Rare Steiff PB28 Rod Bear, c. 1903/1904 Lot n° 606

Rare Steiff PB28 Rod Bear, c. 1903/1904 With pale-golden mohair, large boot button eyes, horizontal seam from ear to ear, pricked ears, black stitched nose, mouth and five claws on each paw, wood-chip stuffing, body with pronounced hump, articulated swivel head and long rod-jointed curved limbs, ht. 15 ¾ in. (40 cm), overall good, areas of usual wear on arms, back, back of head and legs, small hole beneath mouth, nose restitched, claws partially restitched, pads sympathetically replaced in appropriate felt. - Provenance: According to oral history, the bear was left behind at the seller's family home by a German officer stationed in France from 1942-44. - Literature: Pauline Cockerill, "The Ultimate Teddy Bear Book", p. 22, for a similar Steiff rod bear named 'Oscar'; "Steiff, 125 Teddybär Karat" for a brief history of the firm and its early production. - The rod-jointed bear represents the second stage in Steiff's development of the teddy. The code PB28 designates the bear's construction from plush (Plüsch), its articulated (bewegliche) limbs and size of 28 cm in seated position. His long, spoon-shaped arms and legs were designed to allow the bear to stand comfortably on all fours. - The first jointed teddy bear - the PB55 - was designed by Richard Steiff in 1902 and had string joints. When PB55 debuted at the Leipzig Fair in March 1903, reportedly all 3000 examples were sold to a representative of the George Borgfeldt & Co. of New York. - Richard Steiff continued to improve upon his design, leading to the rod-jointed bear in 1903 and bears with disc joints from 1905, a system still in use today. The familiar metal button in the ear, introduced by Franz Steiff, first appeared in 1904. The absence of this button on the present example suggests a production date of 1903. - Although the rod-jointed bear is the second incarnation of Steiff's famous teddy, it is in fact the first model available to collectors, since to date no examples of the string-jointed bear are know