Bewegte Welt

True gems from the production of the renowned and world-famous family company Margarete Steiff GmbH from Giengen (Germany) are on new display at the Spielzeug Welten Museum Basel. Who doesn't remember the moving scenes in the shop windows at Christmas? For many, they were the highlight of the Christmas stroll. Such mechanical showpieces, which were produced for advertising purposes, can now be admired in motion. One of the attractions of the show is certainly the end-of-week animal kingdom. It was originally produced in 1928 with 47 Steiff animals. Some of these animals have special mechanical devices to enable them to move. The theme of this showpiece could also be from today. The animals enjoy a weekend in the wellness area. This includes a visit to the sauna, joint gymnastic exercises or a small boxing match. The building complex was constructed in a very modern style for the times, leaning on the Bauhaus style. At over five metres long and two metres deep, the original showpiece had impressive dimensions. Although best known for the invention of the Teddy Bear (1902), the Steiff family business is one of the largest and most important doll manufacturers in the world. Not least because of its diverse and artistically very valuable doll creations. From the beginnings of Steiff doll art around 1890 to modern times, the toy manufacturer has always managed to delight young and old with spectacular innovations and further developments. A wonderful example of this extraordinary skill are the felt dolls in the showpiece The Mill at the Bottom. On about 15 square metres, a good 70 old original Steiff felt dolls can be seen in an idyllic, rural setting. A unique and authentic piece of European doll history, which was made in 1926 by the Munich doll artist and Steiff consultant Albert Schlopsnies. The miniature people consists of humorous as well as characteristically reproduced real village and farmer types and shows them at their everyday work. These two showpieces were exhibited at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago. Furthermore, there are 13 smaller moving mechanical showpieces from Steiff on display, as well as some imposing showpieces, such as the Teddy baby with a stately body size of 1.5 metres or the dinosaur and the giraffe peeping out of the showcase. So don't miss out! Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.