Tiny Sister Steiff Gold Cockie Cocker Spaniel Puppy Dog All ID

Cockie joins several relatives in my shop, including her brown and white cousins and two gold cousins with open mouths. Cockie’s closest relative in my shop is her 19-cm closed-mouth sister. I have had limited experience with this adorable pup, the 12-cm gold Cockie with a closed mouth.

Cockie is the smallest of the 3 sizes in which this model was made. Her size is denoted by the “12” in her article number, 1312,03, faded but legible in my picture. That number, together with Cockie’s glass google eyes and early-style raised script button with skinny letters, fairly precisely determine Cockie’s date of birth to sometime between 1960 and 1964.

As is so often the case, Cockie does not measure the same as her “official” catalogued size designation. She is 4 inches tall to the top of her swivel head, which translates into barely over 10 centimeters. Cockie packs a lot of sweetness into those 10 centimeters; don’t you think?

Cockie is in good to very good condition (I can’t make up my mind ;-)), and I don’t mean “for her age!” Her gold mohair does not seem to be faded, and she still retains nice darker airbrushed accents on her face and ears. Her mohair coverage is full, with some thinning along her seams, and her original red leather collar is in excellent condition.

My quandary about rating Cockie comes not from the condition of her body, but her button and flag. Her button, itself, is and was, fine, but her flag was a mess when she arrived. It had all but separated from the button and was literally hanging on by a thread. Fixing that situation required more than merely putting a few stitches through the flag into her ear—something I have done when an animal’s flag is basically intact, but it has cleanly been cut away by the button, even for much of the button’s circumference. Not only had Cockie’s flag separated from the button, but the inside of the hole that was created when the flag lifted away from the button was badly frayed and afforded little remaining substance to anchor to her ear. When I have worked on this problem in less severe circumstances, I have made my repair very neatly and not particularly noticeable, except on close examination. Given what I had to work with, I think I did a really nice job, and I believe my picture actually makes the end result look worse than it is. I can certainly promise you now that Cockie’s flag is not going anywhere. 😉

My repair caused most of the name “Steiff” to be eaten up by my stitches, but I managed to preserve Cockie’s whole article number. Its fading is probably a related issue, since the flag had lots of wear. I know that there are people who call an animal with NO IDS “mint.” I think that is absurd. I think the condition of its IDs is part of its condition as a whole; I just never know how much weight to give it. At least Cockie’s chest tag is in fairly nice condition; it was attached off center on her chest, but that is something created in Giengen, and I don’t hold it against Cockie at all.

I can’t think of anything else you’d want to know, but please write if you have a question. There is no denying that this is one cute pup, and I am sure she will be loved and appreciated in her new home—whether that is yours or the recipient of Cockie being given as a gift.

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 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 DECEMBERDECEMBER, 2022.