Incredible Vintage 8 Foot Tall Steiff Stuffed Giraffe. Made in the 1970s, covered with mohair fur. Small metal label from Steiff embedded inside the left ear. Retails at Steiff for $5,750. 

This is the ultimate gift for the young or young at heart. Standing at over 100 inches tall, our amazingly realistic giraffe is sewn from soft, durable, woven plush fur and features intricate hand painted detailing. Wouldn’t he look great as the focal point of your child’s room? This giraffe features the world famous "Button in Ear" trademark, symbol of highest quality. From the company that pioneered soft toys in 1880.

Size: 52 x 30 x 100 in. 

Steiff is a German-based plush toy company, founded in 1880 by a seamstress named Margarete Steiff, with headquarters in Giengen, Germany. She began making fabric elephants that were sold in her shop as pincushions. However, children began playing with them, and in the years following she went on to design many other animal-themed toys for children, such as monkeys, donkeys, horses, camels, pigs, mice, dogs, cats, rabbits, and giraffes. In 1893, Margarete’s felt fabric factory was founded in Giengen, Germany. In 1895 the first Steiff products to be sold outside Germany were sold at Harrods in London, England. In 1897, Margarete’s nephew, Richard Steiff, joined the company and gave it an enormous boost by creating stuffed animals from drawings made at the zoo. Richard attended the School of Applied Arts in Stuttgart and studied in England. One of his first pieces was a plush bear with movable arms and legs, and in 1903 a 3,000-piece order was placed by a buyer in America after the “teddy bear” craze began due to a popular cartoon of President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt and a young cub in The Washington Post the previous year. The company claimed to be the first to factory-manufacture the popular plush, and by 1907 Steiff had completed almost one million bears. In 1909, when Margarete died of pneumonia, Richard continued his aunt’s legacy and further expanded the toy and plush line, becoming the largest stockholder of the company. In 1912, in the aftermath of the Titanic disaster that left Britain in mourning, a British toy retailer ordered black Steiff teddy bears to bring comfort to the public. They did not sell very well and production was soon halted, with just 494 made in five different sizes. Today, they are the most highly coveted of any of Steiff’s many creations by collectors due to their historical relevance and scarcity. In 1925 the Steiff company started using assembly line production to keep up with the high demand. In 1931 Steiff began a nearly century-long partnership with Disney to manufacture well-known Disney characters. By the 1960s Steiff was known as the largest stuffed toy maker in the world and a 1968 article in Time magazine lauded the company for having over two thousand employees and generating $14 million annually. In 1980, the Steiff Museum opened in Giengen to mark the 100th anniversary of the company. After many other successful collaborations, including with Karl Lagerfeld and Tiffany & Co., the company faced economic uncertainty after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but continues to do well, in part due to the vast collector’s market which has sprung up around antique and vintage stuffed animals. In 2000 a Steiff Louis Vuitton Teddy Bear with eyes made of sapphire and diamonds and with gold parts sold at an auction in Monaco for $2.1 million, setting a world record. The company continues to use natural fibers such as mohair in their products, which are required to be highly flame resistant and safe as possible for children. The iconic metal “button in ear” tag was devised in 1904 by Margarete’s nephew Franz to keep counterfeits from being passed off as authentic Steiff toys. The tag originally had the symbol of an elephant, and it was later replaced by the name “Steiff.”