Tiniest And Earliest Sister Steiff Wittie Owl Bird 2 IDs Magic Eyes Great For Halloween!

SEE NEW PICTURES!

This little girl is the smallest and earliest of the four-sister Wittie family, and although she is not perfect, I think she is quite collectible. Wittie’s article number is 4310, which identifies her hatching date as sometime between 1954 and 1958.

The number is faded, especially the last digit. A big clue to determining her number is the amount of horizontal space it takes up on her flag. You can see that it is only four digits wide, with a lot of empty yellow fabric on either side. Only the earliest model of each of the four Wittie sisters had such short number, and if you know that the last two digits tell her catalogued size in centimeters, and you also see that the next to last number is a “1,” the only number that would have followed the “1” is a “0.”

Part of the problem is the fact that the number was stamped over the “Made in Germany,” so those words interfere with an easy reading of Wittie’s number. However, even if you can’t really see that the next to last number, is, indeed, a “1,” you would know by measuring her that she had to be the 10-cm sister. She measures just about that to the top of her head, or about 4 inches.

Now that I have mentioned Wittie’s head, I am delighted to tell you that she has new “horns,” very similar to the ones she originally had when she left Giengen. Steiff represented that trademark outcropping of feathers on an owl’s head with horsehair tufts. Replicating Wittie’s original look was challenging, but I rose to the challenge! When Wittie arrived, she was anxious to find a new home, and she really wanted the world to know she was looking. I granted her wish and put her up for adoption immediately, and you can see that she was really cute, even minus her factory tufts. Now, however, she looks spectacular, and her only issue is the loss of her green airbrushing.

Wittie retains a touch of green on her ankles and an even subtler touch at the edges of her felt wings on both sides of each wing, but she also had some on top of her head and on those trademark white mohair disks surrounding her big green eyes.

Speaking of those disks, I want to be sure to point out Wittie’s white felt beak, which is barely noticeable between those two large expanses of mohair. Her beak is rounded, and thus it does not jut out from her face as a pointy beak would. I wanted to mention it and also to mention that it still has a line of visible dark airbrushing along the edge.

There is also a touch of fading to the brown airbrushing on both the lower felt parts of Wittie’s wings and her tail, which is also felt. Enough remains of the brown (especially on the fronts of her wings) to convey, with the little scalloped shapes, rows of feathers. The airbrushing on Wittie’s body and upper wings is still quite nice, and you can see that the background mohair of her body is a combination of a goldish tan on her chest and the sides of her back, and a darker tan on the tops of her wings, the center of her back, and the top of her head.

I told you about Wittie’s ankles, but I also want to tell you about her feet, which have some good and some not-so-good properties. She has some minor stains on her feet, which, actually, are mostly located on her left foot. I have not tried to clean those stains, and they could be removable with a little effort.

The good aspects of her feet are twofold. Getting back to the topic of airbrushing, you can see that Wittie has little brown airbrushed spots to suggest her talons. The other positive aspect of her feet is structural. Often Witties have trouble standing stably. That comes from the fact that their ankles are jutting out at weird angles to the mohair upper parts of their legs. Some Witties can only stand if they use their tails as a crutch—to counterbalance their awkwardly placed feet. Wittie has no standing problems, she is both stable and erect.

I have saved discussion of Wittie’s eyes till last, but, of course, you can see in my very first picture that they glow in the dark (and also by my calling them “magic” in the title. ;-)). True, glowing eyes are ephemeral, but it is nice that Wittie’s still glow so well all these years after she “hatched.”

The only other thing I can think of to mention is that one of the two prongs from Wittie’s button has worked its way out of her wing. The other prong is attached very securely, and there is absolutely no danger that the button and flag will become separated from the wing. I am pointing this out in my second image with the little arrow.

I can’t think of anything else, but please write if you have a question. Every Steiff collection should include at least one size of Wittie. I think this smallest of the four sizes she came in is the cutest.

Wittie is a wonderful all-year-long addition to your Steiff or bird collection, but like her avian shop companion, Hucky raven, Wittie would make a wonderful addition to your Halloween decorations!

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT WITTIE 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.