Monday, April 2, 2012

Fast Approaching



Easter will soon be here.  My Steiff collection at present is quite small, but with the Easter holiday around the corner, I am very glad that in my collection are two fabulous Steiff bunnies.  To me, no mass-produced line of stuffed animals has the quality and charm equal to that of a Steiff. 

The bunny on the left was my very first Steiff purchase.  I purchased it a couple months ago at my favorite flea market, about 30 minutes from my house in Long Beach, California.  I picked it up off the table to examine it, I was promptly told by the vendor that it was a Steiff.  I had always wanted a Steiff animal, and at the time, the price of forty dollars was both something that I thought was reasonable (for a Steiff) and also something that I could afford.  So I made it my first.

The bunny on the right I found at a flea market in Irvine.  I was drawn to its cute face and so I asked the price.  Fifteen dollars.  At that price, I assumed that I was just buying an average quality vintage stuffed animal and was not particularly concerned with finding out the manufacturer.  When I went to pay for it, the seller said to me, "It's kind of cute, isn't it?"  I definitely agreed.  A couple weeks later, I was browsing on eBay and came across the exact same stuffed bunny.  I was shocked to see that both in the title and in the description, it was identified as a Steiff.  I searched eBay's completed listings for Steiff bunnies.  I found another just like it that sold, and yep, it was identified as a Steiff.  I was thrilled to know that I purchased this sweet bunny - a Steiff - for just fifteen dollars!  It seems that I am just drawn to this German line of plush animals.  Since then, I have acquired two more.....a tiny kitten and a tall penguin.  And I'm quite positive that there will be many more to come.

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