A rare Strunz elephant

Details

A rare Strunz elephant
burlap covered, with black boot button eyes, white felt tusks, rod and metal button jointing, black embroidered claws and card reinforced feet --14in. (36cm.) long, circa 1903 (one ear split t o make two backed with brown felt, repaired split to trunk, split to heels of feet exposing metal rods, tusks worn)

See Illustration

Provenance

This elephant was purchased in Berlin in 1903 by a ship-wright from the Isle of Wight for a gift for his new born daughter.

Literature

Bears, Sue Pearson, page 51

Lot Essay

Wilhelm Strunz's Nuremberg based factory were clearly influenced by Steiff producing copies of the Steiff products at a lower cost. It is interesting to see how this elephant closely resembles the early elephants produced by Steiff.

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