International studio (45.1912)

Studio-Talk


“THE ADVERTISEMENT.” TOYS BY THE MARGARETE STEIFF CO., GIENGEN

monkeys in one of our
illustrations.

Even before Margarete
Steiff’s animal figures took
the juvenile world by storm
she had already experi-
mented in the production of
dolls for little girls which
should be free from the
sugary smartness and insipid
“ dollishness ” of the average
factory product. Jovial lads
and buxom maidens that
could stand something more
than a puff and looked quite
becoming in the gay national
costume, were followed in
due course by the village
schoolmaster, whose figure
will be seen among the
group of village musicians

at will without the risk
of play being interrupted by
casualties in the shape of
broken limbs.

Year by year further im-
provements have been made
in these toys, the manufacture
of which now occupies more
than two thousand workers
in the little town of Giengen
in Wiirtemberg. The bears
learned to growl and the cats
to mew, and if a little pig’s
ear were pinched it made
him squeak. Nor has the
artistic quality that consti-
tutes the chief attraction of
these toys been neglected.
The extensive scale on which
they are now produced has
not led to any deterioration
of quality, the lifelike expres-
sion has not disappeared, and
even minute differentiations,
scarcely perceptible, are
present and give to the
various types a certain indi-
viduality, as will be seen on
referring to the group of
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“SARRASANl’S CIRCUS.” DESIGNED BY A. SCHI.OPSNIES, EXECUTED BY THE
MARGARETE STEIFF CO., GIENGEN