was in the next series, his article number was 1312,02, and he would have been made between 1959 and 1964.

The “12” in Jungbaer’s number denotes his catalogued size in centimeters to the top of his sweet swivel head. He is not far off at 11.5 cm tall, about 4 1/2 inches.

Jungbaer s in very good condition. As I do with all my Steiff animals, I am rating him absolutely, not “for his age,” since to do that is meaningless. You can find pristine Steiff antique animals as well as animals made 10 years ago in terrible condition. To be sure, play and age often have an effect on condition, but a more useful evaluation would be that he was in very good condition DESPITE his age.

Jungbaer has rich caramel brown mohair covering, which once had some dark brown accents. Those accents are now largely gone, but you can see hints of them—inside and on the backs of his ears, on the top of his muzzle, and the strongest remaining, on the back of his cute little bear (pun intended!) behind.

Jungbaer’s felt foot pads are still near what I believe was their original “ripe cantaloupe” color. There are almost invisible dark spots on the felt. Those could be actual spots ON the felt or a hint of Jungbaer’s excelsior stuffing showing through somewhat thinned felt. I did not want to try to investigate further which of those two possible explanations is the true one, since if I went by the theory that the spots were stains and tried to clean them off the felt, I would be taking the chance that rubbing on what is actually thinned felt would tear through it. In either case, the tiny darker areas on Jungbaer’s foot pads are inconsequential, since he is standing on them!

Jungbaer’s original green leather collar is in wonderful condition, with no evidence of wear or cracking, and his brass bell is original too (which still jingles with its tiny pebble clapper); Of course, you can’t see the tiny bit of tarnish the bell has left on his chest tag, because the tag is covered by the bell! The only other thing I want to mention about his chest tag is the tiny bit of wear along the upper part of its red periphery. This is often the case with animals who have collars, and it is no big deal. You should be able to see from my picture that the tag is in very good condition.

I do want to elaborate on my calling Jungbaer’s caramel coloring “rich.” On more than one occasion, I have seen a Jungbaer offered for sale and mistakenly referred to as a “polar bear” because its once-caramel mohair was so faded that it looked almost white! There are two ways to spot such a mistake. The polar bears’ eyes are black (blue on the larger sizes), while this guy’s eyes are amber. (There is a tiny bit of paint worn off the back of Jungbaer’s right eye, which is REALLY trivial and not at all the way it looks in my first image!) Finally, the polar bears’ typical collars are blue (or sometimes, rarely, red), while bears like Jungbaer have their signature green leather collar.

I can’t think of anything else you might want to know, but please write if you have a question. You will be totally delighted if Jungbaer sets up residence in your cave, as will his lucky new guardian, if Jungbaer is intended as a gift for the Steiff collector in your life (that is, if you are willing to part with him once you’ve seen him)!

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT JUNGBAER 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.