Tiny Brother Brown Striped Steiff Possy Squirrel All ID

The squirrel population of my shop has increased. Possy joins his big brother and their friend Perri. Just as my “red” Possy looks red, and not the brown his article number seems to indicate if you look at Pfeiffer, this Possy, who, to be sure, is a bit faded, looks like he would be called “brown” and not gray. Although his stripes are, like his background, lighter than they once were, you can definitely see the stripes from his side views, Interestingly, only the “gray” Possy came in a striped version. Since I have not seen many of either, I don’t know if one was rarer than the other.

The “10” in Possy’s article number, 4310,05, indicates his catalogued height to the top of his head. He is actually, even tinier than that, measuring 9.5 cm, about 3 1/2 inches. Although his ears are not part of his “official” size, you obviously need to include them when you are figuring out a comfortable display place for him. Obviously, even with his ears included, it should not be difficult to plan a comfortable display.

In addition to Possy’s fading, he has a touch of thinning too. You should be able to see, however, that his mohair is generally full. That includes his bushy upright tail, where the only bit of wear you can see it at the very top of his tail, along the seam.

If Possy’s issues were only the two I just mentioned, I would have no trouble saying that he was in very good condition. With the addition of his (now-repaired) flag, I feel more comfortable with the slightly more conservative “good-plus.” Of course, as I always remind my readers, I consider condition to be absolute, and not dependent on an animal’s age. Therefore, I am saying that Possy is in good-plus condition, DESPITE his age. which even at the youngest he could be would be past the half-century mark. Possy with this article number was made between 1959 and 1967.

When Possy arrived, his flag was in horrible condition! It had torn virtually completely around his button, with a thread keeping it from falling off his ear. If you look closely at the front of Possy’s left ear, you can see the tiny stitches I made through the flag directly into his ear, but I think his view from a display distance will be just as nice as if he had an intact button/flag connection. If you look at the back of Possy’s ear, you will see two tiny places where a “dot” of yellow thread is showing. Not only are theses dots very small, but it is likely that you will display Possy facing front and looking out from your vitrine. In that case, those tiny dots of thread would not be seen at all! The reason the thread shows from the back at all is that Possy’s ears are not fully covered with those long strands of mohair. Those sparse wisps of longer hair are true to nature; they are NOT evidence of lost mohair. 🙂

Now that I have told you about Possy’s flag, I want to mention his chest tag. There are two things about it I want to note. First, though, I want to mention that the tag is crisp and intact, with no sign of the attachment string starting to pull up from the hole. That string is very short and tight, so it pulls Possy’s chest tag to his right side, left as he faces you. AND because the tag was attached off center at the factory, that asymmetrical look is exacerbated.

The tag has some small light stains on and around the bear’s head. Of course, those came after Possy was in the home of a collector.

The only additional thing I want to tell you is that Possy has all his original whiskers—four on each side of his nose.

I can’t think of anything else, but please write if you have any questions. Whether you collect Steiff woodland creatures or squirrels generally, you or the intended recipient, if Possy is meant as a gift, will go nuts over him. 😉 And while you are considering adopting Possy, please consider having his big brother join him.

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT POSSY 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.