Doll News Fall 2016 - 130

130 Fall 2016 17 cm. pressed-felt face "Clown" puppet made between 1936 and 1943. more realistic appearance. The first pressed felt-faced doll style to be produced on a commercial level was a clown. This model was produced as a puppet, doll, and roly-poly. The earliest pressed felt-faced clown dolls had traditional sewn-on eyes and ears; just a year or two later almost all pressed felt-faced items had inserted eyes and ears integral to the head design. By 1937, Steiff's line of pressed, felt-faced dolls were a key product category for the company. These dolls appeared in the line through the early 1950s.They were produced in 35 and 43 cm. sizes prewar and 35 cm. postwar. These dolls were made to appear as "idealized, rosy toddlers;" both boys and girls were produced. All were made from felt and featured a jointed head and legs and floppy arms. The dolls had mohair wigs and wore charming, well-made clothing, shoes, and lace trimmed underwear. As with most Steiff girl dolls, the little ladies also had attractive, stylish hats or other matching headwear. All were branded with named Steiff chest tags and a red rubber bracelet that held the doll's yellow tag and metal button like a charm. Those made postwar also had a linen "made in the US Zone" tag sewn into an arm or leg seam. Overall, almost 30 different versions of the pressed felt dolls appeared in Steiff's catalog through 1950. It is interesting to note that these pressed felt-faced dolls were the only Steiff dolls with the company's traditional three-part (button, tag, and chest tag) Steiff's proportional soldier dolls were extraordinary in many ways as well. Unlike the children and other proportional models, these dolls had most or all of their clothing integral to their bodies. The larger examples also had jointed knees for flexibility. Over the course of their manufacture, which lasted through the early 1920s, Steiff produced solders representing German, Scottish, Moroccan, Turkish, Dutch, Russian, American, Belgian, French, Italian, and Austrian armed forces, among others. Well over 100 distinct designs were made, most in two or three sizes each. In tribute to some countries, like Germany, England, and the United States, Steiff produced dolls at a variety of ranks and in various uniform styles. Most had absolutely amazing detailing, including tiny decorated buttons; perfectly represented uniform trimmings; accurate leather or oilcloth footwear often decorated with Steiff buttons on the soles; and belts, backpacks, weapons, and other militaryinspired accessories. Steiff's final phase in its cloth doll manufacturing history debuted in 1936 with the introduction of the company's pressed felt-faced dolls. The company had been looking at ways to replace their traditional center-seamed face doll design with a seamless style one since the early 1920s for aesthetic, economic, and efficiency reasons. One not-so-successful early attempt to do so was the "Aprico" reverse painted dolls that were invented by Steiff creative consultant Albert Schlopsnies. They appeared in the line from 1921 through 1927. These dolls featured an internally painted, excelsior stuffed celluloid head on a jointed felt body. Although these dolls were attractive and appealing, the heads were quite fragile and could not withstand regular child's play. As such, Aprico dolls are seldom if ever seen on the secondary market and are extraordinarily rare. This author has only seen two in real life; both were on exhibit at the Steiff museum in Germany. By 1936, Steiff had come up with a way to finally produce seamless felt-faced dolls. The company's designers figured out a way to back the pressed felt face mask with a close-fitting plastic mask. With this new design, glass pupil eyes could be inserted from the back and facial features could be painted on dimensional surfaces. Both of these properties gave the face a much

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Doll News Fall 2016