Tiny Velveteen Steiff Baby Giraffe Rare To Find In This Spectacular Condition!

This cute little guy (girl?) is the smallest size giraffe that Steiff made in this design and the only one in cotton velveteen. The other 4 sizes were made with mohair covering. Giraffe has only his chest tag, so I can’t be absolutely certain in dating him. I believe his eyes are glass, and if that is correct, it is very likely that he was made between 1953 and 1964. His article number could have been 6314,0 or 6314,00. The “14” in either of those numbers refers to Giraffe’s height in centimeters. He is actually a bit taller, measuring 16.5 cm to the top of his mane and about .5 centimeters more to the top of his higher ear. That ear is higher because Giraffe’s head is sweetly cocked to his right side—left as he faces you.

Another digit in Giraffe’s article number is of interest. The first digit “6” was Steiff’s way of indicating a young animal. I think they got that cute baby look just right.

Giraffe’s condition is spectacular! If he had all IDs, I probably would say that he is near mint, or certainly excellent plus. His chest tag is almost perfect, with just the slightest amount of bending over at the very top. That is because the string attaching the tag is short. However, it is not SO short that it has pulled up into the red periphery of the tag.

Giraffe’s coloring is wonderful, and I apologize for the slight differences among my images. It was really tricky to get the right balance of hues between his rust-colored spots and his pale gold background.

In addition to his main coloring, Giraffe has rose and orange airbrushed accents on his face, and, of course you can see his little curlicue airbrushed representations of nostrils. Giraffe also has an orange patch on his lower back, extending to the top of his spectacular stiff braided tail! Finally, Giraffe has rose-colored airbrushed accents on both sides of his felt ears.

That’s it! I know you are not seeing such short descriptions from me ;-), but it is easy to do that when I have nothing but good things to report. Of course, if you have a question, by all means, write.

I mentioned that this giraffe has four larger mohair brothers. But those five brothers have an even earlier wool plush cousin. He is also looking for a new home, so I hope you will check him out too!

WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO ABOUT GIRAFFE 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 JANUARY, 2023.